Here you will find all known information and news about Borderlands 3 at a glance. The article covers the release date, the classes and therefore playable characters, the gameplay and weapons, the story, and pre-order bonuses.
The game explained briefly: Borderlands 3 is a cooperative loot shooter by Gearbox and the successor to Borderlands 2. Particularly notable in the series is the quirky and dark humor.
As a loot shooter, the focus is on the hunt for a variety of wacky weapons that have random properties. However, for a loot shooter, Borderlands offers a deep story that continues in the third part.
The base game will still be expanded with extensive DLCs that bring new content. There is also debate over whether Borderlands 3 is a “Games as a Service” title or not.
- Release: September 13, 2019
- Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, and PC
- Developer: Gearbox
- Publisher: 2K Games
- Age rating: Unknown. Probably 18+.
Official Release Date
When will Borderlands 3 be released? On September 13, 2019.
The release date of Borderlands 3 was officially confirmed with the announcement trailer below. The game is being released simultaneously for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
Buy Borderlands 3: Pre-order, Price, Editions, Bonuses
Borderlands 3 will be released in various editions that differ in price and content.
These are the 4 editions available:
- Borderlands 3 – Standard (Price: €68.98)
- Borderlands 3 – Deluxe Edition (Price: €84.99)
- Borderlands 3 – Super Deluxe Edition (Price: €99.99, from September 17 €119.99)
- Borderlands 3 – Diamond Loot Chest Collector’s Edition (Price: €249.99)
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How do the editions differ? All editions include the base game of Borderlands 3. However, they each offer different additional content. This ranges from weapon skins to a physical chest that you can display on your shelf.
The Deluxe Edition includes controversial XP and loot delivery boost mods that are being discussed by fans. These increase the gained XP and the chance for good loot. According to the developers, the Deluxe boosters should not be relevant in the endgame.
What is the pre-order bonus? A golden weapon skin and a weapon charm.
Where can I pre-order? All editions can be pre-ordered already at 2kStore .
All details about the different contents: What each of the four editions of Borderlands 3 contains can be found here:
There will be a Season Pass
Borderlands 3 relies on a Season Pass and multiple DLCs that expand the base game.
4 Story DLCs confirmed: A total of 4 DLCs have already been confirmed. These can either be purchased individually or directly in a bundle as a Season Pass, probably at a discounted price. Those who purchase the ‘Super Deluxe Edition’ or ‘Collector’s Edition’ will receive the Season Pass included.
What are the price and scope of the DLCs? This is still unknown.
Borderlands 3 is initially available only on the Epic Store on PC
Controversy Epic Store vs Steam: Borderlands 3 will be exclusively available through the Epic Games Store for about six months. This has caused such resentment among some players that it led to a review bombing of the previous games on Steam .
What is the problem? Many players want the freedom to purchase their games where they choose. They feel pressured by the deal with the Epic Games Store. The Epic Store is also criticized for providing less comfort and security than Steam.
Gearbox’s response to the controversy: In a statement, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford stated that he holds Epic and their corporate philosophy in high regard. Epic Games invests significantly more in new technologies than Valve. Competition is good for customers, developers, and publishers. Pitchford is also aware of the issues.
Find the complete statement here:
Borderlands 3 temporarily removed from the Epic Store: The Epic Store is having a Mega Sale, offering all games there at least €10 cheaper. Some publishers are currently pulling their games from the Epic Store. Gearbox has also temporarily removed Borderlands 3 from the Epic Store. The game is expected to return at an unspecified time.
Classes: The 4 playable characters
How do the classes work? In Borderlands, there are traditionally four characters to choose from, each assigned to specific classes and bringing their own personality.
The characters have different abilities and talents. In Borderlands 3, players can choose from three skill trees for each character, allowing them to activate a “primary skill” and switch it as they see fit.
Moze – the Gunner
Moze’s class: Moze is one of the soldiers. They work in Borderlands with technical gadgets and tools like turrets. They are rather stationary – Moze takes a different approach.
What can Moze do? The young woman has a big mech with her, which she calls Iron Bear. Once Moze calls him, he constructs himself around the soldier. With the mech, Moze can move across the field and fire her weapons. She is thus a mobile soldier class.
The mech possesses a turret on its head that can be occupied by someone else. Moze thus seems particularly strong in coop play.
Amara – the Siren
Amara’s class: Siren are mysterious women with mysterious powers in Borderlands. They are characterized by glowing tattoos that run over their bodies and flicker. Traditionally, a Siren is always one of the playable characters.
What can Amara do? Amara summons six huge and ghostly arms that hover around her body like wings. It is to be assumed that she specializes in melee combat with her powers. This is also supported by Amara’s muscular appearance, which is rather atypical for the otherwise delicate Sirens.
FL4K – The Beastmaster
FL4K’s class: The cyborg is a hunter, resembling the character Mordecai from the previous parts. This class has an affinity for animals and is more geared towards long-range combat.
What can FL4K do? The hunter can choose between three animals to summon for support: a Skag, a spider-ant, and an unknown creature holding a weapon. The spider-ant can produce shockwaves.
On FL4K’s chest, grenades can be seen. This could indicate that the cyborg works with explosive weapons.
Zane – The Operative
Zane’s class: Assassins use sneaky methods. For example, Zer0 in the second part could create a hologram of himself to confuse opponents.
What can Zane do? The assassin appears to be well-equipped and brings various gadgets. Zane can create a hologram of himself that attracts the attention of enemies. He also has a drone that attacks enemies and flies behind him.
Will more classes come to Borderlands 3?
More classes are not planned according to Gearbox. In the predecessor Borderlands 2, it was indeed the case that additional playable characters (Gaige and Krieg) were added through a DLC.
However, Gearbox has found in analyses that players prefer to remain loyal to one character. They want to expand the existing characters instead.
Story and Setting in Borderlands 3 – What we know
What happened so far: Borderlands 3 takes place five years after the events of its predecessor Borderlands 2. The then head of the Hyperion Corporation and self-proclaimed dictator, Handsome Jack, was killed by the Vault Hunters.
The planet has thus been freed from Handsome Jack’s tyrannical rule. The Vault Hunters won the race to the legendary vault on the planet Pandora and seized the powerful alien technology.
How long is Borderlands 3? The story campaign is expected to last about 30 hours. This corresponds approximately to the length of its predecessor Borderlands 2. However, players will only reach the 30 hours if they play through steadily and ignore a large part of the side quests.
Everything revolves around an influencer cult
What we know about the story: Two new villains appear: The Calypso twins Troy and Tyreen. They are the leaders of the newly introduced bandit cult “Children of the Vault”.
The exact motives of the twins and their cult are still unknown. However, what we do know is that the two Calypso twins are something like crazy Twitch stars. Troy and Tyreen stream their show to all bandits, and they eagerly follow the instructions of their favorite stars.
The more the player kills and eliminates bandits, the “better” content from these massacres Tyreen and Troy can publish in their stream, leading to more fans. A vicious cycle.
A hidden message suggests that we will once again encounter the first boss from Borderlands 1, the Destroyer:
Do Sirens play a larger role? The villainess Tyreen is one of the six active Sirens in Borderlands. This can be seen from her blue shimmering tattoos. Interestingly, however, her brother Troy also has the tattoo typically associated with Sirens. Traditionally, men cannot be Sirens.
In the trailer below, there is a scene where Tyreen and Troy encounter the Siren Lilith. After their meeting, Lilith loses her tattoos, while Troy now has some. Initial speculations suggest that the twins steal Sirens’ powers and that Troy carries those powers in the vials around his neck.
The stealing of Siren powers could become an important element for the story of Borderlands 3.
The Setting – Are there multiple worlds?
What is special about the setting? Borderlands takes place in a distant future where everyone is corrupt and depraved. The series particularly stands out with its dark humor.
Where does Borderlands 3 take place? This time, Borderlands takes place on multiple planets. How these are unlocked throughout the story is still unknown. However, it is clear that there is a spaceship called “Sanctuary” that serves as the home base for players.
The gameplay of Borderlands 3
Borderlands is a cooperative loot shooter that possesses RPG elements in character development. While it can be played alone, it really unfolds in the synergies formed between classes and weapons through cooperative play.
Players receive quests from NPCs and are rewarded with experience, money, or items such as new weapons. This makes them stronger and allows them to take on new quests.
Weapon brands form a special core
Weapon manufacturers play a big role: Weapon manufacturers and their brands determine some of the bonus effects a weapon has. For example, if the bullets from Jacob weapons hit a target, they ricochet and hit additional enemies. The weapon manufacturers are also the major corporations in Borderlands that are fighting for capitalist dominance.
New weapon brand in Borderlands 3: There will be a new manufacturer called Children of Vault. They have unlimited ammunition. Occasionally (and without warning), these weapons overheat.
All details about the 9 weapon brands:
Weapons are equipped with elements: Another special feature is the elements. There are:
- Fire
- Explosive
- Acid
- Shock
These elements will also be present in Borderlands 3. Whether there will be adjustments here is still unknown.
Slag will be adjusted: The “Slag” element will disappear in Borderlands 3 and will be replaced with a new elemental type that acts like nuclear radiation.
Loot system in Borderlands 3 overhauled
The loot and level system is one of the biggest criticisms in Borderlands 1 and 2.
This is how it was in the predecessors: In Borderlands 1 and 2, progress and level requirements were taken from the host, that is, the player who started the game session. Loot was shared among all players. The loot simply lay on the ground and could be picked up by all players.
This is how it is now in Borderlands 3: Through scaling, friends can always play together, even with a large difference in level. Vault Hunters can now get their own loot instead of having to share it with other players.
However, those who prefer to play with shared loot can still do so.
The map – How big will the game world be?
Size of the map teased: How big the map will be in detail is still unknown. In a tweet, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford hinted that the game world of Borderlands 3 will likely be significantly larger than its predecessors:
What we know about the endgame
These endgame contents are planned: Generally, the endgame contents of Borderlands 3 will be oriented around what has already been established in the Borderlands series. This means:
- DLC stories (Add-ons)
- Bounty bosses
- Raid bosses like in MMORPGs
With this, the developers have done well with the predecessors and probably want to keep this successful recipe. Especially the hunt for better weapons offers players a great incentive. However, it is said that there will be more bosses this time than in Borderlands 2.
This is how you stay informed: If you want to get the latest news about Borderlands 3, please give us a like on our “Borderlands 3” Facebook page.
Borderlands 3 offers many innovations: Many fans of the franchise wanted to get exactly what they were used to from the series with Borderlands 3. They indeed do. Nevertheless, Gearbox has expanded or improved many gameplay elements. This includes, for example, that the NPCs now play a more important role.
Here you can find more adjustments:
