![[EXCLUSIVE] Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen Team Opens Up About the Expansion’s Name, New Norgan Region, and Performance Goals](https://cdn.gamerbraves.com/2026/07/Dragons-Dogma-2-Dark-Arisen_Interview_FI-360x180.jpg)
The Borderlands franchise has been the king of looter-shooters since 2009, but Borderlands 3 left fans with mixed feelings despite its massive weapon count and space-hopping adventure. The game’s story felt bloated, and the constant chatter often became more annoying than entertaining. Now, after years in development, Borderlands 4 arrives as Gearbox’s biggest project yet, promising better systems and a more focused story.
But does it deliver on those promises, or does it fall into the same traps as its predecessor? Our review of Borderlands 4 will cover the game’s combat, story, exploration, and technical performance without spoiling any major plot points.
Story and World Design
Borderlands 4 makes a smart move by putting your Vault Hunter directly into the story. Unlike previous games where you felt like a silent observer, your character now appears in cutscenes, has unique dialogue, and NPCs actually call them by name. This simple change makes you feel like the main character instead of just someone along for the ride.
The game also respects your time better. You can now skip cutscenes if you want to jump straight into the action, which is a welcome change for players who just want to shoot and loot.
The new planet Kairos serves as your playground, mixing ancient ruins with high-tech corruption. You’ll explore everything from broken futuristic cities to volcanic valleys, thick forests, and floating islands. The world feels more alive too, with puzzle mechanics, environmental traps, and random events keeping things interesting as you explore.
The main villains are The Order, a military religious group that believes “order is the only truth” and wants to use Vault power to cleanse the world. Their leaders each have distinct personalities – from the fanatic general to the cold strategist and the hypocritical prophet. New factions join the fight alongside familiar faces like Claptrap, returning Vault Hunters Zane and Amara, and the ever-popular Moxxi.
The story moves at a better pace than Borderlands 3’s slow start. You quickly understand your mission, your enemies, and what’s at stake. The dialogue keeps the series’ trademark humor but tones down the excessive chatter, giving you more room to focus on exploration and looting.
Combat and New Features
Weapons are now organized into six categories: Pistol, AR, Sniper, SMG, Shotgun, and a combined Grenade/Heavy slot. This simplifies your loadout while keeping plenty of variety. The classic weapon manufacturers return with their signature styles – Jakobs guns that ricochet on critical hits, Maliwan weapons that switch elements, Torgue explosives, and Vladof guns with alternate fire modes. Two new manufacturers join the lineup:
Order creates precision rifles with charged burst fire that reward accuracy and timing. Ripper makes brutal machine guns that spin up for sustained fire, perfect for laying down heavy suppression. These additions bring fresh options to gunfights while keeping the series’ chaotic feel.
The four new Vault Hunters each offer different play styles. Vex is a Siren who channels elemental powers through weapons and can even summon undead-like creatures. Amon is a tank-focused Forgeknight who uses drone support to protect the team. Rafa is a melee-focused Exo-Soldier who excels at close-range combo attacks. Harlowe is a gadget specialist who deploys turrets and tactical equipment.
The skill system gets a major upgrade with branching paths that let you mix abilities more freely. You can focus on one path to reach its powerful capstone ability, or spread points across multiple branches for hybrid builds. Each path has its own capstone, encouraging you to try different combinations. You can reset your skills anytime using the respec machine, though each reset costs money.
New movement options change how combat and exploration feel. The grappling hook lets you swing around, solve puzzles, and pull environmental hazards into fights. Double jump and gliding improve both platforming and combat, letting you dodge, flank, and attack from above. The shared heavy/throwable slot streamlines combat but makes you think carefully about your loadout before big fights.
Boss fights are much better designed. Instead of just being bullet sponges, they require you to actively dodge, jump, and grapple to survive their attacks. You can also replay bosses using Moxxi’s Big Encore system by paying a fee, letting you farm specific loot without breaking co-op sessions or reloading saves.
Exploration and Co-op Experience
Kairos is split into distinct areas like toxic swamps, vast canyons, and floating island chains. After the opening section, the story becomes semi-open, letting you tackle different storylines in your preferred order. Side quests feel less like busy work and more like short, punchy stories with comedic twists. Many can be replayed, giving you another shot at unique rewards when you’re the right level.
Vehicles get an upgrade with the Digirunner system that lets you summon rides anywhere. There’s even a hidden feature where drifting or sliding at the right moment gives you a speed boost. Fast travel stations unlock through datapads scattered around the map, reducing travel time while keeping you immersed in the world.
The world stays interesting with dynamic events like ambushes, wildlife encounters, and mini-bosses that pop up during exploration. Post-game content extends the experience with Weekly Big Encore boss variants that cost Eridium to enter and Weekly Wildcard missions that guarantee Legendary drops with unlimited replays.
Playing with friends feels smoother than ever. Replayable missions and bosses mean you don’t have to disband your group or reload saves just to farm loot together. NPCs will sometimes respond to whichever character triggered dialogue, adding a small but noticeable layer of shared involvement in the story.
Full crossplay lets you team up with friends on any platform, and flexible matchmaking makes it easy to find groups for story missions, boss farming, or endgame challenges. The trading system goes back to basics – just drop items on the ground instead of using complicated menus, though this requires trust between players.
Technical Performance and Presentation
The cel-shaded art style stays true to the series but with sharper textures, better lighting, and more detailed environments. The contrast between lush wilderness and tech-corrupted ruins creates strong visual variety.
Weapons sound more powerful, gunfire has more impact, and the chaos of firefights feels clearer thanks to improved audio layering. Voice acting keeps the franchise’s irreverent charm while avoiding Borderlands 3’s overwhelming chatter. Music adapts to combat situations, building intensity as battles escalate.
Performance varies depending on your hardware. A Ryzen 5 5600 with RTX 3070 Ti managed over 100 FPS during boss fights with DLSS Balanced mode, but dropped to 50-60 FPS in open world areas at 1080p medium settings. An i5-14400F with RTX 4060 Ti stayed stable at medium settings with only minor hitches during heavy combat. An i5-13500 with RTX 4070 SUPER performed well at medium-high settings, especially with DLSS Balance and Frame Generation enabled. Some stuttering occurred in the preview build, but Gearbox has confirmed a Day-1 patch will address optimization issues.
Verdict
Borderlands 4 represents the series at its most confident. It sharpens the chaotic combat, streamlines systems with meaningful improvements, and opens up exploration in ways that make every session feel unpredictable. The smooth co-op design and replayable content keep the addictive looter-shooter loop going strong.
Some small issues prevent it from being perfect. Loot management could be smoother with better default sorting, cutscenes are still capped at 30FPS, and occasional repetitive world events or minor technical problems remind you the game isn’t flawless. These problems don’t ruin the fun, but they’re noticeable enough to keep the game from earning a perfect score.
Despite these minor shortcomings, Borderlands 4 successfully balances polish with fresh ideas. It’s an easy recommendation for both longtime fans and newcomers looking to jump into vault hunting for the first time.
Played on PC
The Review
Borderlands 4
PROS
- Chaotic combat delivers pure gunplay satisfaction.
- Noticeable quality-of-life improvements compared to previous.
- Semi non-linear, freely explorable open world.
- Smooth and seamless co-op experience.
- Mission and Boss replay without cumbersome save-load for re-loot.
CONS
- Can’t set Sorting and Filter to a default option making loot management feel clunky.
- A number of small issues occasionally surface and can pull you out of the otherwise fun experience.
- Cutscene is still locked in 30FPS.
![[EXCLUSIVE] From Childhood Dreams to Yu-Gi-Oh! Collaboration: Fine Chaos Creative Director Talks Passion and Persistence](https://cdn.gamerbraves.com/2025/09/Fine-Chaos-YuGiOh-Collab_Interview_FI-75x75.jpg)
