Borderlands 4 Review – Cathartic Chaos

Following Borderlands 3, I had a hard question to ask: Has one of my favorite series passed me by? That 2019 release made me realize that the last Borderlands game I truly enjoyed – outside of Telltale’s excellent Tales from the Borderlands – was Borderlands 2 in 2012. I initially approached Borderlands 4 with skepticism for that reason. However, Gearbox evidently agreed with my criticisms, as Borderlands 4 introduces and recalibrates myriad elements to deliver what could very well be my new favorite in the series. 

Watch Game Informer’s Borderlands 4 Video Review:

Borderlands 4 plays all the familiar refrains for which the franchise is known: You control one of four Vault Hunters as you gun down thousands of masked maniacs and mutated monsters. Taking down these hordes of enemies not only grants you valuable experience for leveling your character, but also millions of guns to loot. True to its pedigree, these weapons are a highlight; every encounter holds the potential to yield your new favorite weapon, a rush I never grew tired of during my 50-plus-hour playthrough. Though upgrades to my existing loadout were ultimately rare, I lived for when I got something unique, like a sticky-bomb sniper rifle or a singularity-spawning throwing knife.

I always looked forward to the loot each battle would deliver, but Borderlands 4’s gunfights are as chaotic and fun as ever. Though some drag on longer than my liking, wide ranges of enemies from disparate factions elevate the variety of foes in any given fight, and I often caught myself leaning in to focus when the dynamic music shift signaled the arrival of a strong “Badass” enemy variant. I loved picking off foes with my single-shot assault rifle before storming in with my corrosive shotgun. Throwing a knife to deliver the final blow while trying to reload never ceased to make me feel like an action star. 

The world of Kairos is under the oppressive thumb of the Timekeeper, who values order above all else. Gearbox has crafted an appropriately intimidating antagonist that shines distinctly from the series’ past villains, and in the process delivers my favorite big bad since Borderlands 2’s Handsome Jack. If you want the more unhinged villain type for which the franchise is known, you’ll find plenty of that through his supporting cast.

To combat the Timekeeper, this entry delivers arguably the strongest class of Vault Hunters yet, each with multiple distinct skill trees to develop, as well as character-specific Action Skills. Rafa’s an agile damage-dealer; Harlowe can apply a status ailment that spreads damage across multiple targets; Vex can summon support phantoms; and my personal favorite, Amon, can throw elemental axes or call upon a fiery barrier. Thanks to wider skill trees and a ton of unlockable cosmetics, you can customize your characters more than ever before.

Each character has access to all-new traversal mechanics like gliding and grappling. I always enjoyed gliding onto the battlefield, ground-slamming an enemy from above, and sprinting into a sliding shotgun blast before zipping out of danger. These improved movement mechanics add a ton to each combat encounter, and I genuinely think it would be difficult to go back to older Borderlands games where you don’t have these moves at your disposal. However, having the same button perform dodge, ground-pound, and crouch caused me more than a few upsetting deaths.

These traversal elements come in handy as you make your way through the largest world in franchise history. Kairos, which is fast to explore thanks to a summonable Digirunner vehicle, is full of fun diversions like safe houses, world bosses, and compelling side missions. You can also discover Vaults, which house wave-based combat punctuated by intense boss battles, but it’s disappointing to have some of the most fun content hidden behind a cryptic “hot/cold” meter that doesn’t work well with so many layers in the world.

Though the most rewarding moments of my playthrough came during exploration, the open world can be laborious, as I sometimes struggled to find the best route to my destination. Thankfully, the new Echo-4 robot companion can help navigate to your waypoint, but its guidance can be hit or miss. 

Borderlands 4 generally scales with your level the entire game, which makes the steep level spike in the final stretch jarring and frustrating. That skyrocketing difficulty deflated the momentum I had going into the final act, but the story as a whole is much more even than prior entries. Borderlands 4 better balances the comedic elements and offers more memorable gags, characters, and set-piece moments.

In fact, the worst thing I can say about Borderlands 4 is that some things just go on for too long. Some fights are too prolonged, some missions feature too many chaining objectives, and some bosses have way too much health. When those bullet-sponge bosses have multiple forms, they become exercises in tedium and frustration rather than the adrenaline-fueled encounters they’re designed to be. But when the game is this much fun to play, that’s only a minor annoyance and is often alleviated through the series’ excellent co-op, which is even better in this entry, thanks to easy-to-join sessions, enhanced fast travel, and replayable boss encounters. However, by the time I reached the final boss, it was evident that some parts of the game are not appropriately tuned for single-player action.

Though many of the series’ core elements remain intact, Gearbox has refined and reconfigured them in such ways that Borderlands 4 rises beyond anything the series has accomplished to this point, making for a chaotic looter-shooter worthy of the series’ sterling early-2010s reputation. It’s simultaneously a poster child for excess and restraint, which sounds paradoxical, but for a series named for existing on the border of seemingly opposed concepts, it feels right at home.