Borderlands 3 (2019): The Review

Overview

Borderlands 3 delivers the strongest gameplay and combat mechanics the franchise has ever had, combining fast-paced shooting, excellent build variety, and endlessly entertaining loot systems into an incredibly addictive experience. However, weak villains, uneven humor, pacing problems, and disappointing storytelling prevent it from reaching the same legendary status as Borderlands 2. Even so, the sheer quality of the gameplay makes it one of the most fun looter-shooters available, especially in co-op.

Score: 8,5 out of 10

The Positives ✅

Borderlands 3 absolutely nails the one thing it needed to: the gameplay. From the very first firefight, it’s obvious that the gunplay is leagues ahead of the previous games. Weapons feel heavier, movement is smoother, abilities are more dynamic, and combat finally has the speed and impact the series always seemed to chase. Sliding into enemies, mantling over cover, chaining elemental effects together, and unloading absurdly overpowered weapons creates a constant sense of chaos that somehow never stops being fun.

The loot system is also completely out of control in the best possible way. Borderlands 3 throws an absurd amount of weapons at the player, but unlike earlier games, many of them genuinely feel unique. Guns grow legs and chase enemies, reloads trigger explosions, bullets ricochet across entire rooms, and certain legendary weapons completely change the way encounters play out. There’s this addictive rhythm where every mission turns into “just one more fight” because you’re always hoping the next enemy drops something ridiculous.

What impressed me most, though, was how polished the core gameplay loop felt compared to older Borderlands titles. Previous games had great ideas buried under clunky mechanics, but Borderlands 3 finally makes everything feel modern. Movement feels responsive, shooting feels tight, and each Vault Hunter has enough build variety to support wildly different playstyles. Whether focusing on pets, gadgets, elemental damage, or pure aggression, the skill trees offer far more experimentation than I expected.

The scale of the game also deserves credit. Leaving Pandora behind and traveling across multiple planets gives the adventure a much larger sense of scope than earlier entries. Some locations are genuinely gorgeous in that exaggerated, chaotic Borderlands style, mixing neon cities, corporate warzones, swamps, deserts, and alien environments into one giant loot-fueled road trip. Combined with excellent co-op gameplay, the entire experience becomes incredibly easy to lose dozens of hours in.

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The Negatives ⚠️

As good as the gameplay is, Borderlands 3 also contains one of the most frustrating examples of wasted storytelling potential I’ve experienced in a major AAA game. The writing constantly tries to replicate the energy and humor of Borderlands 2, but too often it feels forced, loud, and exhausting rather than genuinely funny. Nearly every conversation is packed with nonstop jokes, memes, or screaming dialogue, and over time it starts becoming emotionally draining instead of entertaining.

The biggest disappointment by far is the villains. Handsome Jack cast such a massive shadow over the franchise that the Calypso Twins never really stood a chance, but the game still mishandles them badly. Their influencer-streamer concept had potential, especially as a satire of internet culture and parasocial celebrity obsession, but the writing rarely develops those ideas in meaningful ways. Instead, they often come across as annoying rather than threatening, which weakens the emotional impact of the story considerably.

Pacing is another major issue. The campaign feels far too long in places, especially because the game constantly interrupts gameplay with extended dialogue and mandatory waiting sections. There were multiple moments where I just wanted the game to let me continue fighting and looting, but instead I was stuck standing around while characters talked over comms for several minutes. That stop-and-start structure hurts the momentum badly.

Even some returning characters feel mishandled. Certain emotional moments feel rushed or underdeveloped, while others rely heavily on fan attachment from previous games without properly earning the payoff within Borderlands 3 itself. For a series so focused on personality and character interactions, the narrative surprisingly ends up being one of the weakest parts of the experience.

The Experience 🎮

Playing Borderlands 3 felt like being trapped inside a nonstop explosion of loot, gunfire, and absolute nonsense, and honestly, when the gameplay clicked, I had an incredible time with it. There were nights where I sat down intending to play for an hour and suddenly realized four or five hours had disappeared because the loop of fighting enemies, upgrading builds, and finding ridiculous weapons was so addictive.

The combat was easily the reason I kept coming back. Every Vault Hunter felt fun in completely different ways, and experimenting with builds became almost as enjoyable as the shooting itself. Some fights turned into complete chaos with elemental explosions filling the screen while enemies disintegrated everywhere, and the game constantly rewarded aggressive, fast-paced play. Co-op made the experience even better because everything became louder, messier, and somehow even more entertaining with friends.

At the same time, the story genuinely frustrated me. There were moments where I could feel the game trying very hard to recreate the magic of Borderlands 2, but instead of landing naturally, a lot of the humor felt painfully forced. Some characters I loved from earlier games deserved much stronger writing than they received here, and several major story moments lacked the emotional weight they clearly aimed for.

What makes Borderlands 3 so strange to me is that it contains some of the best gameplay in the entire franchise while also having one of the weakest campaigns narratively. I found myself wanting to skip dialogue just so I could get back to the combat, which says a lot considering how character-driven the series usually is. But despite all those frustrations, I still walked away having spent an absurd amount of time with the game simply because the core gameplay is that good.

In the end, Borderlands 3 feels like a game constantly fighting against itself, brilliant when you’re actually playing it, exhausting when it tries too hard to entertain you between missions.