The first Borderlands game was a surprise hit, and launched a massive multimedia franchise, but a series of strange and damaging decisions has left this cel-shaded game series languishing.
Now as we wait to see if Borderlands 4 can bring back the game’s groove, it’s a good time to take a look back at the highs, the lows, and the further lows of this stylish sci-fi looter-shooter. Rest in peace, Scooter.
Borderlands Was Lightning in a Bottle
It really feels like the original Borderlands came out of nowhere, since I don’t really remember much hype in magazines or online at the time, but when this 2009 RPG-shooter hybrid landed, it landed hard and everyone was playing it.
Gearbox
Everything in this game just seemed to click. From its comic book art style to the irreverent humor and infinite gun combinations, Borderlands was lightning in a bottle. You wouldn’t think so when reading up about the games’ development. For one thing, that iconic cel-shaded art style only happened near the end of the game’s development, when it was almost finished. Early previews showed realistic graphics, rather than the stylized game we got.
Unfortunately, this meant Borderlands would look like every other brown-tinted shooter of the era, so even if this radical change did lead to a release delay into 2009, it was ultimately the right choice.
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As for the game itself, it was pretty great! It had a compelling game loop, and it was a blast playing with your friends. However, it was clear it could have used some more time in the oven, and obvious corners were cut. Despite being a 3D first-person game with modeled characters, story stuff was mostly handled in text boxes, and a lot of the game felt like grindy filler content.
The worst part, however, was the single-player experience. For me, Borderlands just isn’t any fun when playing alone, which might seem like a “me” problem, but games like Diablo are awesome in single-player, and get better with friends. Here, I feel, the game needs multiplayer to be fun at all. Nonetheless, it was a strong start, and they sold a mountain of copies, which meant much more money and resources for the sequel.
Borderlands
Released
October 20, 2009
ESRB
m
Developer(s)
Gearbox Software
Publisher(s)
2K Games, Feral Interactive
Engine
Unreal Engine 3
Multiplayer
Local Multiplayer
Borderlands 2 Did Everything Right
2012’s Borderlands 2 is possibly one of the biggest sequel glow-ups in gaming history. It’s similar to going from Diablo to Diablo 2 or Assassin’s Creed to Assassin’s Creed 2. The base game was great, and many people loved it, but the sequel took everything that was good about the original and made it better, while also taking everything I hated about the original Borderlands and fixing it or removing it.
The actual movement and gameplay were much improved, the graphics were nicer, story elements were now diagetic and actually acted out by characters in the game. The story itself was far more interesting too, and the cast of characters was better and more expansive. A lot of the things that people love about this series were introduced in the second game, and, frankly, it’s still the best game in the series.
Borderlands 2
Released
September 18, 2012
ESRB
M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language, Sexual Themes, Use of Alcohol
Developer(s)
Gearbox Software
Publisher(s)
2K
Engine
Unreal Engine 3
Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
The Spinoffs Spun Their Wheels
After Borderlands 2, it didn’t really seem like Gearbox knew what to do with the franchise. Borderlands was doing well, and there had been expansions for both the original and second game, but I guess there was clear demand for more. So we got a bunch of spinoff games—and also one terrible live action movie that lost a lot of money and never had a reason to exist.
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The best of the bunch are probably the original Tales From the Borderlands and Tiny Tina’s Wonderland, which are both creative and fun additions to the world. Everything else, including Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, which is technically a mainline game, just fell sort of flat and didn’t spark the same joy as the first two games.
Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands
Released
March 25, 2022
ESRB
T For Teen due to Blood, Crude, Humor, Language, Partial Nudity, Suggestive Themes, Violence
Developer(s)
Gearbox Software
Publisher(s)
2K
Engine
Unreal Engine 4
Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer, Local Co-Op
Borderlands 3 Lost What Made Borderlands Great
The Borderlands 3 Vault Hunters gathered together in combat
I don’t want to make the spinoffs sound too bad, since by and large they were OK and didn’t detract too much from the core Borderlands games. After all, you can just ignore them. However, with Borderlands 3 I felt none of the magic of the first two games, the second in particular.
While the game was technically sound (barring performance issues and launch bugs), the story, humor, and essence of what made Borderlands compelling just wasn’t there for me. I couldn’t bring myself to ever finish this one, because after a dozen or so hours, I just didn’t feel anything pulling me back in. That’s bad for a game series based on an ultra-addictive game loop.
The gameplay is fine, good even by some accounts, but the characters and dialogue feel annoying, the narrative is poorly paced (which means you spend a lot of time not playing, and just experiencing exposition), and the humor—something games rarely do well—falls completely flat in the third game. Despite this being a defining pillar of the series. Maybe it’s that the game started taking itself seriously, instead of being in on the joke with the rest of us?
Borderlands 3
Released
September 13, 2019
ESRB
M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language
Developer(s)
Gearbox Software
Publisher(s)
2K Games
Engine
Unreal Engine 4
Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op, Local Co-Op
Borderlands 4 Has a Lot to Prove
With the fourth game on the horizon, my hopes are sky-high. Early looks are promising, and the few influencers and gaming media darlings who got to play a few hours of the game generally seem positive. That said, it’s been well over a decade since Borderlands peaked with its second game. So, is it even possible to recapture what made Borderland good while still offering something new?
There seem to be extensive changes to the formula, and the game is apparently more open than any title that came before, but only time will tell if the narrative, feel, aesthetic, and humor of Borderlands will return in top form, or if we’ll get another game that looks like Borderlands on the box, but isn’t really Borderlands once you look inside.
