Borderlands 4 (Steam)

I've been a fan of the Borderlands franchise since the beginning - I loved the first two entries as a teenager, but skipped the third entry. The second entry in particular holds a special place in my heart. I recently upgraded my personal computer, and when I heard Borderlands 4 was coming out I figured it would be a perfect way to stress-test it. The choice of vault hunters is okay this time around, but each comes with a lot of depth in skill trees to enable a lot of customization. I went with Harlowe, as a friend was playing as Rafa already. The story was solid, with a few branched plots centered on new characters that converge into an overarching plot - along with some familiar faces. The real draws are the gunplay and looting of course, and Borderlands 4 delivers so nicely in that regard. The shooting is buttery smooth and highly responsive. Combat encounters are generally designed with care, although there are some instances with an abundance of enemies, or aggresively overleveled enemies. What makes the combat great is the addition of some new movement mechanics such as a glide, dash, and double jump. This lets the player bounce around the map in a DOOMlike fashion, and really doesn't get old. The loot that you pick up along the way is varied and fun, with constant improvements until later on in the campaign. I ended up getting a really strong build with Harlowe's Chroma Accelerator and a legendary shotgun where I melted the last several bosses in mere seconds. So satisfying. The layout of the open-world map provides for a lot of different farming locations, and there is plenty of post-game with more to come (I'm sure). I could see myself hopping back into Borderlands 4 every now and again, especially as the online co-op seems to work very nicely in my one interaction with it. Ultimately, Borderlands 4 reclaims the identity of the series, and marks a great entry into this classic franchise.

Play it for the:

Fun movement mechanics
Plethora of gun types and variants
Unique cel shaded style

Reviewed on 2025-11-5

Behold, an ultrawide display!