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While the looter shooter genre isn’t new, not a single series has achieved what Borderlands has done. The intricacy of its gunplay, its hilariously twisted humor, and varied build options remain unmatched. At the time, Borderlands 2 was the pinnacle of the franchise, but, like Icarus, it flew too close to the sun and plummeted in Borderlands 3. Fortunately, it wasn’t the end of the series, because after a very long wait, Borderlands 4 has finally landed, and it has taken back the crown of the ultimate looter shooter and the best Borderlands game ever made.
Welcome to Kairos
One of my biggest gripes about Borderlands 3, and the reason I never really finished it, was its story. I’m all for some humor between my lootin’ and shootin’, but for me personally, the third entry took it a step too far. Borderlands 4, on the other hand, balances the dark humor we love from the series with a really solid plot that never suffers in terms of pacing and manages to deliver memorable moments from start to finish.
After arriving on Kairos, our new Vault-Hunting crew gets captured by the Timekeeper, and it’s up to them to slowly build up a resistance to bring this dictator down. On the surface, it’s a simple plot that is easy to follow. However, it has jaw-dropping moments, political intrigue, a narrative that will charm sci-fi fans, and well-developed characters. Usually, we don’t play looter shooters for the story, but the plot of Borderlands 4 is one of its highlights, and one of the best in the whole series.
Of course, the plot wouldn’t be as great without its excellent cast of characters, mainly the Vault Hunters. By now, you might already be familiar with Amon, Rafa, Harlowe, and Vex. Of these four, I took Rafa, my fellow Latino, and Vex, the goth Siren, out for a ride. While I’ll delve into their gameplay a bit further, as characters, they stand out in a way that never gets cringey, unlike in the previous entry.
For example, one moment that sold me on Vex, who ended up becoming my main, was when I was driving my Digi-runner and an NPC started saying how Vex had this air of mystery, danger, and seriousness, and Vex, all of a sudden, just says, “No, you can’t fix me!” This little line had me in tears, and reminded me of how devilishly sharp the humor of Borderlands can be without taking away the seriousness of the plot or diminishing the high-stakes missions your Vault Hunter is going through.
Borderlands 4 seamlessly blends an intriguing narrative with its iconic humor, providing one of the best plots we’ve seen yet. Plus, despite being in an open-world setting this time around, the pacing never falters. The story remains solid from start to finish, and it was easily one of the most memorable elements of this entry.
Vault-Hunting At Its Finest
Even if the plot was highly enjoyable, we all know the bread and butter of a looter shooter is, well, precisely that, looting and shooting, and boy, Borderlands 4 excels at it.
As soon as you pick up your Vault Hunter, the game drops you into the iconic shooting mayhem that we all love, and this time it feels better than ever. Every single gun, no matter how whacky it is, feels impactful to shoot. Whether it is a sniper that sticks exploding elemental bullets to enemies or a handgun that throws its emptied clip at foes waiting to explore, all weapons have unique gimmicks that you can mix and match to build the perfect destructive arsenal. Often, I stick to one type of gun in shooter games, but Borderlands 4 had me embrace my hoarding personality as I looted every single blue, green, and purple item from the ground to add to my increasingly unwieldy collection.
Borderlands 4 features various weapon manufacturers, most of which offer two firing modes. For instance, Torgue weapons are all about explosive bullets, which usually come with an element that can poison your enemies or set them ablaze. Some pistols can turn into assault rifles, and shotguns can even launch proximity mines. The amount of guns feels almost endless, and I was glad to see that there was always a new one that fit my build better. However — and this is something that might sound a bit contradictory, but in a good way — Borderlands 4, despite making you swim in a pool of loot, makes every item feel impactful in its own unique way.
Normally, I would grab a weapon and stick with it, marking everything as junk to earn some money. Thankfully, it didn’t happen as often this time. Instead, I spent most of my time rotating my arsenal, and when I thought I had found the perfect assault rifle, a new one came along with better stats or elements that greatly improved my build. Even if there were many more items to grab, most of them felt impactful and engaging to experiment with. Also, Legendaries aren’t given out like candies anymore, which makes the whole looting experience feel much more rewarding when you finally stumble upon one.
Guns aside, your Vault Hunter is the other half that will complete this addictive gameplay loop, and the cast of Kairos is, by far, the best in the series. As I mentioned before, I used Rafa and Vex, with the latter becoming my main. While I loved Rafa’s approach to combat with fast attacks and automated turrets, Vex’s skillset that focused on summoning a spectral feline and copies of herself was what hooked me.
Using Vex’s skill tree as an example, it’s full of passive skills that let you craft your own build. I started off in the Incarnate skill line, which let Vex launch an explosive orb while also hovering around the arena, damaging enemies and sometimes applying leeching effects to them. However, I quickly turned to the summoner skill tree and never looked back. I focused on increasing my elemental damage and that of my summons, while also using skills that let me regenerate HP whenever one of my spectral helpers was around. This was just one build option, mind you, but those veteran Vault Hunters out there might go wild with other builds and create the most destructive character on the planet, and that’s the charm of Borderlands.
A Borderless Land
When I learned about the open-world approach of this entry, I was skeptical. “Borderlands works better in a semi-open space, as it has more things to do,” I said. I was so wrong. Kairos is one of the best locations in the franchise, and while I miss Pandora at times, this new planet is the perfect sandbox for a looter shooter.
While there are moments where the world feels a bit empty, I prefer that over the bloat that other open-world games go for. Borderlands 4 feels meaningful in everything it does. Almost every activity will give you a paint job, a shiny new weapon, or even lead to you getting a Vault Key Fragment, which will then take you to an actual Vault that you can open to raid to your heart’s content.
Besides that, the quest design and boss fights feel refreshing. For the former, I was surprised to see how even the fetch-like quests felt unique due to the stories behind them. In one, I was solving a murder mystery inside a slaughterhouse, and in the next, I was helping two aliens breed, as a creepy farmer watched them. Bosses were also a standout due to how unique their mechanics felt, making all fights, even the most challenging ones, feel quite memorable.
On top of that, Kairos feels like a living being, as there are always things happening around it. One time, I was peacefully driving my Digi-runner and occasionally blasting the local fauna, when I spotted a ship landing or sensed an explosion nearby. It encouraged me to go off the beaten path to see what had happened. Kairos felt like a true sandbox, and one I never got tired of exploring. Unfortunately, it comes with a bit of technical baggage that you might all be too familiar with.
During my review period, I experienced Borderlands 4 on a 3060 and a 5070. With the former, I was unable to hit 60 FPS at all, and the latter allowed me to reach 240 FPS thanks to DLSS 4. When I tried the game without DLSS 4, my frame rate would oscillate between 40 and 100, which wasn’t ideal. It’s excellent that DLSS 4 is doing the heavy lifting in some of these new, demanding games; yet, not many players can enjoy this technology, leaving most gamers with a choppy frame rate or scouring the internet for solutions. On the bright side, I never experienced a crash or a bug, so it was smooth for me. Still, the game needs some urgent optimization tweaks to be more enjoyable.
Borderlands Is Back
After a rough third entry, Borderlands 4 delivers an exceptional looter shooter experience. Its build and weapon variety is unlike any other out there, and surpasses everything the franchise has done until now. On top of that, the open-world approach is one of the best in the series, and one I hope sticks around for the next entry, as it balances some quiet exploration moments with the frenetic and rewarding shooting action.
While I would’ve loved to see Borderlands 4 in a better technical shape, at least on PC, it never gave me any significant issues that forced me to put the controller down. Instead, I was looking for new paths to explore, Vaults to raid, and enemies to shoot because, after years of waiting, it’s finally great to say, “Borderlands is back.” It has taken back its rightful crown and has made me hopeful for the future of one of my favorite shooter series out there.
Review copy provided by the Publisher.
Borderlands 4 (PC Reviewed)
Borderlands 4 is the ultimate looter shooter experience, and one that fixes everything that didn't work with its predecessor. Furthermore, it brings an engaging sci-fi narrative, varied build and gun options, and an intricate open world to explore.
Pros
- An excellent narrative
- Top-notch gunplay
- Varied builds and guns
Cons
- Several performance issues on PC
