Though pegged as an ending to the trilogy, the massive financial success of Borderlands 3 likely meant a fourth entry was likely to happen. So, when 2K Games and Gearbox Software announced Borderlands 4, it wasn't much of a surprise. From its announcement, Borderlands 4 has showcased itself as yet another entry in the franchise with a focus on insane characters, a wild cast of Vault Hunters, and so many weapons, all of which could be a problem. Despite Borderlands 3's financial success, the game didn't particularly do anything new with its story, world or characters and quickly fell into the shadow of its culturally beloved predecessor, Borderlands 2. Borderlands 4 has a lot to do to escape that shadow and prove itself a worthy successor. Does Borderlands 4 rise to the occasion and do the beloved franchise justice or is this just another Borderlands 2 wannabe?
Time Waits for No One
Borderlands 4 picks up six years after the events of Borderlands 3 where Lilith teleported Pandora's moon Elpis away and she disappeared. That action brought Elpis to Kairos, shattering a protective barrier and exposing the planet to outsiders. You play as a Vault Hunter (Harlowe, Vex, Amon and Rafa) who joins the Crimson Resistance to overthrow Kairos' ruthless dictator, the Timekeeper, free its people and uncover its secret treasures.
Borderlands 4 represents a reset for the Borderlands narrative in a handful of ways by walking away from pre-established norms. It's a story that primarily focuses on new characters, villains and locations with a very different tone from the previous three games. Yes, there are returning characters and a familiar location, but it's very much not the revolving door of past characters and locales of Borderlands 3. That feeling of mostly new narrative elements makes for a refreshing story, though one with drawbacks.
Perhaps the most dramatic and impactful change relates to the tone. If Borderlands was dry humor, 2 was hilarious, The Pre-Sequel was funny and Borderlands 3 was cringey, then Borderlands 4 finds itself somewhere between Borderlands and The Pre-Sequel. This story understands when to unleash humor and when to hold it back. When the tone needs to be light, it injects humor, and when it needs to be dark and somber, it is. It all culminates in an excellent final third that brilliantly brings together the right type of humor and emotion to deliver some of the best writing in Borderlands history.
You must get through the first and second acts firs, though. The game does start strong with a decent introduction. The first act successfully builds up the four Vault Hunters as actual presences in the game rather than simple avatars for you to inhabit. They have goals, personalities and great interactions with the rest of the cast, particularly a special scientist you meet early on. It's unfortunate that the rest of the cast is rather weak.
A lot of this is thanks to the Ubisoftification of Act 2, which splits the world into three biomes with a new ally to assist and a different villain to defeat. This approach bestows freedom to the player at the cost of the narrative. Since each main ally and villain are tied to their sections, they never get a chance to assist or exist outside their stretch of the story. Each has a lot of potential, but once their section is wrapped up, they have little-to-no affect on the remainder of the story. This especially hurts the Timekeeper who is absent for too much of the game to be a credible threat. Tyreen and Troy may have been annoying personality-wise, but their constant presence within the narrative helped build them as credible threats. Timekeeper doesn't get a single moment to shine.
Borderlands 4's narrative is a mixed bag. On one hand, the final third of the game might be some of the best writing in Borderlands history, the Vault Hunters are all great and Gearbox has managed to find a perfect tone. On the other, however, the choice to split the narrative across three biomes ends up severely damaging Act 2, the new characters and all the villains.
Creating Your Own Fun
Thankfully, while Act 2 might be a huge damper on the plot, it at least isn't a damper on the actual game. The campaign will take you about 20-30 hours to complete depending on difficulty, level scaling and side content you choose to embark on. Overall, Borderlands 4 features a ton of content that's mostly high quality and worth pursuing.
While splitting Kairos into different biomes does harm the narrative, it does add diversity to the experience. Carcadia Burn (desert filled with crumbling cities), Terminus Range (snowy mountains), The Fadelands (luscious countryside) and Dominion City all feel unique enough to explore and are designed well enough that you won't get lost, a major problem in Borderlands 3. While three vastly different biomes in such close proximity feels very gamey, Borderlands 4 embraces it by populating each area with a wide array of interesting sidequests. From solving the mystery behind malfunctioning vending machines to surviving an Escape Room to helping Claptrap solve his very real problems, the side missions add an extra layer of levity and humor.
Kairos' open world is punctuated by linear-based levels that feel excellently crafted to deliver an experience perfectly tuned to Borderlands 4's mechanics. Borderlands 4 doesn't have as many bosses as Borderlands 3, but what's on offer is good, successfully blending strong arena design with mechanics that compliment the gameplay. As much as Kairos has to explore, it's still the linear levels that provide the best experiences.
Where Borderlands 4 takes a bit of a tumble is with its level scaling. While the linear missions will always scale to your level, areas along the critical path won't. Towards the end of the third biome, the difficulty vastly ramps up, putting enemies at very high levels. While Gearbox Software says this is normal, it does feel random and punishing towards players more interested in completing the campaign first and side content second. The game, like its predecessors, also feels skewed towards co-op. Yes, Borderlands 4 is perfectly playable solo and it doesn't hamper the gameplay, but mechanics like reviving, mixing and matching different ability effects, and even difficulty feel better in co-op. Solo play is still fun and rewarding, but little frustrations tend to pile up in solo that don't in co-op.
Gameplay, though, is hard to complain about. Borderlands 3 played well, but Borderlands 4 plays amazingly. Incorporating trendy mobility options like the grappling hook, dashing and slide canceling could have been disastrous, but Gearbox has managed to successfully implement them into a gameplay rhythm that's fun, frenetic and deep. Combined with the still excellent gunplay and customizability of each Vault Hunter's skills, Borderlands 4 delivers an extremely satisfying gameplay loop, especially in the handcrafted linear levels that are excellently constructed to take full advantage of all the mechanics. Of course, it also helps that the game throws zillions of amazing weapons to use.
The first act successfully builds up the four Vault Hunters as actual presences in the game rather than simple avatars for you to inhabit. They have goals, personalities and great interactions with the rest of the cast, particularly a special scientist you meet early on.
Borderlands 4 has a few misses with its level scaling and still feeling better tuned for co-op than solo play. Outside of that, however, is a game filled with great content, levels and boss design backed up by amazing gameplay.
An unreal look with some unreal issues
Borderlands 4 also marks a new technological milestone for Gearbox and the franchise by adopting Unreal Engine 5. The result is a gorgeous game that retains the distinctive Borderlands art style while delivering an upgrade to visual fidelity. The large biomes are beautifully detailed, character models and textures are the most expressive they've ever looked and watching enemies explode and guns rain down from what was left of their bodies has never looked so good.
The switch to Unreal Engine 5, however, does bring with it some rather unfortunate performance issues common with UE5 titles. Despite playing on a beefy PC, persistent stuttering and framerate drops were the norm even after Gearbox rolled out a performance patch. In co-op, these issues were magnified. While this is nowhere near as bad as Borderlands 3's crippling performance woes at launch, this does put a hamper on what is otherwise a well-presented game.
Borderlands 4 releases in September.
Closing Comments:
Gearbox Software's long-running franchise needed something new to escape the shadow of Borderlands 2. The studio tried diving further into humor with Borderlands 3 and that didn't work. Borderlands 4, instead, has a more measured approach. A new planet, a bigger focus on new characters over returning favorites, a new tone set between the dry humor of Borderlands and the humor of The Pre-Sequel, and a stronger focus on worldbuilding and gameplay mechanics results in a refined game that delivers hours of fun on the back of excellent gameplay, levels and boss design. The biggest stumble is the narrative, that despite a fantastic final third and an interesting start, is bogged down by a terrible Act 2. While disappointing, it is at least partially redeemed by fantastic gameplay, gunplay, levels and side content that allow you to create fun amidst the weak storytelling. Awkward level scaling, solo play and performance issues aside, Borderlands 4's gameplay makes trudging through the low points easy and worthwhile just to experience that rush of nailing the perfect slide-dash-headshot combo with one of your zillions of weapons. On top of that there's a cast of excellent Vault Hunters, deep customization options and easy-to-use co-op options that make enjoying what Borderlands 4 does best easy. Borderlands 2 may always be a cultural icon in player's minds, but Borderlands 4 easily manages to clear its shadow, deliver a fresh start for the series and create its own fun.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 82/100 Critics Rec: 87%
- Released
- September 12, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Gearbox Software
- Publisher(s)
- 2K
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op, Local Co-Op
- Franchise
- Borderlands
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- Fantastic gameplay and gunplay
- A treasure trove of solid side content
- Excellent level and boss design
- A terrible Act 2 that heavily weakens the narrative
- Still feels better suited to co-op than solo play
- Performance issues (i.e. frame pacing and frame rate)