Are you prepared to really know Claptrap? Brace yourself, because according to Gearbox, Borderlands 4 contains "an emotional moment" with the slapstick robot sidekick.
Gearbox has been saying on repeat that Borderlands 4's comedy will be "more grounded" in the Borderlands universe than Borderlands 3's, which went a bit overboard with pop culture references.
My experience in Borderlands 4's starting area agreed with that claim: It was not an all-out assault of wackiness. I noted in my preview, however, that I didn't run into Claptrap, the series' love-him-or-hate-him metal clown, who I figured was sure to dial up the wackiness. Perhaps I spoke too soon?
Speaking to IGN recently, Borderlands 4 narrative director Sam Winkler, lead writer Taylor Clark, and managing director of narrative properties Lin Joyce reiterated the whole "more grounded" thing, saying that Borderlands 4 focuses on situational comedy: things that the characters themselves could find funny, as opposed to Tommy Wiseau impressions.
"I think that on Borderlands 3, in our worst hours, it sometimes felt like parody," Winkler said. The group also discussed Borderlands 4's sterner antagonist, the authoritarian Timekeeper, and near the end of the chat, Claptrap comes up as one final example of the new tonal choices.
"For the first time, I think, we get real character depth with Claptrap, of all people, for example," said Clark. "One of my favorite missions in the game is an emotional moment with Claptrap that, I think, really hits hard, so I'm personally very happy with where we landed."
I'm not sure I'm ready to know what's really in Claptrap's heart, but I might just be afraid that I'll come to identify with the annoying robot and feel bad for bullying him for so long.
Borderlands 4 will be out on September 12. You can read the full interview on IGN.
