Borderlands 4 Review — Lots of Guns, Few Frames per Second

Naturally, you can’t call the Borderlands series niche. The franchise’s games sell millions of copies and attract huge numbers of players within the first days of release. For example, the new Borderlands 4 was launched by over 300,000 people on Steam alone at release. Nevertheless, despite their popularity, the series’ projects rarely leave a noticeable mark on the industry, spark heated forum debates, or contend for “Game of the Year.” For all their undeniable merits, they almost always lack something to break into the top league and capture universal attention. Borderlands 4 is a vivid example of that.

The story campaign of Borderlands 4, just like in previous entries, focuses on a new group of Vault Hunters opposing yet another tyrant holding an entire planet under control. This time, the world is called Kairos, and we’re fighting against an authoritarian leader nicknamed the Timekeeper.

What sets the narrative of the fourth game apart from its predecessors is its more serious tone. The writers at Gearbox Software decided to significantly reduce the share of “toilet humor” that Borderlands 3 was so heavily criticized for, and instead tried to build the main storyline around more dramatic, mature themes. At the same time, the franchise’s trademark crazy jokes and quirky characters were left for the side missions. Essentially, the authors followed the path of the sci-fi series Firefly, where the central story is dark, but the periphery is full of jokes and ironic moments.

The problem is that for the Borderlands series, where goofy humor has long been an integral part of the brand, this new approach doesn’t work too well. Yes, the fourth entry tells a relatively grounded story about the horrors of Kairos’ regime and the hardships of joining a planet-wide rebellion, but at times the storytelling comes across as too flat and, consequently, boring. The Timekeeper and his key generals don’t stand out as antagonists at all: they lack villainous charisma and don’t even come close to the golden standard set by Handsome Jack in Borderlands 2.

There are plenty of jokes in the side missions, but since the campaign tries to appear serious, a tonal dichotomy arises: the humor of the side quests clashes with the game’s overall tone. Five minutes ago you were watching the Timekeeper brutally execute a group of prisoners, and now you’re doing a favor for a talking warhead suffering from depression.

Despite these narrative rough edges, in one important aspect Borderlands 4’s script significantly surpasses its predecessors. The authors finally fully integrate the player into the narrative, making them not just a silent errand-runner, but an active participant. The Vault Hunter talks with characters and constantly comments on events. I played as the Siren Vex and was pleasantly surprised by how much the heroine’s character unfolds over the course of the story. NPCs also have plenty of unique lines addressed specifically to Vex: for example, other Sirens treat her as one of their own.

In the weeks following Borderlands 4’s release, gamers mostly discussed not the gameplay, but the performance. The most criticism, still ongoing, is directed at how the project runs on PC. I played on PlayStation 5, so I can’t speak from personal experience, but there are more than enough tests online showing that without upscalers Borderlands 4 indeed runs poorly even on an RTX 5080. At the same time, Gearbox head Randy Pitchford actively defends the optimization on his social media, calling the new release a “premium game” for owners of modern hardware.

As for consoles, PS5 optimization leaves much to be desired as well. Not only do FPS drops show up in practically every firefight, but simply walking around the world — even when there’s no action — becomes uncomfortable within half an hour. On consoles, there seems to be some kind of memory leak, meaning the only solution is to restart the game regularly.

The thing is, Borderlands 4 doesn’t look like a cutting-edge high-tech project that could justify performance drops or the blurry resolution on PS5. The lighting is pleasant, no doubt, and the frame is full of small details, but the game’s cel-shaded style masks many of Unreal Engine 5’s graphical flourishes — somewhat ironically. If you line up Borderlands 2, Borderlands 3, and Borderlands 4, the graphical leap is noticeable, but it’s far from as impressive as in other franchises.

The switch to a modern engine eliminated loading screens between levels, so the developers decided to implement a seamless open world in Borderlands 4. But the execution didn’t turn out too well.

Borderlands 4 doesn’t do anything new or unusual with the open-world concept. The various biomes mostly look unremarkable, and more importantly — they offer too many uninteresting “points of interest.” The map is filled with locations that boil down to firefights rewarded with a loot chest. Of course, there are engaging activities too: for instance, boss fights that can randomly spawn in the middle of the world, or searching for keys to unlock gates to one of three optional Vaults. But on the way to the worthwhile content, there’s so much filler that the game would have been better off cutting the map size in half and leaving only the best parts.

Navigation isn’t the most enjoyable either. The interface is overloaded with markers, there’s no mini-map, and despite the hero having a jetpack that theoretically allows access to hard-to-reach places, the world is filled with invisible walls. So instead of finding your own path, you have to follow the one laid out by the developers.

Nevertheless, when it comes to direct firefights, Borderlands 4 transforms completely. Purely in terms of action, the new game is undoubtedly the most satisfying and high-octane entry in the series.

Moving around the arena is sheer fun. Every Vault Hunter can make quick sideways dashes with the aforementioned jetpack to dodge attacks, perform running slides, and use an energy grappling hook to latch onto special ledges — climbing up high or vaulting over enemies. The same tool can also pull certain objects like explosive barrels, which can then be thrown at foes.

In terms of dynamics, Borderlands 4 isn’t quite Doom Eternal, but it’s a major step forward for the franchise. The new moves speed up the pace and give players extra tactical options — which is great.

What’s missing for complete satisfaction, however, is a strong soundtrack: Borderlands 4’s current tracks just play quietly in the background, getting lost amid the cacophony of explosions and enemy screams.

It’s no secret that cool guns are nearly the main thing in Borderlands. As with Diablo, a huge part of the thrill in Gearbox shooters comes from the excitement of getting especially powerful weapons. And the loot in the new game is the most interesting in the series.

Around level 20, guns in Borderlands 4 begin generating with parts from different manufacturers, making it possible to find truly epic random weapons that rival legendaries — crucial for gameplay variety.

Some part combinations are so effective they almost feel like cheats. For example, you might get a Maliwan SMG with elemental damage that, thanks to Jacobs parts, ricochets bullets on critical hits, while a Torgue module makes those bullets attach mini-bombs to enemies. The fact that such devastating weapons can drop at almost any moment, not just from farming bosses, greatly amplifies the dopamine rush after every battle.

It’s not just the revamped loot generation system that adds variety, but also how character progression works in Borderlands 4. The number of options for a single Vault Hunter is impressive. Each hero has three unique abilities defining gameplay style — nothing new there — but the skill trees are far more complex than in previous entries.

Vex, for instance, has three main progression paths: the first allows her to summon a phantom predatory cat, the second to attack enemies with energy spheres, and the third to create her own clones. After that, each tree branches into three additional sub-paths. You can develop skills so that, for example, her doubles are effective at range — using a copy of her weapon and gaining reload speed buffs. Or focus on melee clones. Or find a happy medium between the extremes.

Essentially, during a playthrough you have access to at least nine variations of the same hero, not counting branch combinations.

And let’s not forget the rare items dropped by enemies that expand the progression system even further. You might get powerful class modifiers, like one that boosts Vex’s energy projectiles with additional damage linked to the equipped grenade.

It’s easy to sink dozens, if not hundreds of hours into this variety, refining builds or trying entirely new approaches.

If you play Borderlands for the looting and shooting, then the fourth entry is probably the best in the series — at least when looking at those elements in isolation. However, as a complete package, it leaves mixed impressions: the story fails to engage, optimization disappoints, and the open world feels more like a drawback. You can certainly have plenty of fun with the game, but how much depends directly on whether you’re willing to overlook problems in exchange for explosive action.

And what do you think? How do you like the new release? Share in the comments.