Borderlands 4 launches on September 12 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Collection X/S, and PC. Gearbox’s open-world looter-shooter sequel is an enormous recreation with a number of quests to finish and loads of endgame content material to take a look at. As such, my assessment isn’t prepared but. However I’ve performed practically 40 hours thus far, and I’ve loved my time. An enormous cause why is that Gearbox has made some sensible adjustments in Borderlands 4 that make it simpler than ever to handle, promote, and gather loot and get all over the world.
As an enormous Borderlands fan who has performed all the video games a number of occasions, I’ve cataloged a listing of adjustments and enhancements in Borderlands 4 that I feel each longtime followers and newcomers alike are going to be enthusiastic about.
Lastly, A Weapon Wheel
For a lot of, a few years now, Borderlands followers, myself included, have longed for the franchise so as to add an actual weapon wheel choice. Previous video games have typically allowed you to make use of the d-pad on a controller to hot-swap between 4 weapons, which is okay, I assume. However a real weapon wheel hasn’t been an choice till now. Borderlands 4 lastly provides an actual, honest-to-goodness weapon wheel, and it’s so good. It makes shortly swapping to a gun simpler and quicker than ever!
Mark Loot As Junk When Selecting Up
In Borderlands 4, like in previous video games, you’ll spend a number of time gathering weapons which might be unhealthy, or simply not what you need. Up to now, you’d should manually promote every of those. And sure, you can mark them as loot within the stock display screen after which promote them unexpectedly. However now, in Borderlands 4, you may junk loot as you decide it up. This ties into one other nice change…
Immediately Promote Junk At Merchandising Machines
All that loot you mark as junk can now be offered at any merchandising machine simply by strolling up and hitting a single button. You don’t even have to enter the shop display screen. It’s so good, and this variation, in addition to the final one, has helped maintain my stock principally empty and prepared for extra loot.
The Misplaced Loot Menu Is So A lot Higher
Talking of loot, in some previous Borderlands video games, gamers had been capable of return to a hub space and activate a “Misplaced Loot” machine that will spit out a few of the weapons that dropped out on the planet that the participant didn’t decide up. This wasn’t a really environment friendly technique to deal with the method and made utilizing the Misplaced Loot choice annoying. In Borderlands 4, that is now dealt with by a menu display screen that allows you to simply trash stuff you don’t need and take stuff you do need. And you may hit a button to take all of it with out having to seize every merchandise off the ground.
A Warning When Promoting Outfitted Gear And Weapons
Generally, when coping with a lot of loot and related weapons, it’s straightforward to mark an outfitted piece of loot as junk and promote it. This has occurred to me in previous video games. Certain, you can favourite stuff you didn’t wish to promote, which remains to be an choice in Borderlands 4, nevertheless it was all the time bizarre how the video games simply allow you to promote outfitted gear so simply. Not so in Borderlands 4! Now you get a pop-up warning when making an attempt to promote outfitted objects marked as junk. Nifty!
Legendary Weapons Are A lot Rarer To Discover, And That’s Good
One of many largest issues I had with Borderlands 3 was how simply and shortly you discovered legendary weapons and kit. On a current playthrough, I used to be gathering and promoting them inside a couple of hours of beginning a brand new character. By the tip of the sport, I had discovered properly over 100. I misplaced depend, actually. This made them really feel much less particular and made non-legendary purple gear much less thrilling to gather as a result of higher stuff was dropping on a regular basis.
Fortunately, this isn’t the case in Borderlands 4. After practically 40 hours with the sport, I’ve solely collected 7 legendary weapons and objects. And a type of I purchased from a merchandising machine, one thing I’ve solely seen as soon as in my time with the sport. Not like in Borderlands 3, when legendaries drop in Borderlands 4, I get genuinely excited! It’s a uncommon occasion, and most of the objects have been highly effective and memorable.
Customise Your Character Wherever And Anytime
Up to now, in the event you wished to place a brand new pores and skin or hat in your Borderlands character, you’d should discover a particular machine in-game and use it. This was annoying. Now, you may simply open up the customization menu everytime you need and freely change your character’s seems to be.
Upgrading Your Stock And Ammo Capability Isn’t A Boring Cash Grind
Borderlands 4‘s huge open world has a number of locations to discover, issues to do, objects to gather, and actions to finish. And this time round, Gearbox has determined to tie the open world to upgrading your character. As an alternative of grinding for cash after which going to an in-game retailer to purchase SDU upgrades, which allow you to carry extra stuff and ammo, you now earn SDU credit by exploring and finishing actions. And that is all achieved through a menu that’s accessible always. Want extra loot area to gather extra weapons? Properly, examine to see you probably have sufficient SDU credit to improve your stock area, and if that’s the case, do it proper then and there. So handy!
An Elective Hologram Path That Helps You Go The Proper Manner
I spent far an excessive amount of time in previous Borderlands video games operating round making an attempt to determine learn how to get to a particular place or a quest marker. The in-game maps have been useful, however typically you simply need somebody to attract a line from the place you at the moment are to the place it’s essential go. And excellent news: Borderlands 4 does that now! At any level, you may hit a button to get an in-game holographic path exhibiting learn how to attain your vacation spot, which could be a quest or only a random level you marked on the map.
Repkits Provide Therapeutic When You Want It Most
A brand new piece of loot launched in Borderlands 4 are repkits. These are small medical units that gamers can activate occasionally for some prompt therapeutic. No extra searching down well being drops throughout tough boss fights or huge skirmishes. These tiny bits of therapeutic nonetheless drop and are nonetheless helpful, however having a well being gun at your facet is nice. And as with all loot in Borderlands, repkits are available in numerous flavors with all types of bizarre, wacky, and helpful bonuses and passive traits. Actually, going again to any previous Borderlands recreation goes to be arduous after getting used to repkits.
Spawn Your Automobile Each time You Want It
An enormous theme in terms of the adjustments and enhancements made in Borderlands 4 is comfort. And maybe one of the best instance of that is the elimination of Catch-A-Journey stations, which beforehand had been the one technique to spawn in a car. Now, each participant has their very own private Digirunner (that are principally Sparrows from Future), and they’re superior. They transfer shortly, really feel nice to drive, and having the ability to name one in everytime you need is so helpful. Plus, combining Digirunners with the brand new motion controls, like double leaping and gliding, allows you to velocity the world over in type.
And now, some adjustments that aren’t so good…
Menus Really feel Darkish, Finicky, And Eliminated From The Sport World
One thing I actually beloved in regards to the menus in previous Borderlands video games was how vibrant all of them had been and the way they existed on the planet. Once you opened your stock or abilities menu in Borderlands 3, you’d see your character standing on the planet, and the menu could be hovering subsequent to and behind them. That’s gone in Borderlands 4. As an alternative, all of the menus and stock screens exist in darkish voids that really feel disconnected from the world. And a few of these menus are tough to make use of or really feel overly cluttered. The stock, particularly, isn’t nice to navigate when utilizing a controller. This variation doesn’t wreck Borderlands 4, nevertheless it does make me unhappy.
Loading Screens Are Boring
This can be a foolish grievance, I’ll admit, however the loading screens in Borderlands 4 are so boring. In previous video games, which had been crammed with loading screens, you’d get these fantastic, colourful posters of the placement you had been loading into at that second. In Borderlands 4, which has far fewer loading screens because of its (principally) seamless open world, the screens simply appear like somebody took idea artwork and tossed the placement’s identify on it. They appear stale, chilly, and drab. Fortunately, stuff masses so shortly that you just received’t have to take a look at them lengthy.
Rewards For Challenges And Quests Are Hidden In Digital Containers
Once you full a quest in Borderlands 4 or while you end an in-game problem, you’re rewarded with numerous goodies. However these goodies aren’t delivered on to your stock. As an alternative, it’s important to go into the character menu and open them up. Fortunately, you may open them unexpectedly, nevertheless it’s so odd that this method is even within the recreation.
Certain, it’s good that weapons or loot you earn from a quest aren’t dropped proper in your restricted stock. Nevertheless it’s annoying that beauty objects are additionally locked in these chests. The sport additionally does a horrible job of reminding you to examine in your rewards. Generally I’d open my character display screen and see, like, 10 of those chests ready for me. I’d love an choice to get notified occasionally when I’ve greater than two or three of this stuff ready round to be opened.
