Borderlands 4 review roundup: a return to chaos or just another shloot?

Since its debut in 2009, Borderlands has been the cornerstone of the looter shooter genre, captivating millions with its frenetic gameplay and treasure-hunting allur. Other titles like Destiny, Warframe, Division 2, and many more take inspiration from the Gearbox series. Borderlands itself brings its own insight from the original looter series, Diablo.

Each Borderlands release arrives with a tidal wave of anticipation, fueled by quirky dialogue, memorable characters, and a passionate community crafting countless build guides to conquer the endgame.

Borderlands 4 is no exception, and its arrival is marked by a slew of positive reviews hitting the internet. With an elemental splash marked in every damage type, it looks like Gearbox hit the mark.

• XboxEra (100/100): "Not only is it the best Borderlands game, it’s one of my favorites ever in the open-world co-op looter shooter (or shlooter) genre.  A massive open world filled with a wide variety of excellent content, and unashamed use of all the best mechanics that recent other FPS titles have to offer, and a move away from 3’s meme-focused writing fixes nearly every issue I’ve ever had with the series. Of course, nothing is perfect, even if it is a masterpiece."
• Dualshockers(90/100): "If you already love the Borderlands franchise — even the third game — you’re guaranteed to love this newest addition to this chaotic and bombastic looter shooter. Borderlands 4 is undoubtedly my favorite Borderlands game to date. It is a culmination of everything that the franchise has learned thus far and then some."
• Game Informer (85/100): "Though many of the series’ core elements remain intact, Gearbox has refined and reconfigured them in such ways that Borderlands 4 rises beyond anything the series has accomplished to this point, making for a chaotic looter-shooter worthy of the series’ sterling early-2010s reputation. It’s simultaneously a poster child for excess and restraint, which sounds paradoxical, but for a series named for existing on the border of seemingly opposed concepts, it feels right at home."
• VGC (80/100): "Borderlands 4 is a great RPG shooter with rewarding, engrossing gameplay. Some of the set dressing, like the bland new characters and pointless grappling hook, take the shine off, but the sheer amount of fun we've had with the game can't be overlooked. Borderlands 4 reminds us exactly why we were such big fans of the original two games, and falls on its sword in learning the mistakes of 3."
• Gamespot (70/100): "All in all, if uncovering loot, crafting builds, and unleashing chaotic mayhem is what you're looking for, Borderlands 4 has you covered. It's the most mechanically sound Borderlands game to date, and the various Vault Hunters each present an entertaining opportunity to tackle the game in a different way. Just maybe find a good podcast or video essay to fill the moments between the shooting and looting."

Borderlands 4 - Official Cinematic Launch Trailer - YouTube

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That brings the current Metacritic score to 84.

If you missed it, we also have our own review, which comes in at around the current average. I personally gave it 4/5 stars.

"Borderlands 4 delivers the ultimate Vault Hunter experience, a dazzling gem where every system from gunplay to movement to loot shines with obsessive care. I'm struggling to find faults beyond some lackluster performance hiccups that don't really dampen the chaos. Honestly, writing this review pulls me away from blasting Slitters and chasing legendaries, and I'm dying to dive back into Kairos."

The main culprit of decline has been performance. Hounding away at my poor RTX 3080, Borderlands 4 is astonishingly bad when it comes to optimization. I'm currently achieving a general 60+ frames per second under medium settings at 1440p, with DLSS set to performance mode.

Here's my rig:

• GPU: Nvidia RTX 3080
• CPU: 5900X
• RAM: 32GB DDR4
• SSD: NVME 2.0

Borderlands 4 seems to be another case of building first, with optimization second. Something Tim Sweeney mentioned not too long ago.

"The main cause is the order of development. Many studios build for top-tier hardware first and leave optimization and low-spec testing for the end. Ideally, optimization should begin early—before full content build-out."

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, Black Myth: Wukong, and even Lords of the Fallen had performance issues. However, some goliaths like THE FINALS and Immortals of Avuem run just fine!

Hopefully, with time, Borderlands bounces back and refreshes the otherwise poor performance with some optimization buffs that will keep players' computers from dissolving into a messy pile of radiation goop.

Some of my other friends are facing similar issues, but regardless, they are still having a great time. So it really comes down to whether or not the minor pains of what seems to be AAA's "early access" are worth it to you or not. For me, they have been.

All of this is also without any mention as to how the console ports are performing, as no review codes were given for Xbox or PlayStation. If PC is anything to go by, it could be a nightmare, or perhaps, like with other recent multiplatform games, PC is the one left suffering.

What will you do? Have you already made your purchase? Or are you planning to wait? Let us know below or on social media. I'm curious what everyone else thinks of the reviews!