The co-op shooter Borderlands 3 had its worldwide release on September 13 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. This review will address core elements such as loot, gameplay, atmosphere, setting, and story. Who is Borderlands 3 worth it for?
Background of the game: Borderlands is developed by Gearbox and first saw the light of day in 2009. The first installment of the series is considered the mother of modern loot shooters.
Borderlands 3 now builds on the second part (2012) and is the fourth main installment of the game, including the pre-sequel (2014). With so much time passing since the last release, expectations for Borderlands 3 are high.
What you can expect from the review: We had about a week to play Borderlands 3 ourselves and shoot our way through the campaign. This review is meant to help you better assess whether Borderlands 3 is right for you.
We want to answer the question of what makes the game great and whether it suits you. We will avoid spoilers so that you can discover Borderlands 3 for yourself.
Update: We have updated this article in December to take a look at what has changed in Borderlands 3 since its release.
What makes a co-op shooter
What is Borderlands 3? Gearbox has created a combination of first-person shooter and action RPG. The development of your character through skill trees plays a central role, but equally important is the hunt for loot and crazy gunplay.
To give you a quick overview of the game, we summarize the most important core elements:
- There is an excessive hunt for crazy loot – you complete missions, defeat enemies, and receive randomly specific weapons with crazy properties: weapons can run, weapons can create other weapons, and weapons can insult you.
- You expand your skill tree and can vary it throughout the game, adapting the talents to your equipment or the equipment to your talents.
- You encounter a unique sci-fi western fantasy setting that spans multiple planets. Your home base is a spaceship reminiscent of a small town in the Wild West.
- Dark humor addressing manipulation by modern media and the greed of large corporations, while also telling the small stories of humanity.
- A story that has no equal in this scope in any other loot shooter
- A well-thought-out co-op system that allows you to easily and at any time play with anyone – the level of the enemies adjusts to you.
The heart of the game is the variety of weapons
What makes the gameplay of Borderlands 3 special? The gunplay of Borderlands 3 is satisfying for a casual co-op shooter and forgives minor mistakes. The fun of shooting through hordes is at the forefront. The shooting feel and weapon design do not rely on realism – quite the opposite.
Borderlands 3 consists of a crazy world, with crazy enemies and even crazier weapons. It’s incredibly fun for me to discover the weirdest weapons throughout the game and try them out immediately.
Due to the random combinations of properties, every weapon drop is a surprise. The weapons feel extremely different. It happens to everyone at some point to carry a certain weapon with too low a level for too long because it feels so perfect for them. That has certainly happened to me several times, especially with legendary items.
Is every weapon completely crazy? There are indeed weapons that are more traditional in nature and feel that way when fired. While the realism of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is not matched by the standard guns of Borderlands, not everything has to be completely wacko. There’s something for every type of player, which also stems from the different weapon manufacturers. There are a total of 9 manufacturers with their brands. That’s one more brand than in the predecessor, thanks to the new enemies “Children of the Vault.”
The brands add a special touch to the game since every player likely has favorite brands. I particularly favor the weapons from the Jacobs brand, which often have a classic western style. Jacobs’ bullets can ricochet and hit other enemies, while Maliwan weapons can switch between elements.
The weapon manufacturers are closely intertwined with the story of Borderlands. At least I’ve formed a certain relationship with the manufacturers and laugh every time the Atlas Corporation tells me that my deaths only help the company and are welcome.
The motivation of the loot spiral lies in discovery: There are weapons that don’t require reloading – you throw the whole weapon away, causing an explosion. The weapons suddenly turn into bouncing grenades or running turrets. Ammunition that transforms into little running brains that shoot at enemies – yes, there are plenty of such craziness and they are even more prevalent than in the predecessors. This also applies to shields and skill modifications you use.
Borderlands 3 motivates me like no other game to hunt for the next weapon to find out what it can actually do. Especially legendary weapons with “secret properties” give me a real kick when firing the first shot. More often than not, I probably had a big “What the Fuck?!” written on my face. What else is one to say when your rifle suddenly grows legs and runs alongside you?
The character upgrade is deeper than in the predecessor
How much RPG is in Borderlands 3? The RPG elements are a bit more pronounced than in the second or the first part. You have four characters to choose from.
- Moze – Gunner
- Zane – Agent
- Amara – Siren
- FL4K – Beastmaster
During the test, I played the beastmaster FL4K, who is an android druid. The new pet class is a special highlight for me as it brings a lot of variety and, well… cool pets into the game.
How character upgrades work: Each of these characters has three skill trees in which you can distribute skill points. You receive a new point at each level up of your character. You gain experience for killing enemies or additional points for completing missions.
What’s special this time is that you have three different action skills that, in contrast to other talents, can be switched out at any time. For example, Zane can create a hologram of himself with his action skill or create a mobile barrier (a kind of shield), or create a drone. FL4K has three different pets available as a beastmaster, which he can switch, and also equip three different skills.
In combination with the different weapons and also findable class mods, tinkers have a lot to experiment and try out. You can distribute points across the three trees or follow a strict path within one tree, which usually harmonizes well with the passive abilities in a skill tree.
How do the new skill trees impact the game? I particularly notice the new variety of skill trees in the mid and end game. I found that it can often be smarter to switch out the action skill spontaneously.
FL4K can switch his three animals and the action skill at any time. Sometimes it was more practical to take the Skag, which is strong in close combat, and sometimes I opted for the Jabber or the Spiderant to make use of their range strength.
The setting is a western in sci-fi attire
What makes the universe of Borderlands 3 special? Although we are in a sci-fi setting, Borderlands has more of the flair of a classic western. This is particularly evident in the new home base, which still bears the name Sanctuary (Refuge) but is now a spaceship.
The base reminds me a lot of Serenity from the series Firefly Just like Borderlands, Firefly is also a kind of space western. The crew of the ship fights in both cases against the greedy rulers of the planets.
Just moving from a static home base to a spaceship makes the feeling of the space western perfect for me. With Mad Moxxi, my saloon with slot machines is back, and the mechanic Ellie brings the necessary “backwoods” feel. In Sanctuary, people spit, curse, and everyone is a bit scruffier – I feel at home here.
Borderlands 3 is significantly larger than its predecessors: The setting includes the various planets of the game. While the previous installments were always set on the desert-like Pandora, there are now different planets to explore in Borderlands 3 for the first time.
The planets all have a unique look and unique enemies that reveal themselves on them. This ranges from a jungle planet with dinos and monkeys to a modern metropolis where the enemies use cutting-edge technology. In the violent world of Borderlands, there is even a pacifist monk planet with majestic buildings. (The planet is of course not quite as pacifist as its inhabitants would like). The maps offer plenty of variety, which perfectly fits into the overall concept. No planet feels foreign.
Here, there is a downside in the game world: I find it a pity that the planets in their function always remain quite “linear.” Even if a planet seemingly invites exploration, you will always move along the same routes, with hardly any deviations.
The beautiful scenery often only makes itself felt in the background, which acts like a set piece. A bit more freedom to explore and more variety within the planets would have been cool.
The casual co-op is one of the biggest strengths
What makes the co-op particularly strong: Borderlands 3 is simply wonderfully uncomplicated in co-op, and that even more so than its predecessors. Instead of a player hub, there’s the option to invite a player directly to a (running) session. This streamlines the multiplayer experience but also offers fewer social components.
Really strong is the new level sync that Borderlands 3 comes with for the first time. The enemies and loot adapt intelligently to the respective player’s level. It works like in The Elder Scrolls Online – One Tamriel.
With my co-op partner, I had to realize: The level sync works perfectly! We played with a level difference of about 15 levels. However, we did not notice it at all. I was just as likely to fall with my “smaller character” as my big neighbor.
What stands out to me is how wonderfully it is to just shoot, talk casually, and laugh. It’s so much fun to see what loot the other got and what you scored in comparison. The loot also directly adjusts to your own level. I really have no complaints about the level sync.
Players who have little or lots of time to play can comfortably play together without needing to pay attention to their respective progress – that’s a huge plus for co-op fans.
How good is the co-op shooter as a single player?
So much campaign is in Borderlands 3: For a loot shooter, Borderlands 3 has a deep story with dialogues worth listening to. Parts of the story can be overheard through voice recordings.
The story of Borderlands 3 is much more extensive than in its predecessor. This is mainly due to the many side quests – some of which even have more content than the main quests. There is a lot of love for detail in the side quests, which I enjoyed exploring solo. Particularly the side quests that you get from the crew on the spaceship Sanctuary made my heart skip a beat for some characters – but I don’t want to spoil it here.
The main story could be considered somewhat thinner compared to the predecessor. The antagonist Handsome Jack set the bar quite high in the second part. The new antagonists, the worst type of streamers, have a hard time reaching this standard. Nevertheless, their motivation provides food for thought.
If the story is important to you, I recommend playing Borderlands 3 at least once solo. Much of the story happens through listening, as you simply listen to the NPCs’ voices. When spoken in voice chat, a lot can fade away.
How long is the campaign? If you just push through the main campaign, you can expect about 35 to 40 hours of gameplay in Borderlands 3. However, this makes the gaming experience uncomfortable.
The level difference to the opponents, without the additional experience points from side quests, makes the run tedious. It is therefore advisable to take on some side quests, as they are often beautifully implemented.
The endgame offers mainly loot grind
What is the endgame of Borderlands 3? After completing the campaign, you unlock new modes for the game that make up the endgame. These increase the difficulty level and yield better loot.
Everything about the endgame can be found here:
- Borderlands 3 introduces True Vault Hunter, the new mode+ for the endgame
- How the new Mayhem mode will offer an exciting endgame in Borderlands 3
- Borderlands 3 shows roadmap: Updates and DLCs will continue in 2019
Since the base game with the main campaign is already quite extensive, I was not able to sufficiently dabble in the endgame to make a final statement about long-term motivation. The endgame offers plenty for loot hunters and frequent players after the campaign with special challenges.
It is clear that there will be events and story DLCs that will certainly motivate you to pull out Borderlands 3 now and then and play as a snack. I anticipate this similarly to the predecessor, so I’m optimistic that the DLCs will hit hard again.
Is the endgame comparable to MMORPG shooters like Destiny 2? No. Although Borderlands 3 shows elements of “Games-as-a-Service” through ongoing updates, it is not one. The social (online) components that characterize these games are absent.
Borderlands 3 is not built for eternity. Eventually, there will simply be a lack of content until a new installment comes out. Until then, however, you can easily spend up to 100 hours and beyond in the game before it becomes truly monotonous.
What has changed in Borderlands 3 since release?
What has been happening in the Borderlands over the last few months: Even though Borderlands 3 is not a classic game as a service, there has been a lot going on since its release.
Besides many patches addressing balancing and performance, there have been plenty of new content. For example, there was the Bloody Harvest event, which not only brought new weapons and enemies but also a completely new Halloween level with its own boss fight. Currently, the ghost time is naturally over in the game, but it will return in 2020.
Additionally, there was the Maliwan Takedown. This takedown presents a particularly difficult challenge for four players at max level and is thus a great challenge in the endgame. To make it even harder, Mayhem 4 was introduced – a new difficulty level with extra loot and enemies.
The largest expansion so far was the DLC “Moxxi’s Heist of the Handsome Jackpot”. Here you land with your vault hunters in Handsome Jack’s space casino to take it over for Mad Moxxi.
The DLC was well received by players and created a desire for more. Fortunately, there are more DLCs in the season pass. In total, there are 3 expansions scheduled to be released by September 2020. More takedowns and events are also to come. So the fun of playing is guaranteed.
Is Borderlands 3 a game for me?
You should play Borderlands 3 if…
you enjoyed the second part and simply want more of it, but bigger and better. You should like the wacky sci-fi western world that doesn’t always take itself seriously but respects its characters. The humor is pitch-black and sometimes tends toward absurdity – you need to enjoy that.
If you are looking for a relaxed co-op game that you can quickly play with anyone, Borderlands 3 is for you. You’ll encounter a loot spiral reminiscent of Diablo 3.
You should stay away from Borderlands 3 if…
you expect an endless MMO game like Destiny 2 or Warframe and need it for your happiness. The social components of those games, like a multiplayer hub, are also absent. Likewise, Borderlands 3 is not for you if you value a realistic setting with equally realistic graphics. The graphical look in cell shading style may deter some.