Borderlands is a series that’s dear to a lot of gamers, myself included. I remember many a long night with three of my friends all huddled around our PCs, playing through the original in co-op. Borderlands 2 did a great job of expanding on the first game’s triumphs, while The Pre-Sequel gave us more of the same and Tales From The Borderlands proved to be one of Telltale’s greatest works. It’s been almost seven years since Gearbox last produced a mainline Borderlands title though, and the gaming landscape has shifted significantly since, so although the excitement around the announcement of Borderlands 3 is measurable, we also have questions. Luckily, Press Start was able to attend the live gameplay reveal for Borderlands 3 in Los Angeles and get hands-on with the game as well as speak to some of its key development talent, and we’ve found the answers to some of your burning questions:
Kurt Martin asks “How integral are the Tales From the Borderlands characters to the game?
Does this mean Tales From is canon now? Is Troy Baker reprising his role as Rhys?”
It’s hard to say without playing through the full game just how many Tales From The Borderlands characters will appear in Borderlands 3, or how much their stories will factor into the greater scheme of things, but in the section we had access to Rhys was featured quite prominently. As the head of Atlas, he runs the show on one of the game’s many new worlds, Promethea, and has you work for him to procure Maliwan tech for his war efforts. Unfortunately, it definitely seems like Troy Baker is out at this point.
David Bruce Mitchell asks “Will there be microtransactions and loot boxes with a pay to win scheme?”
Nope! Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford confirmed on-stage that there would be no microtransactions or F2P mechanics. Yay!
Matt Harris asks “Will there be plenty of pop culture references like the previous games?”
I think this is a given, and I definitely encountered more than a few cheeky nods in the section of game I played as well as a lot of generally humorous situations. Time will tell if the full game can keep up the great writing without devolving into puerile or overdone gags.
Mark (@dragonspasm) asks “Any word on cross platform play? I got a PS4 and my boy has an Xbox One, it would be awesome to play together on @Borderlands 3.”
Another one that nobody could answer, unfortunately, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Ian Gielen asks “What’s the character level limit? Is there going to be any missions set in space?”
Level caps haven’t been revealed yet, but we saw character builds from level 10 to 25 during the presentation. Aside from your home base of Sanctuary III, which is a huge space station, it wasn’t confirmed that we’ll be doing any actual exploration in space itself, but it’s a possibility.
Mike Lane asks “Will they finally implement a *New game: true vault hunter mode* after completing the main game once with any character?”
Great question but sadly nobody we spoke to was able to confirm this for us just yet!
Stacey (@ZeBluBerryHero) asks “Will there be loading times between new areas? Or is it all seamless?”
Each world still seems to be made up of a series of ‘zoned’ areas separated by load screens. They’re big enough places that it’s not really a huge deal, though.
Casey Cody asks “What is the total area of the sandbox? Are there a variety of interiors? What kind of side missions are there, and is there repeatable stuff to do after the story is finished?”
Gearbox representatives were unable to clarify just how big the game is, but it’s big. Set across multiple planetary worlds, it’s not just big but also diverse. From the familiar, barren wastes of Pandora to the ultra-futuristic cities of Promethea and beyond there’s a ton of exterior and interior variety, moreso than ever before. In regards to post-game content, everyone is remaining pretty tight-lipped again, but I did notice references to post-game challenges in the game’s menus and with the new instanced level-scaling system there’s a lot more reward to be had in jumping into friends’ games and doing missions you’ve already done.
There were a lot of great questions, but in these early days we can’t get answers to everything, sadly. That said, check out our other preview content for Borderlands 3 and let us know if we can answer anything about the event!
