Borderlands 4 — new cinematic story trailer, darker tone (and $70 price point with early access), finally lands

Borderlands 4 screenshot of Moxxi holding a gun at someone.
The ever joyful Mad Moxxi returns (Image credit: Gearbox)

Borderlands 4 has been the talk of the town as of late. From "real fans" being able to afford the title to the game only costing $70 (thank goodness!), the game has been on players' minds (it even dropped early access). Now, even more so, since we have a stellar story trailer that dropped!

Borderlands 4 | Official Story Trailer - YouTube Borderlands 4 | Official Story Trailer - YouTube
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The humor of Borderlands will return in full force, but the trailer opening is much darker in tone. Showcasing what will hopefully be a return to the form of villainy we've come to expect from Borderlands.

The new vault hunters have crashed on the planet Kairos, ruled by the tyrant The Timekeeper. Your mission is simple: overthrow The Timekeeper.

The only issue (that we know of so far) is you and the other vault hunters have a device called "The Bolt" implanted within you. As a control device, The Bolt limits your character's free will in an attempt to control you.

Borderlands 4 screenshot of Claptrap in a rundown village.

David Eddings sadly does not return to voice his iconic role that has since been replaced by Jim Forond. (Image credit: Gearbox)

Overcoming this device will be a significant focal point in the story, where you'll meet all sorts of returning characters, like Zane, Claptrap, and the ever-gawked-about Mad Moxxi. You know there's a million fans out there praying for the jiggle physics update.

As for the rest of the story, I'm not too keen on over-analyzing it, as I don't want too much spoiled for my initial playthrough come September 12, 2025. If you're more interested, check out some of the gameplay posted by Gearbox and other outlets!

Borderlands 4 screenshot of the player reloading mid mission.

This game looks phenomenal! (Image credit: Gearbox)

Borderlands, for well over a decade, has been one of my favorite franchises. Going all the way back to their initial reveal in Game Informer, where the original game used a realistic style of rendering, not cell-shading!

In high school, I never thought I'd be coming around full circle, getting to write about a third sequel that I'm even more excited about today than I was then.

How about you? Did the Borderlands 4 trailer get you all looted up for the sequel dropping on September 12, 2025? Let us know below or drop a comment on social media. I'll be sure to disagree with anyone who is not excited.

Michael Hoglund
Contributor

Michael has been gaming since he was five when his mother first bought a Super Nintendo from Blockbuster. Having written for a now-defunct website in the past, he's joined Windows Central as a contributor to spreading his 30+ years of love for gaming with everyone he can. His favorites include Red Dead Redemption, all the way to the controversial Dark Souls 2. 

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