There have been a lot of great games that have come out this year, but my most anticipated game of 2025 is coming soon. On September 12th, Borderlands 4 will be officially released on all platforms, and it looks fantastic. Developed by Gearbox and published by 2K, the Borderlands franchise is one of the most beloved franchises in video games. This post will discuss everything you need to know about the Borderlands franchise and what there is to look forward to in Borderlands 4.

The Borderlands franchise began in 2009 with a somewhat unorthodox meshing of genres, Action Role-Playing Game (ARPG) and First-Person Shooter (FPS). While the original Borderlands didn’t do anything super innovative within these genres, it filled a niche that almost instantly made it popular. From cartoony graphics and unique gunplay to a captivating story and teenage crude humor, Borderlands had something for everyone, even people who had never played an ARPG and/or an FPS before. Top this off with consistent updates and great downloadable content (DLC) in the years after its release, Borderlands solidified itself as one of the greatest games of the early 2000s, winning the Game of the Year award in 2009.

The Borderlands franchise didn’t manifest until the release of Borderlands 2 in 2012. Borderlands 2 built upon the foundation the original game had laid but did everything bigger and better. More guns (over one million unique usable guns), more story, more humor, more characters, more DLC, more fun, you name it – Borderlands 2 had it. However, Borderlands 2 did two things that really separated it from other games. First, the main villain of the game, Handsome Jack, is to this day one of the best villains in any game ever. Second, one of the Borderlands 2 DLC, Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep, is still one of the best DLC of any game ever. Each one of the differentiators was so popular that Gearbox created separate games to expand on each of these stories, which will be discussed further down in this post. With such a great game, Borderlands 2, of course, won Game of the Year in 2012, establishing the greatness of the franchise – two games released, two games with Game of the Year awards.

Unfortunately, after Borderlands 2, things began to go downhill for the franchise. Tales of the Borderlands, small games that built upon side stories of the main games didn’t do great.

The next main game in the series, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, followed the story of Handsome Jack and why he became a villain. Release in 2014, this game introduced new mechanics to the series, filled in the story gap between the original Borderlands and Borderlands 2, and allowed players to play as the infamously annoying sidekick, Claptrap. It did fine but did not meet the standards that fans had come to expect from the Borderlands franchise.

Then came Borderlands 3 in 2019. It had five years of development behind, more than any Borderlands game had in the past, and the hype for this game was intense. It was going to be better than any of the previous games, right? Wrong… Although it had more content, massively expanded on the Borderlands universe, and had very cool gameplay, it had the worst characters and story of any of the Borderlands games. Terrible characters design, unfunny humor, and annoying dialog sucked the fun out of anything that could have been considered good about Borderlands 3. Many fans still played through the entire game but had also lost hope for the once great Borderlands franchise.

In hopes of reminding players of the good times, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, the games that built on the Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep DLC from Borderlands 2, was released. Again, it was fine but didn’t build on the main game storyline and was dismissed by many fans. This game brings the franchise up six total games (combining the Tales of the Borderlands into one game even though they are a few small games), and still only the first two were massive hits while the others are forgettable.

Fast-forward to 2025, Borderlands 4 is on the brink of being released and at the same time, the franchise is on the brink of dying. Borderlands 4 is uniquely positioned to be able to both revive or kill the entire Borderlands series. Based on the pre-release footage of the game, many fans are hopeful that it will be a revival, a beacon of hope, for the continuation of the franchise. Admittedly, there is a ton of stuff to look forward to with Borderlands 4. Here are some of the main points:

  • Borderlands 4 is marketed as a game that anyone can get into without having played previous games. While it does build off the previous games, the story is supposed to fill in the gaps for new players
  • It takes place on a new planet in the Borderlands Universe, Kairos, with four massive zones to play in and where all the entire story takes place in. Apparently, anywhere that is visible in the world can be visited by the player.
  • There are four new playable characters with extensive class trees and up four player co-op.
  • Two new characters and two massive new zones will be released with DLC in the months and years after the release of the game.
  • Over a dozen unique instanced dungeons (i.e. vaults in the Borderlands Universe) for players to progress with unique bosses at the end of each.
  • New game mechanics, including movement and weapon tech, gun parts, difficulty and loot enhancements, world content, weather, and so much more.
  • Millions of new guns with the introduction of the gun parts mechanic.
  • Story with more serious undertones with humor sprinkled in, unlike Borderlands 3 which was the opposite, so players can get more invested in it.

And much more that players will have to find out on their own once the game has been released. While this is a lot of stuff, much more of the cool gameplay is apparently being kept hidden for the release of the game. However, just based on what we already know, there is hope within the community that Borderlands 4 will be a great game. If it’s not, it will likely be the franchise’s last game.