Borderlands 4 (2025): The Review

Overview

Borderlands 4 marks a true return to form, sharpening nearly every edge left dull in the last entry. The gorgeous visuals and top-notch voice work breathe new life into both the main story and side quests, while the already addictive gunplay and progression systems get pushed even further. Yet, despite all these strides forward, a swarm of performance hiccups and stubborn bugs holds it back from reaching the greatness it’s clearly aiming for.

Score: 8 out of 10

The Positives ✅

Borderlands 4 makes a strong case for itself right from the start by showing that it’s learned from past mistakes. The story, while not groundbreaking, is a clear improvement over Borderlands 3’s scattered mess. Kairos as a setting feels alive in ways Pandora never quite managed to be. Lush jungles, rural farmlands, valleys, and dense urban settlements all give the sense of a planet worth fighting for, and that shift alone makes exploration addictive rather than exhausting.

The presentation is easily the best the franchise has ever seen. The cel-shaded comic-book aesthetic has always been the series’ trademark, but Borderlands 4 polishes it into its sharpest, most vibrant form yet. From the slick character designs to the bizarre fauna and mechanical horrors that roam Kairos, everything feels distinct. The sheer contrast of locales, whether you’re trudging through humid jungles or picking your way through military outposts, adds to the thrill of discovering what’s around the corner.

Sound design also pulls its weight. The soundtrack swells at the right moments, bringing emotional weight to both big plot beats and surprisingly tender side quests. The voice acting keeps characters memorable, even ones you wouldn’t expect much from, Claptrap’s side quest, for example, actually manages to reveal a new angle on a character long dismissed as comic relief. Together, the music and performances lift the narrative higher than it otherwise might have reached.

Gameplay, though, is where Borderlands 4 shines brightest. The gunplay is as satisfying as ever, but the new movement mechanics, dashing, grappling, double jumps, and gliding, transform combat into a faster, more vertical playground. Addictive looting, expanded progression systems, and quality-of-life features like mission replays make experimentation and replayability feel endless. This is Borderlands at its most refined, offering enough depth to keep veterans hooked without overwhelming newcomers.

The Negatives ⚠️

For every leap forward, Borderlands 4 stumbles in ways that can’t be ignored. Performance issues are the most glaring problem, and they’re present no matter the platform. Frame drops are constant when firefights get too hectic, crashes occur at random, and special effects often overwhelm the hardware, killing the pacing of otherwise excellent encounters. It’s hard to feel fully immersed when the game itself keeps tripping over its ambition.

Bugs also plague the experience, both minor and major. Enemies and NPCs clip through walls, inventory menus misbehave constantly, and backpack slots vanish without reason. Even the sorting system resets itself at random, turning something as basic as managing loot into a headache. While some glitches can be funny, the more disruptive ones, like losing progress to a crash mid-dungeon, are frustrating enough to sour the fun.

Narratively, the improvements are real, but the story falls back on well-worn tropes. The Timekeeper as a villain has interesting lore connections, but his arc unfolds in a predictable resistance vs. tyranny structure. For longtime players, that familiarity can feel underwhelming, especially after the hype of a new setting and fresh characters. The pacing also falters at times, making it harder to stay invested in the Crimson Resistance’s journey.

Finally, the price point stings. At $69.99, Borderlands 4 positions itself as a premium AAA experience, and while the content is plentiful, the technical state doesn’t justify the cost. Sound effects lack polish compared to the music and voice acting, late-game enemy variety thins out, and the lack of proper tutorials leaves certain mechanics opaque. Combined, these issues keep Borderlands 4 from being the masterpiece it could have been.

The Experience 🎮

Coming into Borderlands 4, my expectations were sky-high. As someone who’s poured more than a thousand hours into Borderlands 2, I wanted to see how Gearbox would respond to criticism of the previous entry. To their credit, they’ve delivered a game that feels like a true step forward in most areas. The world of Kairos had me hooked from the start, pulling me off the main path into its hidden Vaults, quirky side quests, and scattered collectibles. More often than not, I’d lose hours just letting the game’s open world drag me into distractions.

Combat quickly became the standout feature of my playthrough. The new movement mechanics transformed every encounter into something thrilling, making even routine firefights exciting. Experimenting with builds, replaying missions with friends, and unlocking powerful gear scratched the exact itch that made me love this series in the first place. Quality-of-life additions like starting new characters at level 30 saved me from endless repetition and kept me experimenting long after the campaign ended.

That said, the technical problems were impossible to ignore. Frame drops constantly interrupted intense fights, and random crashes became a running joke in my sessions. Worse still, crashing mid-dungeon or boss run erased hard-earned progress, testing my patience more than any enemy encounter did. The smaller bugs, NPCs stuck in walls, inventory glitches, piled up until they felt like part of the game’s identity, and not in a good way.

Even with all those frustrations, Borderlands 4 still gave me moments of awe. Accidentally stumbling into a Vault challenge, watching Kairos’ varied landscapes unfold, or finding myself laughing at a Claptrap quest I thought I’d hate, these were the reasons I kept playing despite the issues. At its core, Borderlands 4 is the looter-shooter I’ve been waiting for, but right now, it’s buried under problems. For me, it’s worth revisiting after patches or at a discount, because beneath the mess, there’s a brilliant game waiting to shine.