The “Borderlands” franchise has thrived on fast-paced gunplay, irreverent humor and loot-driven chaos since its 2009 debut. Expectations for “Borderlands 4” were high, with longtime fans hoping Gearbox would address criticisms of “Borderlands 3” while moving the series forward into new territory.
The fifth game in the series marks the franchise’s first fully open-world design and was marketed heavily on expanded movement systems, more weapons and refined co-op play.
“Borderlands 4” launched Sept. 12, 2025, on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, with a Nintendo Switch 2 release set for Oct. 3. It quickly set a new series record for concurrent users on Steam. The game’s Metacritic score stands at 84/100, making it one of the franchise’s best-reviewed entries. Gearbox has projected the release will help push total Borderlands sales past 100 million units.
Two members of our university’s Valorant eSports team weighed in. Computer Science Senior Jaxon “tracotr” King, who has played through the franchise and Business Senior Myles “Stoo” Stewart who has logged 4,000 hours logged across Borderlands franchise.
Both praised the core gameplay upgrades. King called “Borderlands 4,” “a major enhancement of its predecessors. Most gameplay elements from Borderlands 3 are present here but iterated upon in a way that feels new and completely revamped.”
He highlighted the traversal system, saying, “Being able to grapple and glide to keep or gain speed makes running around and fighting stuff super fun.”
Stewart agreed the mechanics were a highlight.
“The mechanics that stood out the most were the new alternate fire modes, the grappling and climbing system, the safehouses and fast travel changes, and the randomly generated objectives found on the map,” Stewart said. He also emphasized that side content remains strong.
“The side quests are absolutely worth doing, just as they’ve always been in the franchise, thanks to the easter eggs, humor, and worthwhile rewards.” Stewart said.
The two teammates diverged on story and performance.
King rated the game 8.5 out of 10.
“A fresh new step for the franchise… I would recommend this game to anyone with a device that can run it, it is very welcoming to newcomers and ups the ante on expectations of long-term players,” King said.
For him, the narrative was secondary. “The story is not really the draw of these games, it is the fun loot, at least for me,” King said.
Stewart rated it 7 out of 10 and was more critical of the writing and atmosphere.
“The main storyline is not engaging at all, making it easy to forget or simply lose interest in. The older games did a much better job with atmospheric background music, something ‘Borderlands 3 and 4’ have failed to capture,” Stewart said. He also felt the music lacked the immersion of earlier games.
On performance, King noted, “Performance-wise, the game does not run very well on lower-end hardware, however I heard it performs good on new-gen consoles.”
Stewart’s PC experience was harsher.
“The performance was awful, with stutters occurring constantly and frequent crashes. Sometimes even before the character select screen on launch day,” Stewart Said.
Despite differences, both agreed “Borderlands 4” offers the most ambitious vision yet for the series and lays the groundwork for future patches and downloadable content.
Overall, “Borderlands 4” delivers a bold step forward for the franchise, expanding exploration, mechanics and co-op play while addressing many past criticisms. While performance issues, particularly on PC, remain a concern, the core gameplay, loot system and side content continue to shine, offering hours of fun for both longtime fans and newcomers.
With ongoing patches and future downloadable content planned by Gearbox, the game sets the stage for what could be the most expansive and enduring entry in the series yet.
