Borderlands is a franchise very dear to my heart. As a baby gamer searching for my interests and tastes, playing the original adventure was a formative experience. I though first-person shooters weren’t for me. It proved me wrong, consistently revealing new surprises in its sense of humour, its jazzy sci-fi plot, and its bright cast of characters. Borderlands 2 took my love further, with new and bigger maps, a wildly compelling villain, and a whole slate of new gameplay styles. I played Borderlands 2 on my own. Then, I played it with every friend I could drag along for the ride.
I was obsessed.
Since that era, I will admit my love for the franchise has waned, with Borderlands 3 failing to spark much inspiration in me. But regardless of what I (and many others) perceived to be a dip, the franchise still holds plenty of mileage, for me. So when given the chance to jump into Borderlands 4 early, I was ready to love again.
Borderlands 4 is familiar and new
It turned out playing Borderlands 4 was a lot like coming home. With very familiar controls that haven’t changed over the years, an effervescent art style made lovelier by improved technology, and a cool cast of new and returning characters, this game has plenty going for it.
While a segmented preview session focussed on multiple arenas can’t provide a definitive answer on how worthy this next chapter will be, I can say I had a real blast getting back into the Borderlands groove, with snappy gunplay, new abilities, and possibly my favourite Vault Hunter yet, creating a very compelling case for this upcoming game.
First, the big changes. In my time with Borderlands 4, the biggest difference I noted, beyond visual improvements, was the gunplay variety, and just how much strategy was needed to advance. In my time with Borderlands, I’ve never really felt the need to deploy a particular strategy for taking down enemies. Playing Borderlands 4, I needed to develop a proper rhythm to my actions, to ensure my missions didn’t go down the shitter.
Enemies, as before, are bullet sponges. You’ll need to rattle off dozens of shots before those towering badasses go down. But each gun offers a different strategy for shooting, with some having quick reload, some requiring a charge up, some having rapidfire rounds with weak reload, and so on. One of my favourite guns I found was a laser cannon that required a five second charge before unleashing a scattering of bullets.
In the five seconds it was charging, I was vulnerable – but if I was patient and managed to avoid enemy fire, I could reap the benefits with a full-scale blast. When it came to hordes of enemies, and to the second preview segment (which contained a fantastically mean elemental boss), this strategy was king.
Of course, you also need to spend time monitoring enemies and picking off the biggest ones first in your journey, because shields and health bars are shorter than ever in this game. Picking up the preview with a Level 5 character meant needing to avoid enemy attacks, rather than barreling through, with every misstep leading to a death, and then a frantic shootout for a Second Wind revival. With more complex guns, those Second Winds for hard-fought. On multiple occasions, I died because I was waiting to charge a gun.
It was a level of challenge I really appreciated, particularly given the strategy dimension it added to the game. Borderlands has always been known for its mindless shooting action but here, the tweaks to guns mean more complexity, and more engagement for each battle. What added to this snappy dance was that I was playing as Vex the Siren, who’s likely to be a fan-favourite addition to Borderlands.
Vex the Siren absolutely rules
I’ll be honest and say I picked Vex the Siren to play (rather than Rafa the Exo-Soldier) purely on an aesthetic basis. With ultra-cool demonic wings, a black-and-purple colour scheme, and a stylish little bob cut, Vex is a very attractive new prospect. But beyond aesthetics, she also proved to be wildly powerful.
In battle, Vex is able to perform a variety of magical attacks. She’s accompanied by a pet demon named Trouble (yes, you can pet Trouble) and as her abilities develop, she can eventually summon magical clones that fight on her behalf. So while you’re whaling away at one particular enemy or another, you can also be chipping away at the health of others with your summonable demons.
In the boss fight of the Borderlands 4 preview, against Primordial Guardian Inceptus, this ability proved invaluable – and one of the only reasons I survived its many trials and tribulations.
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This particular boss fight, as mentioned, is against a plant elemental. It has a whipping tail that deals a great deal of damage, and shatters shields. It can also summon little plant beings, throw explosive acid bombs, and turn the entire stage into an acid pit, while it’s gestating in a chrysalis form.
For some flavour, I briefly took off my headset during the game preview to have a little snack. All around me, I heard tiny whistles, clicks, and groans of frustration as my fellow previewers failed again, and again, to take down this boss. I couldn’t be too smug, because it still took me a solid three deaths to get the rhythm right – but at the very least, I can be satisfied knowing I defeated Inceptus when others couldn’t.
At first glance, the boss feels simple. Dodge its attacks, use its minions as cannon fodder for Second Winds when you need them, and then claim victory. But avoiding its attacks and eventually whittling down its health kickstarts its mean second phase, where the floor becomes acid.
What follows is a sequence that requires your full focus and snappy movement. Whip yourself upwards, and stand on an awaiting plant, where you can shoot away. As that plant starts to fall, thanks to your weight, you’ll need to swing to the next plant. Eventually, Primordial Guardian Inceptus will drop to the ground, the acid disappears, and you’ll begin your tightly-paced dance once more.
It’s incredibly frantic, and a whole lot of fun. With a friend by your side, I can see this boss fight being particularly chaotic – but that’s the real joy of the entire franchise. Whether playing alone or solo, Borderlands has always been a high energy romp.
Travelling further afield
Of course, Borderlands 4 isn’t only about rock solid combat. As with the other games, it lets you loose in a wide open world of potential, filled with all manner of swamps and forests, otherworldly planes of floating rocks, and beyond. In the overworld, you can travel with the help of a summonable Digirunner, which lets you rocket over landscapes at speed.
Visiting all corners of the Fadefields (one of the starting areas), I encountered roaming Psychos, bands of rebels, and lovely, crispy foliage all around. There’s also plenty of new enemies to encounter, like floating “Witnesses” and all manner of other strange robot-angel beings. On one particular mission, I even encountered Claptrap, who’s just as endearing and annoying as ever.
What struck me most of all in this wide exploration is just how familiar Borderlands 4 feels, and why that’s such a good thing. Playing this sequel surfaced decades worth of memories for me, throwing me right back to the days of playing Borderlands 2 (with plenty fewer responsibilities). For me, the game also escaped my nostalgia, to be brilliant in its own right. I certainly left the preview session with much more hope than I had before.
Time will tell, but so far, it looks mightily like Borderlands 4 has that all-important juice. We’ll see just how much when it launches for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on 12 September 2025.
