The Borderlands 4 State of Play deep dive might be over, but Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford as well as Borderlands 4 creative director Graeme Timmins and senior project producer Anthony Nicholson revealed plenty of new gameplay details to keep us hungry for more as we wait for Borderlands 4 to release in September.
A recap of the biggest announcements from the Borderlands 4 State of Play deep dive is below, and if you're looking to relive the experience of what it was like to watch it all live, the play-by-play live blog of everything revealed as it happened is just below that.
Everything Announced at the Borderlands 4 State of Play Deep Dive
- Gearbox said Borderlands 4 isn't an open-world game, but it sure looks open-world to me: tons of aerial movement, "no need to pick up a mission" for many surprises, and your own vehicle on command
- Whoa, Borderlands 4 made huge changes to guns: we basically have 5 weapon slots now, and there are 3 new manufacturers plus modded guns with "Licensed Parts" combos
- With Borderlands 4, Gearbox says "we've overhauled our drop rates and loot across the game" – and admits that "in Borderlands 3, [Legendaries] dropped too often"
- Say hello to Vex the Siren and Rafa the Exo-Soldier, the first of two new Vault Hunters in Borderlands 4
- Looks like Borderlands 4 heavily relies on the series' lore-bomb Sirens again, but it's sweetening the deal with new Vault Hunter Vex and her big purple cat
- Returning characters include the likes of Moxxi, Zane, Claptrap, Amara, and more
- Each Vault Hunter, as usual, has their own playstyle, but this is further enhanced by "the most advanced skill tree system in a Borderlands game to-date"
- Enhancements gear slot allows weapon augments dependent on manufacturer, making for even more relevant gear combos
- New Ordnance gear slot combines grenades and heavy weapons on a cooldown rather than based on ammo
- Repkit lets players heal and get temp buffs
- Borderlands 4 includes a new co-op system that lets parties form online and stay together when switching between game modes as well as instanced loot, individual difficulty, and dynamic level scaling
And away we go! More Borderlands 4 isn't what I came into this week expecting, but who could say no?
First things first. The special Borderlands 4 State of Play broadcast time is 2pm PT, or 5pm ET / 10pm BST / 11pm CEST, depending on where you're at in the world. When the time comes, you can expect 20 minutes of "missions, killer weapons, exciting Action Skills, new and returning characters, and more," as revealed in a recent blog.
That does mean you've got a few minutes to wait, though the big news is arguably already out there. As we reported just the other day, Borderlands 4 is releasing over a week earlier than expected because "the game is awesome, the team is cooking." If you've booked time off, that means you'll need to ask your boss kindly to give you September 12 off.
If you're wondering if the new release date has anything to do with GTA 6, then Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford is here to insist it's "100% the result of confidence" rather than anything else.
Rockstar and Gearbox owner Take-Two had previously said it wouldn't be stacking big releases on top of each other, so there might be something to it. If Pitchford is to be believed, though, such things would be a mere coincidence.
However you're feeling about Borderlands 4 before the big stream, Pitchford wants you to "root for us and cheer us on."
Earlier this year, one fan questioned why Pitchford muted a fan for expressing "mild takes" about the upcoming loot 'em up. For Pitchford, he "didn’t see any critique" in the fan's original message, just "shitty negativity that was demotivating."
"If you take [a] developer’s passion for granted, we’ll all pay the price," he says. "I love criticism and, thankfully, I have never been in short supply. Don’t gaslight me on his post. It wasn’t criticism. It was pessimism. It’s toxic for people killing themselves for your entertainment, so fuck that noise."
On that note, who is looking forward to the stream later, eh?
We can only hope Pitchford didn't see fan reaction to the discovery you can finally swim in B4.
What's caught my eye for later is the promise of seeing what the gameplay will bring. Earlier this year, we spoke to senior project producer Anthony Nicholson, who told us that Borderlands 4 has "the deepest and most diverse skill trees" of any game in the series, in addition to "billions" of weapons.
Not as much related to gameplay, but we may also get a glimpse of the game's tone. Nicholson also told us earlier this year that Borderlands 4's humor sits somewhere between the first two games, which can only mean less Skibidi Toilet and more Handsome Jack-style antics. One can hope.
If you'd like to hear more from Nicholson on Borderlands 4, you can read our Big in 2025 feature right here.
With several more hours to go before the proper Borderlands 4 State of Play kicks off, it's worth revisiting the Borderlands 4 launch date trailer from a couple of months back. The date is wrong, now that's it's moved up, but it's unlikely that the game will look significantly different during today's reveals and the aforementioned trailer offers maybe the best look yet at what to expect.
You don't need to take my word for it, however! See for yourself:
September is still some time off, and there's likely to be plenty more about Borderlands 4 between now and then. In the meantime, however, there's maybe never been a better time to check out the best Borderlands games. (Spoiler alert: Borderlands 2 is the best one.)
One of the big questions I have going into this Borderlands 4 State of Play is just how much "traditional" Borderlands the new game will be versus how much it will actually experiment.
If you're familiar with the previous games, and arguably most people reading this will be, there are certain hallmarks you probably associate with Borderlands, right? A very specific kind of looting, shooting, and humor.
Is more of that enough in 2025? How will Borderlands 4 set itself apart, really, from what came before while still catering to the audiences that genuinely and truly just want more Borderlands? I don't know!
Not too long now to wait until we collectively find out! Only an hour to go until the actual Borderlands 4 State of Play kicks off in earnest. As a reminder, expect about 20 minutes of information.
Being this close to the Borderlands 4 State of Play hasn't stopped Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford from continuing to talk about it online. Notably, Pitchford has added more context to his previous comments about releasing earlier being "the result of confidence in the game and development trajectory" by saying, "We're super confident in the game and we are ready to launch early, so there was no sense in holding out."
We’re super confident in the game and we are ready to launch early, so there was no sense in holding out. The sooner we launch, the sooner we’ll also get feedback. We listen and learn and are excited to get a bite at that apple as we are working on exciting post-launch efforts.April 30, 2025
30 minutes to go! Certainly not enough time to hop into any of the previous Borderlands games and get very far, but enough time to think about doing so and instead have a good stretch before getting into the zone – the Borderlands zone – for the Borderlands 4 State of Play itself.
15 minutes to go! This is the moment to hit the bathroom, grab a drink, and generally make yourself cozy.
Less than 10 minutes left! What are you most excited to see? Vault Hunters? Weapons? Planets? Traversal mechanics?
Less than 5 to go! Last chance to get any predictions out there. My personal wish for Borderlands 4 is that it takes at least one truly outrageous swing at something, anything at all. If it's just Borderlands 3 But More, what are we even doing here?
And here we go... We're on the countdown now.
Right off the batt: this was captured on PS5 Pro. Good to know. Trailer with a mix of cinematics and gameplay. "What use if a Vault Hunter? What use is a killer?" Fair questions.
"You are in a word, mayhem. I take that personally."
The gameplay part of this is highlighting loot and shoot, as expected. Also a purple cat?
OK that Akira slide with the bike was good. Enemies look pretty varied too, which has been an issue before.
Randy Pitchford up hyping up Borderlands 4 running on PS5 Pro. Followed by Creative Director Graeme Timmins and Senior Project Producer Anthony Nicholson. "This is hands down our best Borderlands ever."
"It's the perfect entry point for new players," adds Pitchford. More grounded tone, culmination of years of hard work. "Enough talk; let's get it! This is Borderlands 4."
Slowing things down a bit now. Life is cheap and guns are plentiful in the world of Borderlands. Vex is the new Siren Vault Hunter. She can use energy to empower herself or channel to conjure minions like that purple giant cat.
Borderlands 4 takes place on Kairos, an all-new planet. Timekeeper runs things with a synthetic army. Rogue moon teleported from Borderlands 3's Pandora hit Kairos, disrupting the Timekeeper's plans. Now there's people rising up and rebelling! As one does.
That's where the Vault Hunters come in. "A planet ready to explore, and you're the spark." Zane and Moxxi return! Also new folks like Rush. Also Claptrap is back because of course. "Bummer!"
While the art direction here is very distinct, it also seems somehow less brightly cel-shaded than before. But! Full cross-play at launch.
Four zones on Kairos that players can "endlessly" explore; next-to-no loading times. Frozen tundra being shown from one zone as the Vault Hunter uses glide to get around. Part traversal, but also useful in combat.
Dynamic weather and events! Local wildlife! There's "new activities" like the silo being shown. Crimson Resistance can use the goods hijacked from the silo. Good for them.
When you do the silo, you can fast travel and it reveals a vault key fragment which can help unlock a "high-level dungeon with serious loot." Love to high-level dungeon with serious loot.
Personal vehicles! "Digirunner" (?) with guns that can be customized to make it truly your own. Lots of world events like border patrols and bosses. "Always something to shoot and loot."
I recognize this is a showcase, and they're trying to keep it all easily parsed, but showing off the new traversal options and dodging, ziplining, and so on this slowly isn't doing the game any favors.
Little buddy drop Echo 4 (?) can help you figure out where to go, which is nice. Former Vault Hunter Amara from Borderlands 3 is back in Borderlands 4, though this time as an NPC.
Co-op multiplayer very important to Borderlands 4. You can set gameplay difficulty, loot is instanced for each player, and you can easily fast travel to friends. Also! Two-player split-screen returns for couch co-op. Also there's... some kind of mushroom creature named Tim being shown off?
And now we're checking out an air vent, as one does. Creepy black site area is creepy.
Each bit of loot in Borderlands 4 comes from eight different manufacturers with their own features. Order gear has charge and release blast, and Daedalus can use multiple ammo typos, as just some examples. But these manufacturers can be assigned to parts too, meaning a single gun can have multiple different bits from multiple places that do all sorts of things depending on how rare the gun is.
Enhancements replace artifacts and bring bonuses to specific manufacturers. Also, drop rates have been tweaked! Rarity matters with legendaries at the top. "In Borderlands 3, they dropped too often." This devalued them, and now all guns feel great and legendaries feel like "truly special events." I want to believe.
New ordinance gear slot is for heavy weapons. No ammo associated, apparently, it's all about cooldowns.
Three kinds of capstone action skills with their own trees featuring passive and so on. "Near-endless freedom to experiment" by swapping around.
Vex, as one example, has an ability where he action skill takes the element from her gun so suddenly the purple cat is red. (Also, yes, you can pet the cat.)
Fight for your life mechanic returns in Borderlands 4, but a new piece of kit can provide health and other buffs to prevent going down in the first place.
Full mission and boss replay! "No more save loading to run bosses." Nice.
Jumping ahead to a boss fight combat, an alien-looking creature with a bunch of hands that can... make more hands and shoot giant purple hands. Not much shown here, so hard to have many takeaways. Seems fine?
Fade to black. Hands-on gameplay event "this June," which sure sounds like Summer Game Fest or something similar.
...that's it! It's over! Sure looks like the fourth mainline entry in the Borderlands video game franchise!
