Borderlands 4 Review: Sharp Gunplay, Weak Storytelling, and the Series’ Biggest Overcorrection

Borderlands 4 is here, and while it sets out to correct the missteps of Borderlands 3, the end result often feels like a game caught between overcompensation and franchise fatigue. It dials down the loud villains and excessive humor, but in doing so, it strips away much of the personality that once defined Borderlands. What’s left is the most polished shooting and looting the series has ever seen, paired with the flattest narrative in its history.

This analysis draws heavily from Jordan Ramée’s review on GameSpot, which highlights how Borderlands 4’s adjustments create a strange imbalance between its mechanical strengths and narrative weaknesses. His critique offers a grounded perspective on how the game evolves past Borderlands 3 while also undercutting its own momentum.

At its core, Borderlands 4 still places players in the boots of Vault Hunters—mercenaries driven by greed, survival, or revenge. This time, four new Vault Hunters step into the spotlight: Vex the Siren, Amon the Forgeknight, Rafa the Exo-Soldier, and Rush the powerhouse brawler. Unlike earlier games, where some characters were noticeably less effective, each of these four feels equally viable across combat situations. Vex can summon ghostly copies or beasts to divert fire, while Amon brings brutal melee dominance with elemental axes and shields. Rafa thrives on fast, hit-and-run attacks, with skill trees that let him shift between melee brutality or turret-based ranged destruction. Rush, though framed with a generic personality in the story, shines in gameplay as a dependable heavy hitter.

Check Borderlands 4 system requirements for PC.

Ramée noted that this roster is the best starting lineup the franchise has ever delivered. For the first time, every Vault Hunter feels powerful and rewarded, whether you play solo or coordinate in co-op. Experimenting with their skill trees and customizing builds remains a highlight, giving players the freedom to chase new synergies with weapons, grenades, and shields. The loop of looting, respec-ing, and experimenting with new playstyles is at its most addictive here.

Yet, when the camera pulls back to the story, the cracks become obvious. Borderlands 3’s biggest problem was how grating its main villains became—talkative, self-indulgent streamers who never stopped taunting players. Borderlands 4 reacts by swinging hard in the opposite direction. Its antagonist, The Timekeeper, has a menacing premise—an implant that allows him to track and control the Vault Hunter—but this tension evaporates almost instantly when a small robot companion renders the implant useless. Instead of a looming threat, the villain is sidelined. What should have been a strong central hook becomes another abandoned thread.

Here’s the explanation of Borderlands 4 pricing from Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick.

The supporting cast also fails to make an impact. Whereas Borderlands games have historically balanced their humor with characters who inspired strong reactions—love them or hate them—Borderlands 4’s new characters leave little impression. Rush is written as a noble strongman, Zadra is a suspicious scientist, and others barely move beyond archetypes. Ramée describes the cast as bland, noting that even when faced with potentially emotional moments, such as failing to save an ally, there is no real weight because the game never establishes why players should care about these characters.

This problem is emphasized by how the game treats returning faces. Instead of leaning on beloved or divisive legacy characters like Claptrap, Tiny Tina, or Mad Moxxi, the game minimizes their presence almost entirely. Only a few appear briefly, and their limited roles highlight just how cautious Borderlands 4 is about drawing too many connections to its past. By stripping away recognizable figures and inserting generic replacements, the game removes both the annoyance and the charm, leaving behind a void.

Borderlands 4’s narrative confusion extends to its structure. At first, it seems players will be driven by personal stakes: survival against The Timekeeper’s implant or revenge for manipulation. Yet within hours, these motivations vanish, replaced by a generic call to join a resistance movement. This sudden shift undermines the early story hook and leaves progression feeling arbitrary. The villain has lieutenants to defeat and armies to dismantle, but the motivation behind it all feels thin.

Despite these flaws, gameplay mechanics carry the experience for much of its runtime. Borderlands 4’s shooting is the most refined in the series, with enemies that explode into chaos and loot fountains that constantly tempt players into reworking their builds. The sheer variety of weapons, abilities, and customization options keeps the action engaging, at least for the first stretch. Ramée praised moments of emergent brilliance, like using grappling hooks to pull environmental hazards into combat, chaining ability synergies, or creating powerful builds that feel clever and satisfying.

New traversal mechanics like gliding and grappling hooks inject fresh movement options. Players can pull shields away from enemies, rip explosive barrels into their hands, or swing between platforms for vertical combat approaches. These mechanics don’t transform the game, but they add much-needed momentum to encounters. Combined with experimental loot, they create opportunities for improvised strategies, moments where the chaos feels alive and surprising.

But repetition gradually erodes this energy. Borderlands 4 introduces most enemy types within its first half, and subsequent hours are padded with variations that fail to feel distinct. The excitement of adapting to new threats fades as combat begins to rely on familiar patterns. Boss encounters fare better, avoiding the excessive bullet-sponge design of Borderlands 3, but they don’t deliver memorable villains in the vein of Handsome Jack. Over a decade later, the franchise still lacks an antagonist capable of matching his presence.

Side quests compound the issue. Borderlands has always leaned on absurd humor or bizarre tasks to make optional content feel worthwhile, but in Borderlands 4, side missions rarely land. Without humor or strong writing, many devolve into filler, necessary only because the leveling curve forces players to grind them to stay competitive with story enemies. Progression slows dramatically if players try to avoid side content, making it less optional and more mandatory. Yet, because the quests lack personality, they feel like chores rather than highlights.

This overcorrection—the avoidance of humor, eccentric characters, or divisive personalities—has left the game hollow. Ramée observed that, even at its worst, Claptrap sparked reactions. He was irritating but memorable, an emblem of the series’s willingness to push its identity. Borderlands 4, in trying to avoid annoyance, also avoids inspiration. It feels safe to a fault, unwilling to risk strong reactions from its players.

Still, there’s no denying that the mechanical foundation is stronger than ever. Customization runs deep, and players are rewarded for constantly tinkering with new builds. Whether it’s chaining elemental effects, stacking ricochets, or deploying grappling hook tactics mid-combat, Borderlands 4 thrives when it embraces chaos. Ramée noted his favorite moments came from unexpected synergies that made him feel like he’d broken the game in clever ways, even if those moments were fleeting.

Unfortunately, this strength cannot carry the full weight of a long campaign. By the final hours, the lack of narrative stakes, the weak characters, and the repetitive combat loops leave a sense of fatigue. The highs are high, but they’re frontloaded, and the experience diminishes as the game stretches out its runtime with filler.

Borderlands 4 succeeds in giving players the best Vault Hunters and the most polished combat in the series. But as a complete package, it falters, failing to deliver compelling characters, humor, or stakes to match its gameplay foundation. For a series that once thrived on loud personalities and irreverent energy, this fourth entry feels muted. It’s a shooter that nails mechanics but forgets the importance of identity.

For players who want pure looting and shooting with refined systems and abundant customization, Borderlands 4 delivers. For those who seek a memorable story, iconic villains, or unforgettable characters, it comes up short. It is both the most technically sound and narratively hollow Borderlands to date, a paradox born of overcorrection.

Would you like me to also expand this with a historical section comparing Borderlands 4’s reception to earlier entries like 2 and 3, to give readers context on how it stacks up in the franchise’s legacy?