Review #041 – Borderlands 4

I’ve been a fan of the series since its inception but the Borderlands formula had started to get a bit stale over the years. Borderlands 4 does solve some of these issues with stuff like faster mobility, less reliance on cringey dialogue, and the introduction of a seamless open world setting, but the game isn’t without its share of other annoying problems.

My biggest disappointment is just how unfinished it feels. The game’s “performance” mode on base PS5 is anything but, giving off strong “meh, good enough” vibes. It’s weird because the series’ enduring graphic novel aesthetic doesn’t seem all that taxing. The user interface is thankfully easier to digest, but simple things like marking items as trash bugged out for me frequently.

Technical issues aside the game is fun and still very loot-heavy, so expect to stop and look at menus with a bunch of green/red numbers regularly. I picked the Siren class and dug her ghost-summoning abilities. Going from multiple bespoke maps to one seamless open world is a welcome change, but also expect a lot of mediocre side quests and typical open world icon barf.