It was somewhere between hour 10 and 12 with Borderlands 4 when I picked up a gun I eventually referred to as “ol’ reliable”. A gun that looked similar to any of the thousands of others that I’d seen pop out of enemies, it didn’t particularly stand out and I’d just added it to my backpack. Then I accidentally equipped it. A Jacob’s sniper rifle with a long-range scope, this gun quickly became my ‘go to’. I’d sit on cliff edges, making the word ‘CRITICAL’ pop out of enemy heads as they transformed into a bloody mess of gibs, rib bones and guts. Together, “ol’ reliable” and I defeated scores of Rippers, Psychos, foot-soldiers and mini-bosses, beasts and robots. It was a happy time. I loved that gun.

But things started to change. As we progressed, the enemies got more challenging. Enemies that would fall down dead after a single shot started to flinch it off. Cracks in my relationship with “ol’ reliable” started to show. It became ol’ unreliable. I was holding up my end of the bargain. My aim was still true. I was still landing the headshots. But my gun… well, it was time we broke up. When a new sniper rifle came along with better damage, a faster rate of fire and a glorious under-barrel launcher, “ol’ reliable” was cast into the backpack only to be sold as trash a few hours later.

It’s a tale as old as time. Well, as long as Looter Shooters have existed. The genre throws guns upon guns into your face and we, as players, come to find our favourites. We use them. We love them. The game eventually outpaces them. We try new guns. We find new favourites. This is a game play loop that Borderland 4 has perfected. The claim that the game has ‘billions of guns’ certainly feels plausible. Different sights, reload animations/speeds, attachments, upgrades, damage, bullet types; no two guns feel and play the same. You can pick up 5 guns, all with the same name and they will likely feel entirely different to one another. Each new weapon you see could be the start of a new love story between player and cold, hard killing machine.

Of course, having countless weapons to use means nothing if the gunplay is sloppy. Thankfully, the tight and enjoyable combat that we’ve come to expect from Borderlands is further refined here. Pulling the trigger on any of the weapons to make blood, numbers and the word “Critical” come out of enemies as you watch their health bars decrease to zero is as hypnotic in Borderlands 4 as it was in the original.

Time To Kill

You’re going to need a veritable arsenal if you’re going to take on the new BBEG for Borderlands 4, The Timekeeper. Ruling over the planet of Kairos using mind control technology, this oppressive dictator has been using alien technology found in a Vault to unnaturally extend his life, and those of his closest allies. He’s no Handsome Jack, rarely chirping in your ear about his evil plans, but his chokehold on the planet is ever-present. The events of Borderlands 3 have left Kairos open for exploration, so of course a group of plucky Vault Hunters have turned up.

Borderlands 4 presents a fresh quartet of vault hunters for you to play as, as is the standard for the series. Each caters to a different type of play style with their own mechanics and builds to explore. If you’re new to the series, Vault Hunters are mercenaries that hunt out fabled ‘Vaults’ which are rumoured to contain riches, long forgotten tech and oodles of loot. Or horrific aliens that want to murder the universe. It seems to the latter more often than not. These Vault Hunters are always a colourful and charismatic bunch, and the protagonists of Borderlands 4 are no different.

Vex (my personal favourite) is the Siren this time around. Rather than fire wings or phase locking, she can spawn minion copies of herself to flank her foes, or engage them directly with a giant scythe. Rafa, on the other hand, is more attuned to mid-range battles. With his exo-suit arms, he can deal out massive damage with explosives or tasers. Then there’s Amon, the tank for the game. With his Forgeskills, he can hammer home ranged elemental damage while also pummeling out devastating melee damage, refilling his shields as he does so. Finally, there’s Harlowe. Essentially an atomic disco on legs, she can turn the whole screen into bright lights and explosions using her various contraptions.

Each of the vault hunters grow and evolve down their own skill trees as they gain experience. With each level you earn by completing quests and killing hordes of enemies, you’ll be granted with a point to spend in these skill trees. These trees are branching, meaning you can further tailor the strengths of each character to how you like to play. With the right upgrades, Amon can turn into a near immortal shield bashing machine. Vex, on the other hand, can embolden her minions with copies of her own guns, helping bleed enemies of health while you dodge incoming fire.

Inspiring A Revolution, One Bullet At A Time

Each of the Vault Hunters have their own personality too, replying to characters around Kairos in their own unique sound bites. These add flavour, but the story is the same for each Vault Hunter, no matter who you choose.

The narrative of Borderlands 4 is particularly strong. The main quest line – aiming to take down the Timekeeper – is where the stakes are the highest and as you might expect, is where the most powerful story beats take place. These play with the themes of mind control and the eternal life of the villains to deliver some particularly heart-warming and heart-wrenching moments.

These moments are made possible by a cast of NPC’s, both new and returning, which are complex and often incredibly likable. They’re all products of the futuristic corporate hellscape that is the Borderlands universe, so they’re all striking but flawed in their own way. Some are on a redemption arc. Others are doing the best they can for the group they lead. These characters grow and evolve as you progress through the main story.

The biggest improvement to the story in Borderlands 4 compared to the rest of the series is how it builds upon itself by placing the Vault Hunter at the centre of the narrative. It reminds me somewhat of a Bethesda RPG in that regard. With each mission that the Vault Hunters complete, the world and its various factions wrestle back a little bit more freedom from the Timekeeper. Your defiant Vault Hunter is the spark of inspiration that the tyrannised people have been searching for, making every enemy you slay feel justified in some way. Kairos feels like a can of lighter fluid, and the player is the match that sets it all ablaze. Sure, you’re still after the Vault, but who says we can’t attempt to stop Space Hitler in the process?

Oh, We’re Going To Kairos

The other star of Borderlands 4 is the world itself. While not as colourful as the worlds and biomes we’ve explored in other Borderlands titles, Kairos is a fascinating place to get lost in. For the most part, the game is played across one massive open world with links between distinct areas. There’s 5 distinct zones, each with its own theme, inhabitants and deadly fauna. From rolling hills and farms to arid hills and a war-torn city, icy foothills to the embattled capital city, this game packs a lot of variety into its environments. It’s a tour de force of inspirations from previous Borderlands games, stealing from everything from the Pre-sequel to the most recent 2019 title.

More so than in any other Borderlands game, these environments feel far more vertical too. Utilising the new grapple hooks and climbing walls, combining with the glider, you’re able to really spring around, find new angles on enemies and explore areas that might have just been window dressing in previous titles. There’s platforming and climbing to a degree that has never been introduced in Borderlands before, and it works surprisingly well.

Spread across this massive world are a myriad of activities to engage with too. Safehouses and silos act like forward bases in the violent wilderness, giving you somewhere to restock ammo or fast travel too. Safehouses each come with their own puzzle to unlock, which involves scanning the environment for a data bad. Some are quite simple, while others have you follow the environmental storytelling clues of battles long since past. There’s hundreds of collectables in Borderlands 4 too, some of which will flesh out the backstory of the NPC’s and the Vault Hunter themselves. All of this lends itself to making Kairos feel like a world that’s lived in and continues to surprise, even 40 hours in.

Borderlands 4 is also quite smart to reign in all of its attention on one planet. The series’ previous title Borderlands 3 felt less focused by spacing the adventure out among the stars. Here, the world itself feels more connected, but vast at the same time.

A Tasty Side Dish

Dotted around the massive map of Kairos is just shy of 100 side missions. If the main story is where the tone is the most serious, these side dishes are where most of the trademark humour of Borderlands 4 comes to the fore. In an early side quest, you’ll be chasing down a UFO that is abducting the planets version of cows. Later you’ll be working with a Ripper scientist (those who have removed the mind control bolt from their necks, subsequently going crazy) to find a ‘cure’ for the insanity. If you can stand it (I know he’s divisive), you can also inadvertently help CL4P-TP with his love life. If you like the humour of the Borderlands games, there’s plenty of it here, hiding just beneath the surface in the side missions.

Not all of the side missions are a gag a minute however. While the Timekeeper and his forces are a persistent threat, there are other villains that are murdering from the shadows or are undermining your allies. The side missions will put you on their trail. For the most part, these missions can be distilled into “go here, kill this, listen to that” on repeat, but the majority contribute to the lore and depth of Borderlands 4.

Securing Our Borderlands

I think it’s fair to say the Borderlands 4 had a turbulent first few weeks on the market, much of which has been well publicised. Performance complaints, glitches, features like field of view sliders missing from the console versions; there were a lot of vocal complaints. Patches have now arrived and improvements have been made. For PlayStation players, you can now amend your field of view. Many of the most annoying glitches have gone; you can now label surplus guns in your backpack as junk without it inadvertently selecting something else a few rows higher in the menu.

There are still some technical hiccups hanging around in Borderlands 4 however. NPC’s that are accompanying you on missions can fail to perform an action, essentially blocking your progress. Quest givers can also become unresponsive, refusing to talk to you despite having an exclamation point above their head. These issues are all fixed by restarting the game, so they’re far from game breaking, but they do take the sheen off what is otherwise a very polished title.

Borderlands 4 You & Me

I mentioned returning characters earlier. There are many. While Gearbox have done an admirable job of making this game approachable to complete newcomers, it is nonetheless steeped in the mythology of Borderlands, pays off gags that are a decade in the making and relies upon the player having some prior attachment to characters from previous games for its most powerful moments. Playing Borderlands 4 often feels like a reward for the countless hours spent murdering our way across Pandora, bouncing around on Elpis and hacking through Eden-6. If those names mean something to you, you’ll get a kick out of everything this game is trying to do.

Despite its few technical issues, which may very well be fixed over time, Borderlands 4 is undoubtedly the best looter shooter released in the last 5 years. It has refined everything that worked in the series, tweaked what needed a change and blended in a few new elements to add further variety to its offering. It’s not often that I feel the need to continue playing a game I’m reviewing after I’ve written about it, but I can certainly see myself spending another 30 to 40 hours with Borderlands 4.

Borderlands 4 is available now on Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5 (review platform), Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC.

Developer: Gearbox
Publisher: 2K

Disclaimer: In order to complete this review, we were provided with a promotional copy of the game. For our full review policy, please go here.

If you enjoyed this article or any more of our content, please consider our Patreon.

Make sure to follow Finger Guns on our social channels. Twitter, Facebook, Twitch, Spotify or Apple Podcasts – to keep up to date on our news, reviews and features.