Borderlands 4 has a brand new problem mode the place you may battle high-level enemies within the Vault.
The motion role-playing first-person shooter looter recreation (now priced at $70 as a substitute of the beforehand floated $80) is approaching September 12 on the Nintendo Swap 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Collection X/S and the Home windows PC.
The Vault missions are non-obligatory content material. You’ll need to find the varied key fragments to unlock the vaults but it surely isn’t required for major recreation development. They do current challenges and potential good loot.
I visited 2K’s Hangar 13 studio in Novato, California, and performed a few hours of Borderlands 4. I’ve been writing up my impressions this week. I additionally interviewed the artistic director of the sport, Graeme Timmins, about what his objectives have been for the sport and the form of characters we’ll counter.
Like with GTA VI, there’s loads of pent-up demand for this recreation. Gearbox’s Borderland 3 got here out six years in the past in 2019. And Borderlands 4 was within the works even earlier than that title debuted.
It takes place on a planet named Kairos, and gamers assume the position of a Vault Hunter who should lead resistance in opposition to a dictator named the Timekeeper and his military of artificial followers. The sport has a brand new planet and an all-new solid which has nothing to do with final yr’s forgettable Borderlands film. I discovered the Vault to be notably troublesome, whereas the Fadefields have been extra open and enjoyable.
There’s loads of at stake on this title, as Take-Two acquired Gearbox in March 2024 for $460 million. That’s loads of cheddar, although it’s a lot lower than the as much as $1.3 billion that earlier proprietor Embracer paid for it. I loved taking part in each the single-player recreation, the time within the Fadefields part of the sport and the very troublesome (at the very least from my perspective) part of the sport referred to as The Vault.
You face off in opposition to the Timekeeper in Borderlands 4.
Within the Vault mission, you must random vault your manner into rocky landscapes which are floating in area. You should buy weapons, medical and ammo upgrades after which cost vault your manner into the panorama. You clear the enemies within the degree after which transfer on to the subsequent vault. Should you die, you begin over once more. For me, this was an countless loop. However others can go on and defeat greater and badder bosses.
“That boss represents a real big step for bosses in Borderlands,” mentioned Gearbox’s artistic director Graeme Timmins, in an interview with GamesBeat. It has a number of mechanics. It’s not only a wall of injury. It’s a must to dodge and grapple. We take a look at you in additional methods than simply whether or not you could have good weapons. That’s a very good instance of how we’ve leveled up the bosses right here in Borderlands 4.”
The purpose of going into the Vault is that you must uncover it and study from it.
“We don’t want to give you the answers up front. After a couple of attempts, you should have an idea. This is the type of enemies. They tend to have shields or they tend to have armor,” mentioned Timmins. “You can go and optimize your gear. I really need a shock weapon. I want a corrosive weapon. Maybe I want a piece of gear that helps me spread effects.”
He mentioned you would possibly wish to have a Maliwan weapon with ricochet bullets from Jakobs.
“Now you can spread that elemental damage to more enemies by shooting just one. There’s a lot of gear game there. You can further and further optimize your play style and eventually work on that challenge,” Timmins mentioned.
Borderlands 4 has a giant solid of characters.
It’s not a punishing recreation. Should you die, you respawn and simply spend some money. You then strive once more. You’re by no means punished for failure.
“It’s just a question of what you can learn from that and how you can optimize your build and try again,” Timmins mentioned.
This planet had been below the position of the Timekeeper for a thousand years. He used these Vaults to lock down humanity on this planet and pressure them into his little excellent order, Timmins mentioned. The Vault Hunters come in search of a Vault. They discover extra than simply the Vault. They discover the Timekeeper. They discover this entire civilization. They get wrapped up into the story, breaking this group of individuals free in addition to discovering Vaults, Timmins mentioned.
I spent loads of money going into the combat earlier than I knew what was going to occur. I don’t suggest this. My character had a “Dead Ringer skill” that gave me any mixture of Spectres or Reapers. These are companion characters that you just ship into the combat, both to flank the enemy or distract them from attacking you first. The Reapers are good for melee preventing whereas the Spectres can do harm from a protracted vary. They have been completely obligatory within the heavy fight with a lot happening without delay.
As you may see within the video, I fought, died and respawned rather a lot. I can’t say I realized that a lot within the fight however I may at the very least inform within the second what was working and what wasn’t. So I can consider which you can study rather a lot over time, as long as you don’t spend all of your money early on.
