Here at Gamescom, I just got a theater presentation and roughly half an hour of hands-on time with Borderlands 4. It is the most modern and best-playing entry in the series, from what I have seen. It feels a bit like a solo to 4-player Destiny. A large open world is there for you to explore as you please, with better-feeling gameplay that is almost DOOM Eternal-like in its movement. Here’s everything I saw and experienced:
A More Modern Borderlands
Borderlands 4 takes all the trappings of what the series is known for and adds in a heaping helping of modern gameplay systems. Your vault hunter can dash and climb walls like the DOOM Slayer, glide around like Batman, and even use a repair kit to heal with a cooldown. I was thrown into a level 20 vault run, playing as Amon the Forgemaster. It was some damned good Borderlands, with far less in-your-face humor than we saw in three.
First things first, choosing your hunter. We have Amon the Forgeknight, Harlowe, an ex-soldier, Rafa, who is a bit of a brute, and Vex the Siren. Supposedly, Vex might be the last new Siren we’ll meet for a while, as they are supposed to be exceedingly rare in the universe before three introduced four new ones. I chose Amon, who can either block damage with an elemental shield or, as I chose, throw elemental axes on a short cooldown.
A big change for the series is how your grenade slot works. Fan feedback on the spell/grenade system of Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands has led to your grenade slot now being called ‘Ordinance’. Instead of just a bevy of ever crazier grenades, you can now get various powerful weapons and choose which you prefer. I had an enormous Gatling gun that was replaced by a powerful explosive disc-thrower, and they felt great to use.
Eternally Vault Slaying
Borderlands 4 gameplay feels a lot like a smoother, less-frantic DOOM Eternal. There are various new movement abilities, including: Swimming (YES!), Double-jump, Wall climbing, Air Dash, & Gliding. As I came to grips with all the new toys to play with, it felt like a well-worn glove that was a super high-tech new one in disguise.
It feels like Borderlands gameplay at first. Once you come to grips with everything new, though, it becomes clear just how much has changed here. I didn’t get to explore the open world, as our playtime was short. In the vault run I tried out, I had to clear waves of enemies while moving from one island combat arena to the next. It was standard, familiar. What isn’t is how the campaign itself works.
Instead of your standard move from one area to the next with lots of loading screens in between, it is now an open world with a non-linear story design. You can choose where to go, when, with minimal loading screens. Unlike Borderlands 3, it seems more contained, sticking to a lower map count with a higher density of things to do in it.
In practice, it sounds like a solo or up to four-player co-op Destiny-like. The world is large, all there, and full of dynamic events. As you traverse the map, new quests pop up with 5 to 10 minute objectives and high rewards. Still, it’s no MMOFPS like Bungie’s titles, maybe it’s an MSOoOFPS (Massively Single-Player On or Offline First-Person Shooter)
My time with the game was short, but sweet. Keep an eye out on Xbox Era as we approach Borderlands 4’s September 12th release date. We should be doing an in-depth, hopefully group review, and I couldn’t be more excited after getting my hands on it.
