Borderlands 4 Review (PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, & PC)

You know it’s going to get hella chaotic in Borderlands, where the explosion of bullets and grenades only ever get as absurd as the enemies you fight. Strange yet captivating are the battles against weird psychos, especially with the gazillions of loot they leave behind. Not once do your weapons and customizations ever get dull. Not when there are limitless options you could twist and modify. Indeed, Borderlands has become a devilish favorite for co-op players looking to leave piles of dismantled foes in their wake. 

No one would judge you for going ballistic in Pandora, diving headfirst into the box of snakes and bloodthirsty goons it unleashes. No one would judge you for going back to Borderlands 1 or 2, in particular. Still worthy looter shooters, setting the pace for the mayhem-filled FPS and third-person crazed adventures we enjoy today. Borderlands 3, however, lost the uphill momentum. From the cringey meme fest grating on your teeth to the lackluster villains and repetitive mission design, much went wrong in Gearbox’s third venture into Pandora. 

Perhaps it’s why the new planet of Kairos proves all the more important. Not only reviving the series back to its uphill climb to the top, but also potentially ushering newcomers to the joy and satisfaction that is Vault Hunting. Whether you’re still on the fence about a Day One purchase or are entirely skeptical of joining the fold of the new entry, we’ve compiled our thoughts to use as you please in our Borderlands 4 review. 

Ooh! Mine’s Bigger

Kairos, that is. Literally, to be sure, but also in the free-form, open-world exploration you dive headfirst into. Borderlands 4’s world doesn’t confine you to one set path of the main story. It may very well nudge you into taking optional paths, discovering all of its myriad side quests, timed activities, puzzles, secrets, and more. You’ll step into a much more beautiful world full of splendor and life. The color palette is sharper, cleaner, and more defined, with environmental details that bring forth a more captivating world. Every region begs to be delved into, whether in admiration or quest searching. It will hardly provide any hindrance, whether diverging off the beaten path or hopping into another biome.

Four of the major biomes of Kairos’ new planet are distinct from one another, from deadly deserts to lush jungles and rolling hills. Transitioning between them is pitch-smooth, with no load times and fast-travel unlocking later on. Moreover, your movement is fluid and diverse. In addition to your everyday running and sliding, you also have grappling hooks, hover packs, vehicles, including a lightning-fast hover bike you can summon on a single button press. You can mantle up ledges and double jump, glide, mid-air dash, among other ground and aerial slick moves you can string together. 

Time to Bleed

This makes a joy out of exploration and combat, seamlessly allowing your Vault Hunter to access every nook and cranny and take on every enemy type with ease. Whether aerial nuisances or massive AoE damage-dealing bosses, you easily transition between ground and aerial traversal to evade attacks and inflict direct damage. Speaking of Vault Hunters, I’m not mad at the four. They’re all distinct and varied from one another and within their own classes. From your everyday wizard to badass rogue and necromancer, all of your favorite classes return. But also, buffed and leveled up to wildly different and powerful status effects.

With each Vault Hunter having three skill trees, you enjoy plenty of ways to make them your own. Additionally, you have each Vault Hunter’s signature abilities (Action Skills) and the passive effects you can attach to them. Amon’s fire and ice elemental damage may instantly intrigue you. But Vex’s self-healing abilities can also come in handy during co-op boss battles. Still, Rafa promises to quench burst damage gurus, with more than inconceivable ways to hone their abilities to your specific play style. You’ll be spending a great deal of time gleefully fine-tuning your favorite Vault Hunter builds, each with their own perks to consider. And even reach points of changing their base skill behavior completely.

Cross Their Heart, Hope They Die

As soon as you master the new double-jumping and gliding movement options, you should have a blast mowing down Borderlands 4’s enemies. Some returning, others entirely new, but ultimately varied in clever and absurd ways. There are those who unleash cryo, radiation, shock, kinetic, and more damage types. There are those who fly and others who render the arena unwalkable from potent AoE damage. From powerful robots to bandits and elemental enemies, foes constantly vary.

However, halfway through the game, they’ll begin to repeat themselves. Fortunately, enemy modifiers breathe fresh life into battles, making enemies deflect attacks, spread contagious hazards, or chain nearby enemies. In the end, enemies remain unpredictable, with rare ones occasionally rekindling your attention. And let’s not forget the endgame content, where heavy replayability lies. Bosses are tougher, and rare loot is plentiful, encouraging thousands of hours of playtime.

Aim for the Head

Of course, the main feature that has hailed the Borderlands series among the greats is the weapon types and customization options. The series has had some of the most bizarre and unexpected variations on ordinary weapon types, ensuring there are millions of ways you could fine-tune your loadout. And with Borderlands 4, it’s not much different. Only more gazillion customization options not only for your weapons but your vault hunter and vehicle, too. At the base, you unlock your usual assault rifles, pistols, shotguns, sniper rifles, and so on. But as you progress and loot from the dead, new ammo types, knives, and rocket launchers, explosive effects, and more unlock. 

The more random parts you attach to your weapons from different weapon manufacturers, the more bizarre but potent they get. From shields that explode after breaking to guns that launch projectiles, every new weapon part you unlock is surprising and fun to experiment with and make the most out of in combat. It truly is Borderlands 4’s greatest strength. That freshness of tinkering around with new weapon parts and running into random enemy encounters with unexpected modifiers. No matter how many times you boot up Borderlands 4 for a new run, there’ll always be something juicy that awaits.

Accidentally Shot in the Face

It’s a shame then that the story doesn’t rise to the occasion of the joy of exploration and combat. Frankly, unsurprising, given Borderlands 3’s greatest weakness was its story. At least now, Gearbox has toned it down on the cringey meme fest and pop culture references of the former. But alas, the antagonist remains dull and far from within emotional reach. In fact, many of the characters in Kairos hardly feel evocative of any strong emotions; Claptrap excluded. Regardless of contempt, love, or endearment, any kind of strong feeling toward a character is what will give meaning to the battles you take on.

It hardly makes sense given the impactful nature of the overall theme. A heavy story about rescuing an imprisoned people from a malicious dictator known only as the Timekeepr. He subdues his subjects by strapping cybernetic implants called bolts into their bodies to control them. And at a point, your Vault Hunter character is implanted with said bolts. But Claptrap manages to block your signal to the Timekeeper. And so, you could easily get back to your true, innate motivations of vault hunting. But I suppose, having bolts implanted in you, however non-functional at present, sends you on a new vengeance or self-righteous mission to bring down the Timekeeper. 

It’s a story that works, don’t get me wrong. But in comparison to how solid and satisfying the combat and weapon customization are, it could have been so much better to bring Borderlands 4 to the heights it deserves. 

Worth mentioning is that you may run into bugs, especially in co-op play. Issues with lag, progress syncing incorrectly, and so on. But a Day One patch has already been put out. Plus, more updates will surely be underway, alongside fresh content that keeps the co-op momentum flowing.

Verdict

Even with the lackluster story and character development, Borderlands 4 still remains unbeatable when it comes to unleashing pure chaos. Here’s where you can let out all the rage and bait against psychos and those who dare challenge you to war. Your adrenaline will remain at a constant high, even when engaging with mechanics as tedious as character builds and weapon customization. Well, tedious in other games but not Borderlands 4, as previous games have proven. This simply is a step-up in all of the ways the series works. It presents us with a new planet in which to go wild and color with blood. Whether it’s experimenting and fine-tuning your Vault Hunter build, weapons, or vehicles, or challenging co-op friends to vicious conquering of Kairos, rest assured, you’ll never run dry of new, fresh ways to switch up your game and flow.