Borderlands 4 Interview with Gearbox Software

The trajectory of the Borderlands franchise has been a wild one. While all are objectively good games, it's hard to argue that Borderlands 2 remains the best entry in the franchise. Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel and Borderlands 3, while both good, never captured the same attention or delivered the cultural impact their predecessor did. Reasons include the handling of comedy, subject matter, gameplay evolution and the technical state at launch. Gearbox Software, however, is ready to make amends with Borderlands 4, which in their words, is the biggest, most seamless Borderlands experience yet. A Borderlands game that fully delivers on the dreams and goals they had since the franchise's inception, but weren't able to accomplish due to hardware limitations. We were able to sit down with the Creative Director behind Borderlands 4, Graeme Timmins, to talk more about lessons learned from Borderlands 3, what's so new with Borderlands 4 and how Gearbox is enabling their lofty goals for the game.

Review: Borderlands 3 (PS5)

Borderlands 3 is a no-brainer for those who already own the game to experience what the PlayStation 5 is capable of.

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By Cory Wells

[Hardcore Gamer] Help set the stage. When does Borderlands 4 take place after 3? Where are we, what’s going on and who are this crazy new Order faction?

[Graeme Timmins] Borderlands 4 takes place six years after Borderlands 3. Between the events of the games, Lilith teleported Elpis out of Pandora’s orbit and straight into Cairos, shattering its protective veil. This shows the people on Kairos that there’s more to reality than what they’ve seen, driving them kind of crazy. Six years later, our new hunters show up and get caught in a hostile conflict where people are rebelling against the Timekeeper to get their freedom back. We get caught up in the conflict and decide to help then win that freedom back.

Before we move forward, I’d like to revisit the past for a second. Borderlands laid the groundwork for the franchise’s success, but it was Borderlands 2 that went on to become a cultural icon for years after its release. While good, Borderlands 3 never had that same impact with fans particularly calling out its overuse of meme culture. With Borderlands 4, what were some of the lessons you learned and trends you observed to make a bigger impact?

We had a couple of big goals. From an experience standpoint, I wanted to create the most seamless Borderlands ever. We have far fewer loading screens, an improved lobby system and rewards are more instantaneous. Basically, I wanted there to be as few interruptions as possible. We also wanted to get back to more of a grounded tone and create a villain that was truly heinous at times. Humor isn’t gone, but we strove to strike a better balance compared to Borderlands 3.

Borderlands’ play spaces have evolved consistently with each entry. 1 featured mostly desert locations, 2 introduced more biomes, Pre-Sequel took us to space and 3 let us explore large open areas of planets. When designing Borderlands 4’s play spaces, how have you retooled them to take advantage of today’s more powerful hardware?

I think what we’ve always done well with Borderlands is create well-realized spaces where it feels like someone could have lived there. One problem, especially in Borderlands 3, however, is that if you weren’t doing a main or side mission, the world didn't feel alive. For Borderlands 4, I didn't want it to be big for the sake of being big. I wanted to pack it with things to do all the time. So, we invested in the dynamic event system that crams the world with things to do. To me, a successful player experience is them using all their tools, ping-ponging back-and-forth and being so entertained that they don't realize they're on the other side of map.

Some of those new tools players have at their disposal include an updated slide and grappling hook. Previous Borderlands games have typically been pretty linear with straightforward with normal movement mechanics. How have you retooled the Borderlands formula to take advantage of these mechanics?

We really wanted to level up the traversal again, so we started thinking about how we could use it to explore the world. However, it really clicked with us when we started looking at how they could be used for combat. So much of the game revolves around the combat and how the player approaches it, and once we started looking at that and integrating the mechanics into that, it all made sense. Once we saw it as a combat tool, it made it feel natural to start propagating movement opportunities throughout the world. I think we did a good job taking these mechanics and making them feel right for Borderlands.

Borderlands 4 isn't the first game to alter its movement mechanics. A tricky part of adding these mechanics is also balancing the gunplay so it remains tight, responsive and fun. Did you have to make many tweaks?

We care very much about our games' gunplay at Gearbox. We have great tools we've developed to ensure our guns feel great. For Borderlands 4, it was just tuning that experience and using the tools to make it feel right. We've got great tools and great people who instinctively know how to make gunplay feel good.

Borderlands 4, like its predecessors, is likely going to be a favorite for co-op play. What about those who just want to play solo, though? Does Borderlands 4 offer a satisfying solo experience?

We want to tell a great story, which includes thinking about the single player experience. We like to think about missions as a single player thing that ca be enhanced with co-op. Each mission we look at making sure it's providing the best experience for solo players. We still support drop-in, drop-out co-op, so those that want to get into a party at any point can always do that. Borderlands 4 provides a great experience whether you're playing solo or with friends.

There have been 20 playable Vault Hunters across the Borderlands franchise, and Borderlands 4 is adding 4 more. Where do you and your team keep getting the inspiration for new hunters?

We like to have archetypes because we want to think about our audience, such as the soldier or mage fantasy. We then take them and try to think of a way to twist it. So, for example, past Sirens were built on a mage fantasy but with Vex we decided to build her as a witch. From there, we know witches have familiars, so that's why her abilities allow her to channel phase energy to summon different animals. I'm very proud of how we've been able to continually twist different archetypes to create new Vault Hunters, and I think we have the greatest range of characters yet.

From an experience standpoint, I wanted to create the most seamless Borderlands ever. We have far fewer loading screens, an improved lobby system, and rewards are more instantaneous. Basically, I wanted there to be as few interruptions as possible.

Borderlands 4 is Gearbox's first game to only release on current-gen hardware as Tiny Tina's Wonderland launched on PS4 and Xbox One. What has today's modern hardware enabled you to do that you couldn't last-generation?

It's the seamless world. Back in Borderlands 1, we wanted to do a seamless world, but the technology and hardware wasn't capable enough, so we had to split the world into smaller zones. This time around, the hardware and software has given us the ability to make the seamless world we envisioned years ago.

Fantastic. One final thing, when can players get their hands on Borderlands 4?

We're launching on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC September 12 with a Switch 2 release planned later in the year.

For more on Borderlands 4, be sure to read our hands-on preview.

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OpenCritic Reviews: Top Critic Avg: 82/100 Critics Rec: 87%

Released: September 12, 2025
ESRB: Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
Developer(s): Gearbox Software
Publisher(s): 2K
Engine: Unreal Engine 5