Borderlands 4 Decoded: The Stories Behind the Bullets

As we are getting closer and closer to the full of mayhem looter shooter Borderlands 4 release date in 12th September of this year, we are super excited to get more of the action-packed title. Just like the previous Borderlands games in the franchise this one has also been developed by Gearbox Software during the past several years and is going to be distributed by publisher 2K Games. 

This would be the first Borderlands game to be released with Gearbox Software operating as a studio owned by 2K, since the company got acquired by Take-Two Interactive two years ago in 2024. The original plan for launching the game was for a Borderlands 4 release to happen at the end of September, but then came the pleasantly surprising announcement that the title is arriving to market 11 days earlier. 2K Games have already confirmed that the title is going to launch on the Epic Game Store and the Borderlands 4 Steam page is already offering it for pre-purchase. 

It really does look like it could be one of the biggest new game titles of 2025, as it is set on the goal of expanding upon the previous Borderlands games, because Gearbox recently put out a video to introduce some of the newly included improvements for the upcoming entry in the series, going into more detail about the setting of Kairos as well as the important story bits, new characters, weapons and other important functionalities of the new game, which got announced as a "turning point" in the broader Borderlands universe. 

The title is going to be released on the PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, as well as for both present and future owners of the Nintendo Switch 2, with the only difference being that there would a bit of a delay for them, because the latest Nintendo console was included on the list of planned platforms later than the others.

So, equip your best gear possible, find your most useful weapon modifiers and prepare yourself for our review that would go through everything we know about the Borderlands 4 gameplay, story, weapons and characters up to now, all packed in one place. We would also discuss the new features, multiplayer and co-op modes, Pre-Order offers and the different editions it is going to have. Ready? Let’s begin!

WHAT SHOULD WE EXPECT FROM THE UPCOMING BORDERLANDS 4 TITLE

As per usual for the Borderlands series this entry in the franchise is also promising to be filled to the brim with tons and tons of different very cool and deadly weapons, a whole variety of brutally deranged enemies, as well as multiple new features, and of course the crazily intense and interesting adventures of the newest bunch of tough badass Vault Hunter characters the title introduces. All of this while you are on risky missions, that would require you to somehow manage with all the rough situations you get involved in on the prison planet of Kairos. Although, the iconic Borderlands visual graphics (that have been polished even more than ever before) and the very much beloved comedic tone it has certainly do help a lot to make things a lot more enjoyable!

Your ultimate goal is to find some sort of a way out from this very dangerous world you find yourself stuck in, since it is ruled by quite the tyrannical Timekeeper. Especially, during times of insubordination and uprising, when a massive world-altering in its scale catastrophe is threatening to end his version of the already established order around, he would not think hesitate for long before unleashing as much of his powers as possible, across the whole planet. Escape the ruthless dominion he imposes over everyone around, so that you survive to eventually tell the story of it.

Try to leave the cruel and unforgiving world of Kairos behind as either one of the four new Vault Hunter characters available and keep in mind that even though they differ very much in their distinct personality and specialty qualifications, what unites them however is the fact that they are seeking to achieve their version of glory. But in order to survive, you would have to fully exploit each and every single one of your battle skills, discover and then modify your arsenal of exceptional weapons accordingly and inflict great amounts of damage to all of the enemies and monsters in the area with the dynamic movement abilities you have. 

LESS BORDERS, MORE LANDS IN THE BORDERLANDS 4 SETTING

The Borderlands 4 setting has already been confirmed, and the story takes us away from Pandora to a completely new planet known as Kairos. Explore the vast and dangerous world that is full of deadly creatures, rough terrain and of course the various factions that very often feud and battle with one another for dominance over the land and resources. Would you be able to unite them in order to settle their differences and go together against their common threat and manage to overthrow the ongoing tyranny?

Kairos has been kept hidden for many centuries thanks to the oppressive regime by the mighty figure known only as the Timekeeper. He is able to control all the world's residents through the use of cybernetic implants named Bolts and a private army of synthetic soldiers referred to as The Order to enforce their master’s rule and bidding. 

Everything suddenly changes when a rogue moon, teleported from Pandora at the final of Borderlands 3 by the infamous Vault Hunter Lilith. It managed to pierce through the protective shield of the planet and initiated a lot of chaotic consequences, you actually being one of them as your role in these events is much greater that you could guess.

When we initially arrive on the morbid world the inhabitants of Kairos have started rising up, with some even ripping (or getting them ripped against their will) their Bolts right out of their skulls causing them either immense levels of insanity or direct death. That’s the situation our four Vault Hunters have crash-landed into: a planet with a population primed to explode, and you would most likely act as the spark that ignites it all in flames.

With the ongoing turmoil, residents are quite motivated to fight back against the brutal oppression that they have been living under for so long and would be really happy to finally get rid of the tyranny that had been bestowed upon Kairos once and for all. You would have to manage to somehow unite the people of Kairos and initiate a revolution on a planetary proportion. How you decide to navigate this adventure is entirely up to you as the game offers players with the seamless Borderlands experience fans adore even though it is not exactly open-world, it is said to be the most open and free to roam Borderlands game to this date and it definitely looks to be very expansive from what we have seen so far. The world is made up of four different zones that you are able to explore with load times reduced to minimum.

Another delightful fact is the appearances by some of the more familiar Borderlands faces that would also be included in the game, including the likes of Zane, Moxxi, and even fan-favorite bot Claptrap. Fans should expect to meet a diverse cast of new characters living on Kairos, with some of the videos hinting off at least a few of them, including a sturdy drone known as ECHO-4 that would be by our side on the action-packed adventures ahead of us. The small robot unit has got just the right set of abilities to effectively hack the various types of equipment, scan the surrounding environments and also guide players to various objectives scattered around the world. 

To cover more ground you are able to hop on your personalized Digirunner vehicle at will and jet-boost your way towards in just a mere second and go through lush fields, towering peaks and deadly desert areas full of gruesome enemies, dynamic weather systems and interactive events as well as a lot of quests to complete with some of the most unforgettable characters the series has to offer.

From the many regular Order patrols in any of the areas to the massive and much more dangerous bosses, you would never find difficulty to get something to shoot at as you explore Kairos. You are also going to come across various short gameplay experiences and new activities such as for example the Silos, which store old, out-of-use Order tech that you are able to steal in the name of the Resistance with the help of ECHO-4. 

Once you have gained control over a Silo, it would then reveal to you the hidden location of a Vault Key Fragment. When you gather enough fragments, you would be able to unlock a hidden Vault, which is of course a high level dungeon with challenging enemies and serious amounts of loot. These reclaimed Silos could also be exploited as Fast Travel points, or you may choose to zipline from their hacked communications balloons and glide through the air to your next point of interest. But let’s now turn to the main playable characters in the upcoming Borderlands 4 game.

CAUSE AS MUCH CHAOS IN THE BATTLES AS POSSIBLE WITH ONE OF BORDERLANDS 4 VAULT HUNTERS

Continuing upon the already established tradition to present new playable characters into the Borderlands franchise, we are getting some new faces introduced, with the four new Vault Hunters, all of whom come from different backgrounds and have a unique set of skills, identity and playstyle.

We got a deeper look at some of the new Vault Hunters in action during the official trailers and gameplay footage, and even though Gearbox has revealed more details primarily about two of the playable characters we are going to briefly showcase them all: 

Vex: The Dark Siren

Sirens are one of the most iconic classes in all of Borderlands, with their supernatural Phase abilities that deeply augment their run-and-gun expertise to their maximum potential, so it would simply not be a Borderlands game if there is no Siren character in the cast of Vault Hunters, and this time around that role is provided to players by Vex. We got a bit more information on her recently, more specifically the video showing how she unlocked her powers in an accident at work during an ongoing mercenary flash sale at the department store she worked at. Due to her rough life, she has quite the cynical and sarcastic demeanor to her, thus positioning her as one of the spookiest Siren characters ever.

Her ability to manifest physical beings into existence should be the primary focus for players, as she is summoning menacing Reapers that can be used to distract and attack enemies as well as immobile, turret-style Spectres that have high damage levels but are rather fragile in combat to support her in the battle. These trusty minions start to continually lose health the very moment they get spawned in, so make sure to position them right and enjoy their murderous tendencies while they are around.

What is even more interesting is the fact that she is also the first Siren with a high output of kinetic damage through the Incarnate skill. She is able to switch her powers between the different elements and there is an awesome perk for players that enjoy faster movement speeds, life-steal skills that are able to drain the soul essence of your enemies and revitalize Vex in her temporary powered-up state.

The third action-skill you could use with Vex is the Phase Phamiliar, it lets her bring a giant spectral cat named Trouble to the fight and this kitty has got nasty claws and moves. This deadly pet is able to fatally tear enemies to bits or swipe them off their feet with its tail. When need be, it could teleport on top of priority targets and crush them with its body in a big ranged blast. Trouble further solidifies the ideas around the witchery theme included in the character design of Vex. 

Experience Vex's destructive Phase energy in action, whether she's blasting enemies to bits with elemental orbs, summoning an entourage of aggressive Phase Clone minions. If you're generally a fan of companion classes or like to rack up kills with elemental damage, Vex is a great choice. When you reach the necessary proper attunement, she becomes a powerful crowd-control character that could dominate an area and quickly turn the tides of the battle in her favor.

Rafa: The Exo-Soldier

Most would consider Tediore as the runt from the various Borderlands weapons manufacturers, but Exo-soldier Rafa has heavily relied on using exactly that type of high-tech gear in his battles. 

He was born and raised in an environment with micro-gravity, so Rafa is wearing a special exoskeleton to assist him when it comes to survival in some of the harsher worlds around. This sort of gear was fitted to his body as soon as he signed up to Tediore's military forces. 

When he finally understood that his assigned duty would never really be finished, Rafa deserted the assigned battles, which is an act that would eventually result in his Deadframe exoskeleton killing him off. Even though he is not entirely certain when would this happen, he still has a relatively positive views on life as a whole.

Associate narrative director April Johnson pointed out that he too is quite kinetic as a Vault Hunter. And it really shows in most of his dialogue, it is so very charming that even the enemies have good things to say about it. You could notice his great adaptability and fluidity in his skill-trees and his action skills as he may be one of the most agile Vault Hunters to this day. 

When charm and communication fail, Rafa could use a great variety of weapons in battles. These include nifty tools such as energy blades, laser guns and even shoulder-mounted cannons to deliver bigger blasts.

Harlowe: The Gravitar

Borderlands 3 players would be quite informed when it comes to the Traunt family lineage and this next character is a direct descendant from them. Described by the devs as a genious - Harlowe is able to seriously manipulate the gravity fields around to her advantage and comes to the fight with a bunch of gadgets to assist her in the field. 

As a former Maliwan combat scientist she got outcasted by her Traunt relatives for her deep interest to grasp how all things really work. She has quite the character, especially when she is not imploding or exploding her enemies to bits and pieces.

As one of the characters that has not been given the spotlight for too long, we still have not seen much of her skills in detail, but she is able to lift the enemies and then crush them in the ground with a slam.

Amon: The Forge Knight

This Vault Hunter comes to the Borderlands series with a really tragic story. Raised in a Vault monster-worshipping cult his early life was spent in a rather secluded manner. When they finally were able to open up a Vault, instead of having the best and most desired moment of their lives, the creature inside killed off everyone. 

Amon then dedicated his life to killing all of the Vault monsters he could. He gets described as a warrior-poet who has a bit of a introspective nature, he relies a lot on his Forge Drones, who live in his spine and arms, that he is able to psychically control and even transform them into all kinds of different weapons.

His arsenal includes a sword, an axe, a hammer, a spear and a whip as well as a strong shield to protect him. He seems to have all the necessary things you would expect from a space Viking character.

Each of the Vault Hunter classes in Borderlands 4 offers gamers with a unique playstyle that lets you pick between three abilities that serve as your Action Skills. The devs claim they are delivering the most advanced skill tree system in the franchise yet, allowing you to enhance your Action Skills with additional augments and capstone abilities. You can select your configuration from the three branching paths of passive abilities that enable an incredibly wide variety of powerful build options. 

Each Vault Hunter also has a unique Trait that shapes their playstyle even more. For instance, Vex’s such trait makes her Action Skills attune to the element of the weapon she currently has equipped, thus it encourages players to focus on an arsenal of elemental weapons to shock, burn, or freeze enemies depending on the situation.

IMPORTANT DETAILS ABOUT THE BORDERLANDS 4 WEAPONS, SKILL TREES AND ABILITIES 

It has been almost 16 years since the team at Gearbox created the looter shooter genre and they have continuously been putting tremendous efforts to perfect the formula in its potency, delivering tons of loot and intense action with each next entry in the franchise. 

As time goes you would get more and more comfortable in and used to the role of a legendary Vault Hunter while discovering more of the world in search for new loot and gear to obtain, then with it at your disposal to turn yourself into an unstoppable and fierce warrior in any battle you get involved in, easily ripping and blasting through each wave of your enemies through the use of an all-new arsenal of outrageous weapons that would most certainly deliver quite the punch. 

With literally "billions of weapons and accessories" options to find and loot during your adventure, there would surely be tons of fun to be had as you experiment with the different setups. And while on the topic of the Borderlands 4 weapons, in this upcoming adventure things seem to be done a bit differently in that aspect of the game, with some major changes to the guns, since in this one there are also three new weapon manufacturers involved and a "Licensed parts system" that would offer the ability to integrate parts from more than one company into a single weapon, thus making it more modified with abilities and add-ons.

Witness the sheer destructive power of the incredible weapons produced by the eight unique gun manufacturers in the Borderlands universe: Order, Ripper, Daedalus, Tediore, Maliwan, Jakobs, Vladof, and Torgue, each having their own set of strengths and advantages to the others, because they are specializing in different devastating aspects for their products, constantly fueling battles with fresh ideas and concepts to take advantage of: 

• Order guns are mainly focused on precision with high-powered bursts of destruction
• Ripper guns have the option to charge up and become fully automatic instruments of death
• Daedalus guns are easy-to-use and could incorporate more than a single ammo type  
• Tediore guns get reloaded by throwing them as sort of grenades
• Maliwan guns have special elemental types of damage to burn, freeze, and shock your opponents
• Jakobs guns have the ability to shoot bullets super fast and you can use ricochets upon critical hits
• Vladof guns have a really high rate of shooting and that is why they usually would require huge magazines
• Torgue guns exploit heavy-duty explosive ammo that could be switched to become sticky projectiles.

Another interesting thing to mention here is the fact that Borderlands 4 reworks the approach to the unique Legendary gun drops that come with more powerful effects you would not find included in any other piece of gear. In previous games the Legendary types did drop much more often, taking away their uniqueness and this time getting one of these would truly feel distinctive and special.

The devs have also already confirmed that this entry in the Borderlands series is going to have the most diverse and complex skill trees of any title before it, so you would be able to handle any encounter with the help of your devastating Action Skills that would unleash your Vault Hunter's unique abilities on the battlefield and allow you to eradicate anything standing on your way. Craft the perfect build for your playstyle with the branching skill trees and a never-ending loot chase offering you a huge variety of original weapon types and useful gear to further boost your powers. Move across the Borderlands like never before by gliding, double jumping, grappling, dodging and much more, dealing serious amounts of death in every possible direction that you turn to. 

Every Vault Hunter has access to three unique Action Skills, but keep in mind that just one can be equipped at any given time. There are also three distinct skill trees, each dedicated to an Action Skill.

When you are investing your earned points into a skill tree and begin to unlock its deeper layers, you would get access to various Augments that are going to provide your character with secondary bonuses added to your Action Skills as well as Capstones that modify or override the functionalities of a specific Action Skill. The different Augments and Capstones could only be used into the Action Skill for the respective skill tree and just one Capstone could be equipped at a time.

You may use Action Skills from another skill tree even if you have not yet invested points in them, but you would not be able to use the powerful Augments or Capstones. Adding enough Skill Points to the tree that would properly become most synergized with your preferred Action Skill is of key importance to your success and survival!

All of the Vault Hunters have their own personal Trait: a passive effect is always active and it doesn't require any sort of skill points. The Elemental damage types are of crucial importance, when trying to take down some of the tougher enemies, especially on higher difficulty levels, so Phase Covenant is one of your primary methods of adapting while you are leveling up, thus encouraging you to compile a loadout with a variety of elemental damage guns that would ensure you are prepared for any situation that might occur.

There are also new gear slots to specialize your build further and turn it even deadlier. Now you would be able to use ordnance, which is a shared slot for your Grenades and Heavier Weapons such as the rocket launchers, it recharges with a timed cooldown in order to keep you as prepared as possible, especially during some of the tougher encounters with the Timekeeper’s high-ranking generals. 

There are also enhancements, which are going to replace the Artifact slot that was used in Borderlands 3, to augment and modify your weapons based on their manufacturer, which would reward you with additional firepower when optimizing your gear and personal loadout. Repkits add utility by letting you heal yourself or activate temporary buffs to help heighten your chances of defeating and overcoming the more threatening enemies.

FIGHT SOLO OR CO-OP

The Borderlands 4 co-op support has also been confirmed and the upcoming adventure is going to offer 4-player online co-op, as well as an option for 2-player split screen co-op, so that you could get immerse yourselves into the core campaign with pals on the couch.

Navigating through Kairos could be done alone, but it is even better when the experience is shared with friends in the online co-op.  The Borderlands 4 multiplayer mode is entirely designed for badass co-op action; no matter if you are on a loot hunt, completing dangerous quests and missions, or just roaming around freely, the dynamic level scaling and individual difficulty settings for each player and the option to Fast Travel directly to other players keeps the party strong while at the same time having tons of fun through the entire campaign.

With cross-play fully supported and included in the upcoming Borderlands 4 game, a lot of emphasis was placed on the enhanced co-op mechanics during a big gameplay deep dive from the team at Gearbox that pointed out the fact that co-op has always been a vital element for the franchise and this time there has been so much work put into it, so that players receive the ultimate multiplayer experience. 

The improved lobby system with drop-in/drop-out action for up to 4 players is just the start and there would be individual settings for difficulty, instanced loot and easy fast travel to the other players in case you get split from the group. Let’s now shift our attention to the Borderlands 4 Pre-order and versions.

BORDERLANDS 4 PRE-ORDER AND AVAILABLE EDITIONS

Borderlands 4 is already available for pre-order across all the supported platforms, and there would be three different editions of the upcoming looter shooter. 

When Pre-ordering any of the edition variants you are getting the Gilded Glory Pack pre-order bonus, and it includes a Vault Hunter skin, one weapon skin and an ECHO-4 drone skin.

Apart from that and the Standard Edition, the Deluxe Edition has a Bounty Pack which would give players access to future post-launch DLC packs, as well as some extra vehicles, weapons and useful gear, Vault Hunter cosmetics and even a special Fire hawk's Fury weapon skin.

Finally, the Super Deluxe Edition is offering players with the Vault Hunter pack. This bonus includes new story packs, two new map regions, new gear items and special weapons, even more Vault Hunter and ECHO-4 cosmetic skins and the Ornate Order Pack which comes more with other goodies.

With so much packed in the upcoming Borderlands 4 game, there would simply not be a dull moment spent during all the intriguing adventures that it offers! We cannot wait to get more updates about it and keep you posted about anything interesting happening in the world of gaming in the coming months. Stay tuned for more YUPLAY blog reviews and promos to come!