I still remember booting up the original Borderlands on my chunky Xbox 360, back when loot-shooters were not a genre but an odd little experiment with cel-shaded edges and a slightly unhinged sense of humour. I have followed this series through its peaks, missteps, spin-offs and I wont even go into what was the Borderlands movie. But now I am a much older and (not so ) wiser I was equal parts excited and wary when picking up Borderlands 4 for the PlayStation 5. Long-running franchises carry baggage, and Borderlands has a very specific tone that is easy to overdo and hard to evolve. After a solid week with Borderlands 4, I can say this: it feels like a series finally comfortable with its age, its fans, and its future.
The first thing that struck me was the world design. Pandora was once a dusty, scrappy wasteland full of bandits and bad attitudes. Over time, the series expanded outward to new planets, sometimes successfully, sometimes less so. Borderlands 4 strikes a strong balance. The environments are far more varied than the early games, but they still feel grounded in that Borderlands DNA. There are wide-open combat spaces that invite chaos, tighter interior areas that reward tactical play, and visual storytelling baked into the scenery in a way earlier games only hinted at. It feels like Gearbox finally mastered scale without losing personality. It really makes use of the Playstation5 hardware and is a real feast for the eyes.
Gunplay, the lifeblood of the franchise, is the best it has ever been. Borderlands has always been about ridiculous weapons, but Borderlands 4 refines the feel of shooting in a way that longtime players will immediately notice. Recoil feels purposeful rather than floaty, enemy reactions are more satisfying, and the sound design gives every gun a sense of weight. The procedural weapon system is still gloriously absurd, but it is also smarter. Fewer guns feel disposable, and more drops invite experimentation rather than instant comparison and discard.
The Vault Hunters themselves deserve special mention. Borderlands has always excelled at character concepts, even when balance or depth occasionally lagged behind. In Borderlands 4, the playable characters feel thoughtfully designed from both a narrative and mechanical standpoint. Each one has a distinct playstyle that meaningfully changes how you approach combat, and the skill trees encourage specialization without locking you into rigid builds. Importantly, respec systems are generous enough to invite curiosity. This is a game that wants you to tinker, and as a veteran player, that respect for player agency is refreshing.
Narratively, Borderlands 4 is more restrained, and that is a compliment. The series has often struggled with its own voice, swinging between sharp satire and exhausting noise. This time, the writing feels more confident and less desperate to prove how funny it is. The humour still lands, often very well, but it knows when to step aside for character development and genuine stakes. The villains, while not trying to replicate Handsome Jack’s lightning-in-a-bottle charisma, are effective in their own right. They feel threatening without dominating every scene, allowing the wider world and supporting cast to breathe.
Side quests, traditionally one of Borderlands’ greatest strengths, are consistently engaging here. There is still plenty of absurdity, but many quests now have small narrative arcs or mechanical twists that make them memorable beyond their punchlines. As someone who has played every DLC pack and spin-off, I found myself genuinely interested in optional content again, rather than treating it as experience padding.
That said, Borderlands 4 is not without flaws. Performance hiccups do crop up, especially in larger combat scenarios with multiple effects on screen. While patches will likely smooth these issues, they are noticeable at launch. Some returning mechanics feel underexplained, assuming a level of familiarity that may confuse newer players. As a series veteran, I did not mind, but accessibility could have been handled more gracefully.
Perhaps the most impressive achievement of Borderlands 4 is how it respects its legacy without being chained to it. There are nods to the past everywhere, but they rarely feel like cheap nostalgia. Instead, the game feels like a conversation between old and new Borderlands. It acknowledges where the series came from, what it did well, and where it stumbled, then quietly adjusts course.
After all these years, I did not expect Borderlands to surprise me again. Yet Borderlands 4 managed to do exactly that. It is confident, refined, and still unapologetically weird. For players who have been here since the first vault opened, it feels like a reward for sticking around. For newcomers, it offers a polished entry point into a universe that finally feels fully realized.
