Highlights

  • Borderlands 4 is in development, opening up new narrative possibilities after a cliffhanger ending in BL3.
  • The game has the potential to revamp and feature vaults more substantially, offering new gameplay opportunities.
  • With inspiration from prior DLC and spin-offs, BL4 can enhance vaults with intricate dungeon designs and unique encounters.

Borderlands is set to enter the next leg of its journey and will send players once again into its satirical and hijinks-filled futuristic sci-fi universe. With the recent official confirmation of the fourth main title currently in development, Borderlands fans can look forward to returning to its setting, likely with its familiar cast of characters along with some potential new faces. After the dramatic cliffhanger seen at the end of BL3, the door is now wide open for a range of possibilities for Borderlands 4's narrative to continue on from, and theories and speculation about the particulars are sure to ramp up the closer it gets.

A longstanding story component, indeed, the core framework going back to the original Borderlands, centers on the search for and methods to unlock the ancient Eridian vaults buried on Pandora and other planets. As the series went on, though, eventually the vaults began to feel a bit repetitive and anticlimactic, appearing largely the same in each iteration with little interactivity to them. Borderlands 4, in addition to hopefully addressing some major plot threads, has a big chance to feature vaults more substantially than previously depicted.

It's highly likely the upcoming Borderlands movie will portray vaults in some way, perhaps differently than the games.

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Borderlands 4 Could Finally Go All-in on Vaults

What Borderlands' Vaults Have Been Like So Far

As the franchises' main objects of interest, Borderlands' vaults were stated to bring untold wealth and glory to those who managed to gain entrance, as they were said to house powerful relics and other treasures. Vaults were set up for big dramatic reveals once players reached them, usually at the conclusion of each title, and guarded by an imposing boss, like The Destroyer. While it was initially an exciting climax to defeat the guardian and enter one, over time, due to their so far fairly repetitive appearance, the impact lessened. Though it may make sense in-universe for vaults to appear rather uniformly, this facet also diminishes them, as they could be greatly expanded upon and designed in a way that is much more engaging narratively and in gameplay.

How Borderlands 4 Could Improve and Expand on Vaults

Developer Gearbox has shown its creativity in many other areas of Borderlands, and vaults have a huge amount of potential to be integrated much more intricately into gameplay in addition to the weighty lore they entail. The general idea of vaults could be easily translatable to them being complex dungeons, full of devious traps, puzzles, secrets, and more. There is even an existing template for this, as they could be similar to some of the elaborate level designs seen in Borderlands 2's Assault on Dragon Keep DLC, and expanded on in the spin-off, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands. While these were more fantasy-flavored takes, they were essentially versions and portrayals of established Borderlands elements, and thus could form the basis for expanding on them in BL4.

There are various other ways vaults could be highlighted and featured in a greater way that also takes cues from prior aspects. Perhaps a boss rush portion within a vault, or at least some more unique encounters, as there are good reasons for them to be protected by a series of extra defense measures, given that some house world-ending entities and ancient, forbidden knowledge. Beyond the homeworld of Pandora, players have visited a number of planets in Borderlands where vaults reside or have otherwise been informed of ones that house more vaults, which could provide an explanation for a greater variety and type. Along with any other major changes to what has come before, Borderlands 4 can reinvigorate vaults and make them feel and play as special as they are set up to be within the setting by truly bringing them to the fore.