In Borderlands 4 there is a new story to discover. What role do the predecessors play?
This is the situation in Borderlands 4: You take on one of four new Vault Hunters who find themselves on the planet Kairos. Here you encounter the Timekeeper – the shady villain who rules the planet with an iron fist.
The good news for anyone who hasn’t played the previous parts: All these elements are new and didn’t play a role in the previous games (at least not nearly – read more about it here, but beware of spoilers).
Accordingly, you can quickly understand the key elements of the game even without prior knowledge. The developer expresses this as well.
What the Borderlands team says: On the official Borderlands website, the team behind Borderlands 4 literally says: “Borderlands 4 takes place on the completely new planet Kairos, where you will encounter new heroes and villains. So it’s also the ideal opportunity for new players. Fans of Borderlands will be pleased to see some familiar faces, but you can enjoy Borderlands 4 even without prior knowledge from previous Borderlands games.”
Nevertheless: Those who know the previous games will certainly navigate a bit better – especially since there are ultimately a few familiar elements. We’ll take a quick look at those here.
What is from the previous Borderlands parts in the game?
Warning, Spoilers: From here on, events from the previous games will be discussed. Also on the ending of Borderlands 3.
First of all, it must be said: There are now plenty of Borderlands games. Of course, the games 1 to 3, but also the Pre-Sequel, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, and the Tales from the Borderlands games. This is a large pool to draw from. Here, elements like the basic world of Borderlands have already been established.
It is already known that the following characters will return:
- Amara is a Siren you could play in Borderlands 3. She is known for her ethereal close combat and is apparently also present as an NPC on Kairos.
- Mad Moxxi is back in the game. She ran a bar in Borderlands 3 and sold you various items. In Borderlands 4, she is stranded on Kairos.
- Claptrap, the robot with the loose tongue, is also back. He is tasked with recruiting resistance fighters on Kairos. That could be something…
- Zane was also one of our Vault Hunters in Borderlands 3. The assassin is known for completing missions with his digital clone. He seems to be working with Moxxi in Borderlands 4.
- Elpis: This moon was the main setting of the Pre-Sequel to Borderlands. The moon later turned out to be the key to the vault on Pandora. In Borderlands 3, the Calypso twins used the moon to open the great vault. Lilith, the Siren (and one of the previous main characters of the Borderlands series) sacrificed herself to move Elpis away – because the moon threatened to tear Pandora apart.
In Borderlands 4, we pick up at the end of this journey: Elpis crashes into the orbit of Kairos, revealing the planet long hidden by the Timekeeper. And now we have a mess. - And more? That remains to be seen! We are sure that more familiar elements will appear in Borderlands 4.
Other elements that will play a role in Borderlands 4 again are many of the weapon manufacturers we know from the previous games. This is not surprising, as Borderlands is particularly known for its incredible variety of firearms. Especially the legendary weapons will be exciting and probably also quite crazy in parts. We keep an eye on this: All legendary weapons in Borderlands 4.
