For all of Borderlands 3’s issues, that familiar looter-shooter gameplay remained as brilliant as ever. While the narrative lacked, especially compared to Borderlands 2, the third mainline entry refined the gunplay and added to the series’ signature chaos. Borderlands 4 builds on all of that. The story and its themes are treated with more maturity while still leaving plenty of room for slapstick humor and the absurd. And yes, there are still more guns than you could ever hope to loot. So, if you’ve been waiting to play it, now’s your best chance to grab it at a discount, but only if you’re quick.
Few games nail the looter layer on top of great FPS gameplay, but Gearbox Software has managed to do exactly that with Borderlands 4. This time, you and your crew of Vault Hunters travel across the prison planet of Kairos in an effort to stop the tyrannical Timekeeper and his regional commanders, joining the resistance to overthrow the dictatorship that rules the planet. Oh, and of course, you’re also hunting for a vault filled with tasty loot.
Unlike Borderlands 3’s more toilet-humor approach to darker story beats, Borderlands 4 keeps the whimsy while handling its more emotional moments with greater care. That doesn’t mean it’s suddenly a serious take on the franchise. You still have to deal with CL4P-TP, better known as Claptrap, but the heavier moments are given room to breathe between the jokes and explosions.
