Borderlands 4 has finally arrived, but for some, the big occasion hasn't quite gone to plan. Before launch, there were a lot of concerns regarding Borderlands 4's potential performance, especially on PC. Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford claimed it would be "unplayable" on anything below minimum specs, and a promo video on Conan O'Brien's Clueless Gamer series that featured the game crashing didn't do much to alleviate fears.
On top of that, we have the fact that Borderlands 4 was made with Unreal Engine 5, which has been blamed for a number of high-profile titles releasing in shoddy conditions on PC recently. Well, it turns out fans were right to fear, as there are now reports of Borderlands 4 running pretty atrociously on PC.
Borderlands 4 Has Mostly Negative Steam Reviews Over Poor Performance
Just a few hours after release, Borderlands 4 has already managed to hit Mostly Negative reviews on Steam, with the vast majority of them complaining about performance issues. It's already being described as "a stutter-ridden mess", while there are plenty of reviews that also complain about frequent crashing. Maybe that Conan O'Brien promo video wasn't scripted after all.
Everything You Need To Know Before Starting Borderlands 4
Before you jump into Borderlands 4, here's everything you need to know.
It's even worse the further you dive into the reviews too, as a lot of the positive ones also mention there are problems with optimization, input lag, and stuttering, which are at their worst when there are a lot of enemies on screen. From these reviews, it sounds as though Borderlands 4 is in pretty rough shape for anyone that doesn't have a super computer to hand.
You also have a couple of reviews once again blaming Unreal Engine 5 for the issues — and while Epic says it's not the engine's fault but the developers using it — you can't blame fans for thinking it's the problem. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater and Wuchang: Fallen Feathers are just two examples of Unreal Engine 5 games launching with performance issues, and it's becoming more and more difficult to believe that this is a developer problem.
It feels like we're going to need to have a conversation about the benefits of graphical prowess over accessibility at some point. Sure, more players than ever before and impressive review scores are all well and good, but if a massive chunk of your playerbase is struggling to get the game running, can you even claim that it's a success?
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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
- Genre(s)
- Looter Shooter, Action, Adventure, RPG
