‘Borderlands 4' Hands-On Previews Are Here, And They Are Fantastic

Borderlands 4
I have yet to see anything in Borderlands 4 previews that suggests to me that it's not going to be great, and in the wake of pre-orders (at a $70 price) launching this week, now we have a large batch of hands-on previews that have dropped from various outlets and creators.
Well, the good news is that the Borderlands 4 previews are almost all universally positive, and have a general sense of the series being 'back.' The bad news is…well, I'm not really seeing bad news.
Here is a smattering of highlights from the previews, which come from both outlets and YouTubers deep into the scene:
IGN: 'After several hours dipping our toes into what is sure to be a massive looter shooter, we're much more optimistic about its odds of recapturing our affections after years apart.'
Game Informer: 'With Gearbox, it truly feels like Borderlands 4 is taking those steps to change the direction of a franchise that had been drifting away from me for more than a decade, while still remaining staunchly true to its overarching identity.'
Screenrant: 'It's hard to distill everything I loved about my time playing Borderlands 4 down to a digestible length. I could go on for far too long about how great the new throwing knives are or how this is easily some of the best-written Borderlands content, thanks to the game's humor staying grounded in its own world as opposed to relying too hard on dated internet culture.'
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This echoes the sense the previews gave, that this had taken the immense amount of feedback and criticism from the (still very successful) Borderlands 3. Two areas that have been significantly addressed are the dramatic increase in mobility, ranging from grappling hooks to gliding, to make the combat feel more fast-paced and modern. It's also refreshing to hear that the writing is less meme-y than it used to be, harkening back to the BL1 days of the series where sure, there was comedy, but it didn't go overboard to the point of being exceptionally lame (something BL3 had in spades).
spades).
Borderlands 4 recently moved its release date up to September 13, 2025. Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford said that it was just confidence in the product, not trying to avoid Bungie's Marathon, which it previously shared a release date with (as of yesterday, Marathon is delayed indefinitely anyway) or avoiding the not-yet-announced GTA 6 (which was eventually delayed to May 2026). So, he was right.
Borderlands 4 was already one of my most-anticipated games of the year, possibly the most-anticipated, given the thousand hours I've put into the past games. Now? I'm doubling down on that. I cannot wait.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.

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