Highlights

  • Borderlands 4 must uphold its legacy with fresh gameplay and storyline advancements that meet the franchise's current standard.
  • Drawing from previous successes like Tiny Tina's Wonderlands could help shape BL4, but it must maintain BL's core gameplay identity.
  • Returning to old locations, introducing creative new Vault Hunters, and expanding loot options are key for BL4's success.

Gearbox Software's Borderlands has been a mainstay of looter shooters since helping to popularize the genre back in 2009. After establishing its satirical sci-fi-meets-Western flavored world and setting, and introducing a host of memorable characters throughout, Borderlands maintained its course with a string of entries stretching from the first until the most recent third major release in 2019. Along the way, BL received a helping of DLCs for each, as well as two larger related spin-offs, all of which contributed to the franchise's ongoing success.

Fans having been waiting for five years (and counting) at this time for any news or updates about what Borderlands 4 might be like. With that in mind, it might be a good moment to take stock of the situation and detail a couple of items that BL4 will likely have to do in order to keep up its reputation for advancing its core gameplay loops, genre components, and major storylines.

Nothing is confirmed yet, but recent rumors as well as updates on its official X/Twitter channel at the time of writing could indicate that Borderlands 4 will soon be announced.

Borderlands 4 Needs to Ensure It Feels Like a Faithful Modern Series Entry

Borderlands 4 Should Be More 'Borderlands' and Less 'Tiny Tina's Wonderlands'

Based on the widely popular Assault On Dragon Keep DLC for Borderlands 2, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands could provide some good influences for Borderlands 4 in certain areas of design and expansions to its mechanics. TTW was an excellent experience and distinguished itself in various ways to ensure it didn't just feel like a glorified full version of Dragon Keep. But even if it does lean into more of what was seen in it, Gearbox would do well to avoid the largely negative reception and perception of Tiny Tina's Wonderlands' approach to DLC and related content. BL4 should be sure to distance itself from the direction taken in that respect, as well as not being overreliant upon elements from TTW that may not translate well in a completely new BL title.

An alternative source of inspiration could be Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. While a bit of an outlier in the series' history, as it was in large part developed by 2K Australia (though Gearbox also assisted with parts of development and published it), Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel had some great ideas and mechanics that have yet to be revisited or iterated on in any subsequent content. It might make for a welcome surprise and a good fit to see new versions or interesting evolutions of them in BL4. Taking this angle could make Borderlands 4 seem more like a true series successor.

Borderlands Has Plenty of Options At its Disposal to Make the Fourth Entry Both Familiar and Fresh

Another big aspect to consider is how Borderlands 4 will advance and continue its now-extensive and emotionally engaging narrative. Not only did Borderlands 3 leave major story threads hanging, some with big implications for the future of its universe, but there are still a number of outstanding overarching mysteries that have yet to be given firm answers. Providing players at least some substantial information regarding some of these while keeping others hidden until the time is right to reveal them is something that Gearbox has hopefully planned appropriately for in the fourth entry.

A few other possibilities might be for Borderlands 4 to return to a number of familiar locations to show what became of them and the related characters in the aftermath of the previous events, and introduce more types of playable Vault Hunters alongside this. Lastly, BL4 is all but certain to expand and enhance its pool of lootable weapons and equipment, and the way it will do so will again hopefully be a positive step in making the next Borderlands an incredible and rewarding experience for the many fans who are highly anticipating it.