Today, we learned a lot more about Borderlands 4 during a roughly 20-minute PlayStation State of Play dedicated exclusively to Gearbox and 2K’s upcoming sci-fi looter shooter sequel.
Announced last year, Borderlands 4 is set to launch on September 12. That date is a bit earlier than previously announced and was leaked yesterday by Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford a few hours before the official news was revealed. Pitchford has since claimed that the game’s release date shifting has nothing to do with other games like Grand Theft Auto 6 or Marathon. Regardless, the looter shooter is coming out sooner than expected, and so it makes sense that Gearbox wanted to show it off via a new PlayStation State of Play.
On April 30, Sony aired a 2o-minute gameplay deep dive into Borderlands 4 in which we learned a lot more about the upcoming FPS. Here are 13 key pieces of information from the event.
- Pitchford claims Borderlands 4 is going to have a more “grounded tone” that harkens back to the original game.
- Two of the new Vault Hunters in the game were given names and we learned more about them. Vex is a powerful Siren with a ghost-tiger that she can pet and use in combat. Rafa is a former Tediore soldier who uses advanced tech during fights.
- Borderlands 4 is set on Kairos, a new planet that was previously controlled and hidden by a mysterious alien being known as the Timekeeper. Some years before the game started, however, a rogue moon crashed into the planet and caused a ton of chaos. (OG character Lilith might have been involved in that…)
- The looter shooter will support crossplay at launch. It will also let you play two-player split screen c0-op. While playing with others you’ll be able to set your own difficulty and all loot will be instanced, so no gun stealing between friends.
- Kairos will feature four massive zones that players can explore freely with no loading screens. In the mission we saw during the demo, the new hunters were infiltrating a secret blacksite research facility alongside Borderlands 3 character Armata.
- You can now glide across large gaps and use your zipline on certain points in exploration or during combat. Gearbox confirmed that sliding, double jumping and dashing are back, too.
- Players will have access to a “Digirunner,” a vehicle which looks a lot like a Sparrow from Destiny. These are single-seat hovercraft that you can spawn into at any point while out in the world.
- While exploring Kairos you’ll discover silos. These are locations that aren’t tied to side quests, but function more like the kinds of activities you might seen in a big open-world game like Assassin’s Creed.
- Most of the weapon manufactures from past games, like Tediore and Jakobs, are back. But this time around guns can spawn with “Licensed Parts.” So a Jakobs rifle might have a different brand of scope or barrel, which might change how it fires or the kind of damage it does. This will make the already wildly unique loot you find in Borderlands games even more varied.
- Speaking of loot, Gearbox has reworked how often rare loot drops and promises that Legendaries will be rarer and more powerful than in Borderlands 3. You’ll also be able to unlock enhancements that can make certain weapon brands more powerful.
- Borderlands 4 will feature repayable missions and boss fights, which should make it easier than ever to grind for specific loot.
So yeah, we learned a lot of about Borderlands 4! And I’m excited to see more of the game between now and its (earlier than planned) launch of September 12. Borderlands 4 is set to arrive on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Switch 2.
