Don't Let The Negative Press Deter You From Borderlands 4
I’ve gotten to dabble with the recently released Borderlands 4. I’ve been able to play the game on both PC and Xbox Series X, and throughout the near 35 hours I’ve dedicated to the game thus far, this is the most satisfying Borderlands has felt… when it works. There’s a lot of uproar with this game, especially regarding the PC version, and rightfully so. While things fare better on console, it makes you wonder why these issues were never mitigated prior to the game’s release.
Gearbox’s CEO, Randy Pitchford, went on the defense to say that Borderlands 4 is a “premium game for premium gamers”. The sentiment behind that being that it’s a modern day release and thus requires powerful hardware. Not an entirely untrue statement, but there are other modern releases that feature the same level of (if not more) graphical fidelity with a fraction of the performance hiccups.
To give an example, DOOM: The Dark Ages which released earlier this year will not launch without a ray tracing card, and on my laptop with an RTX 3050 6 GB I was able to average 70 FPS. Mind you that is an entry level card from the two previous generations of graphics cards. Borderlands 4 in reference will only average around 40, and that’s with plenty of stuttering when entering new areas or loading in a new asset such as elemental damage, all with DLSS enabled on the lowest possible settings.
The game undoubtedly still looks great with it’s distinctive art style and real time shadows/effects. It’s just a shame it doesn’t perform as well as it looks.
However, regardless of all the negative press the game has received relating to its performance, the game itself is simply superb. Don’t let any comments by Randy or otherwise steer this idea away. Throughout all the discourse, all of which I want to say is valid criticism, I don’t want the conversation to ever forget that Borderlands 4 as a game is fantastic and has perfected the series’ trademark gunplay and buildcrafting while evolving its open world design.
As of this article, I haven’t beaten Borderlands 4 yet. Hell, I’ve only played as three of the four available Vault Hunters and the highest level I’ve reached is 32. So this is not a super deep analytical look at the game, but more so answering the question of “is Borderlands 4 worth ever checking out?” In short: yes.
For starters, the gunplay just feels excellent. All of the guns have terrific feedback from it’s hitmarkers and sound effects. With every weapon being unique in some way shape or form, there’s so much room for variation. Personally, I’ve been a Jakobs fan for the longest time. So I love getting critical shots to see them ricochet. Every archetype of Jakobs weapons feels amazing. Revolvers, single shot rifles, snipers, they all feel crispy as hell.
However, I felt as if every single weapon archetype and manufacturer provides such vast variety that it’s always exciting to see what drops because genuinely all of the guns feel different than ever. You’ll quickly learn what you do or don’t like, but the joy is anything can work and it boils down to personal preference. Something like that is very important to get right, especially in a Borderlands game. There should not be a “meta” weapon in a game with a gazillion guns.
The four Vault Hunters available all seem to be amalgamations of all the best parts of Hunters past while introducing their own flare. The Vault Hunter I’ve spent the most time with as of now is Rafa, who to me reminds me of how I played Axton and Zane from previous entries. Every VH has three skills to choose from, and I can’t comment on the lethality of everything, as I simply haven’t experimented with everything yet.
Borderlands has always had a very nice gradual sense of progression as you play. You’ll watch damage numbers increase sure, but I more so mean in terms of feeling yourself get stronger. Since gunfights feel so cathartic, it’s always a pleasure to stop traversing the world to get off and fight whoever’s causing a ruckus.
Everything you do, and I mean everything, will net you completion towards one of the game’s millions of challenges (hyperbole) or XP points. Leveling up definitely slows down as you progress, but it never feels like it’s at a glacier’s pace because you are constantly on the move, constantly fighting, and finding new things to do in the game’s open world.
A departure from Borderlands past, instead of segmented areas Borderlands 4 takes place on one giant map. Personally, I love this change. It’s made it incredibly easy to get lost in the world, or dare I say immersed. Seriously though, the world is vast and has that feeling of “if you see it you can probably get to it” and sure enough that’s the case. At least from my experience thus far, I’ve not felt restricted in any way and that’s with me opening the rest of the map up.
However, I cannot understate how poor the performance for this game can be. This is important to bring up as this quite literally is a make or break point for a lot of people. For some players, devices such as the Steam Deck were the only feasible option to get into PC gaming. If that’s all they have, they’re going to be disappointed that their brand new game can only run at 6 FPS with every setting cranked down so you can imagine it looks as good as it feels.
However, the team is hard at work and has been responsive to the issues that have been brought up by fans. In fact, as of today a brand new update is supposed to roll out to improve performance, or so it says. For some, they’re just tired of yet another game on Unreal Engine 5 that runs poorly and I wouldn’t blame them. I only have an RTX 3070 TI in my PC and it’s not a bad card by any means. But seeing some games run better than others, as I’ve mentioned before, it’s disheartening that I can’t even run Borderlands 4 at a stable 60 FPS without any stuttering.
On Xbox the performance is stable which felt nice to see. However, since I am predominantly on PC, not having the option to adjust the game’s very low field of view felt jarring to say the least. From the couch I can see this working fine, because it does. The option being gone entirely though even though Borderlands 3 and Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands both feature an FOV slider just confuses me. Luckily, this is also being worked on as of right now. But I wouldn’t blame anyone who doesn’t want to buy the game on either platform for either reason.
Let it be said once again though that as a game, Borderlands 4 is excellent. As of now yes it needs some elbow grease which I know is tiresome. Anyone who wants to wait until the game is fool proof to buy it is absolutely valid in feeling that way. However, the game that is here underneath all the discourse is truly fantastic. If you’re a fan of the franchise like I am, you’re in for a damn good time with this one… when it works the way it should.
