Borderlands 4 Crash-Lands—and the Loot-Splosions Are Splitting the Fanbase

Ah, Borderlands. The series that’s as subtle as a Skag to the face and as comforting as finding a legendary in a pile of poop. The latest installment, Borderlands 4, has finally crash-landed, and the gaming community is split faster than a Psycho trying to decide which way to run. Is it the glorious evolution we’ve all been praying for, or is it just another loot-splosion that feels… well, a bit last-gen?

Let’s be real, the moment a new Borderlands game is announced, we all pretty much know what we’re in for: guns, guns, and more guns, with a side of questionable humor and a whole lot of cel-shaded chaos. The PC Gamer team has been diving headfirst into the mayhem on the planet Kairos, and our group chat looks like a warzone. Some are singing its praises like it’s the second coming of Handsome Jack, while others are wondering if Gearbox just hit copy-paste and called it a day. So, what’s the real deal?

The Good: A Looter-Shooter Loop Distilled to Perfection

Let’s kick things off with the die-hards. Harvey Randall, one of our resident Borderlands sickos, is about 20 hours deep and loving every second. He admits the game starts slower than a Claptrap unit trying to climb stairs, but once your build clicks into place? Chef’s kiss. The core gameplay loop of “shoot, loot, sell, repeat” has been refined into what he calls its “most potent, from-concentrate form yet.” It’s pure, uncut freak-juice designed to keep you glued to your screen until you forget what sunlight looks like.

One of the biggest changes is the jump to a full open world, and surprisingly, it works. The endless cycle of blasting baddies and hoovering up loot feels right at home with the new map, which is littered with collectibles and objectives. It’s a match made in loot heaven, turning what could have been a chore into an addictive “just one more quest” cycle. Even if the game isn’t reinventing the wheel, it’s polishing the chrome on that wheel until it blinds you.

The Vault Hunters are also a massive win. Rory Norris is obsessed with Amon and Harlowe, calling them some of the best characters in the franchise’s history. The skill trees are bigger and beefier than ever, packed with build-defining perks that go way beyond a boring “+10% damage.” This is the kind of character progression that makes you want to play through the game at least four more times, just to see what other crazy builds you can cook up.

The Bad: Is That the Smell of Stale Memes?

Now for the other side of the coin. Our own Robin Valentine is about five hours in and is, to put it bluntly, bored out of his skull. His biggest fear was that Borderlands 4 would be “more of the same,” and while the core action feels familiar, it’s the new stuff that’s falling flat for him.

Remember all those times we complained about the cringe-worthy meme jokes and obnoxious snark in Borderlands 3? Well, we got our wish. Gearbox toned it down, but they might have overcorrected. Robin feels they took out the annoying parts and replaced them with… absolutely nothing. The game is floating in a bland, tonal limbo—not funny enough to be a comedy, not serious enough to be a gripping sci-fi tale.

And that shiny new open world? To some, it just feels like an excuse for busywork, a checklist of a million icons to clear off a map. When you combine that with a boatload of bugs (a gun that doesn’t shoot? In Borderlands? Sacrilege!), it’s enough to sap the joy out of even the most dedicated loot goblin.

The Ugly: My PC is Crying and So Am I

Here’s the part that unites everyone: the performance. Holy smokes, this game is a beast. Andy Edser, our hardware guru, has a rig that could probably launch a small rocket, yet he’s still struggling to get a smooth frame rate without leaning on every trick in Nvidia’s playbook. Borderlands 4 might just be the most demanding game of the year, and honestly, it’s hard to see why. Sure, it’s pretty, but is it “make a 5070 Ti weep” pretty? Debatable.

Then there’s the UI. Oh, the UI. It’s a masterclass in baffling design choices. Why does the inventory sort by manufacturer by default? Why do I need three different menus to figure out what a class mod does? Why does marking an item as junk feel like playing a game of Russian roulette with my gear? It’s a mess, and it makes managing your hard-earned loot a frustrating chore rather than a fun part of the game.

So, is Borderlands 4 a triumph or a trainwreck? The answer, frustratingly, is… both. It’s a game of wild contradictions. The gunplay and movement are the best they’ve ever been, but they’re wrapped up in a package that feels simultaneously inspired and lazy. For every brilliant addition like gliding, there’s a head-scratching omission like the lack of ambient music.

For veteran fans, it offers that addictive, brain-off fun that the series is known for, refined to near perfection. But for others, the formula is starting to wear thin, and the new open-world structure and lackluster story aren’t doing enough to freshen things up. It’s a beautiful, chaotic, buggy, brilliant mess. And you know what? Maybe that’s exactly what a Borderlands game should be.

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