BE A BADASS

Become an unstoppable force of battle, blasting through enemies with an all-new arsenal of outrageous weaponry. Move across the Borderlands like never before—double jumping, gliding, dodging, grappling, and more—dealing death from every direction. Explode each encounter with devastating Action Skills that unleash your Vault Hunter’s unique abilities. Craft your perfect build with branching skill trees and a deep, rewarding loot chase full of wild weapons and powerful gear.

There was also one particular bug that really annoyed me when playing solo especially.

Borderlands 4 launched with the typical Borderlands challenges. Performance issues were reported from day one. I chose to take my time with Borderlands 4 and tune out the initial noise. After several patches, here is my perspective.

From the very beginning, Borderlands 4 feels familiar. The signature cartoony art style and vibrant environments remain true to the series. However, as you dive deeper, you notice the thoughtful updates to this classic formula. I was impressed by the revamped movement mechanics. Now, you can double jump, dodge both in mid-air and on the ground, use a grappling hook, and glide. These additions make combat fluid and dynamic, allowing for swift maneuvers to get in and out of danger. This faster pace transformed my game-play into a thrilling whirlwind of destruction.

I chose to play as Vex, the Siren from the new set of Vault Hunters. I usually prefer the glass cannon style, like Zero (full Borderlands 2 Reveal Trailer here) or Zane (full Borderlands 3 Reveal Trailer here) from previous instalments. I love gun-play, and Vex’s style with her reapers really lets me focus on shooting and causing destruction while they draw aggro from the “pibs” (my term for common enemy types) or bosses.

There were a few frustrations, though. The Echo locator, which guides your path, often sent me on roundabout routes, the wrong way, or down dead ends. Also, not being able to deselect main quests once selected was annoying early on—I’d end up doing side quests when I meant to do main quests, or vice versa. The game occasionally suffered from frame rate drops, especially when I had all three reapers active, grenades exploding amid a screen full of enemies as I jumped, glided, and dodged in the heat of battle. One particularly irritating bug happened when playing solo: if my character was downed and fighting for their life, my gun would stop dealing damage, causing me to bleed out. After several attempts, I realized it wasn’t my aim and tried switching weapons. Sometimes it worked, but often the bug affected all weapons, leaving me reliant only on my reapers. I hope this gets fixed soon, as it still happened the last time I played.

The Wrap up

In closing: Despite the performance issues and the gun glitch I encountered during my play-through, my overall experience was far from terrible. I genuinely enjoyed the new story, especially seeing my previous character, Zane, from Borderlands 3, along with the return of a few familiar vault hunters, which made the story line feel more cohesive. The new movement mechanics promote a faster, more fluid play-style, aligning well with modern titles like Destiny. I still consider this a solid game well worth playing. I’m glad it was released when it was, as launching before major titles like Battlefield and Ghost of Yotei allowed me to fully enjoy my experience without feeling like I was missing out on something better.

Rating = Good