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If there was one concern I had about Borderlands 4’s shift to an open-world structure, it was that it would lack the mission design that makes prior entries so memorable. Wildlife Preservation, Where Angels Fear to Tread, Beneath the Meridian, and more are impeccably paced high points from their respective Borderlands games. A less curated golden path can often lead to inconsistencies in difficulty curve and the delivery of set pieces in a narrative.
If my early hours with Borderlands 4 are anything to go by, that concern is well and truly unwarranted. While there’s much to be said about Kairos, progression, side activities, and more, this preview portion of the game covers an event that concludes its first major area, the Fadefields.
After arriving in the Fadefields, our Vault Hunter has teamed up with the Crimson Resistance in their fight against Idolator Sol, one of the Timekeeper’s lieutenants. The Crimson Raiders join up with the Outbounders, a faction living in the Fadefields under Idolator Sol’s rule. It’s a significant moment of narrative payoff this early in the game, culminating in the coalescence of character arcs and plot beats that have been built up over the past five or so hours.
Narrative implications aside, this is a tightly paced mission that captures the feeling of assaulting a fortress of this magnitude. From breaking down the gates and engaging Idolator Sol’s forces, to confronting the tyrant himself, it’s a kinetic and climactic experience that feels significantly scaled up when compared to the story missions that precede it.
The environment it’s set in is also in stark contrast to the Fadefields that surround it. The Timekeeper’s surgical and sterile architecture sticks out like a sore thumb amidst the soft greens and blues of the plains it’s situated in. This sentiment is echoed and reinforced further by the lifelessness of Idolator Sol’s construct army which could not be more opposite to the rebellious and fervent Outbounders and their leader, Rush.
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This is also the moment where Borderlands 4 starts to hit its gameplay stride as your builds start to form. You’ve unlocked enough skill points to start playing around with different synergies between Action Skills, Kill Skills, Passives, and weapons. The enemy density is thoughtfully considered, providing a playground for you to really let loose in a way the game hasn’t thus far.
While I can’t speak to the other Vault Hunters here, this is where I really started to feel the idea of Vex and her kit start to come together. Her strengths aren’t as immediately apparent as Maya or Amara, but once you’ve invested in one of her trees, it feels great to have healthy buddies in the form of Trouble or spectral clones to take some of the heat off of you as you lay the smackdown.
Part of the reason this feels as good as it does is thanks to Borderlands 4’s new movement tech. The inclusion of an omnidirectional dash and grapple hook creates a combat loop that feels more high action than previous entries. Instead of finding cover or sprinting and sliding to reposition, you’ll instead be dashing around the arena, grappling onto points to pull yourself across the battlefield at lightning pace.
It seems like a small inclusion, but it drastically increases the overall pace of combat. To keep up with the more aggressive combat flow, health can now also be healed by a consumable stim that recharges over time. It incentivises you to throw yourself into the fray and get into the thick of it, worrying less about how you’re going to stay healthy and thinking more about how you can inflict the most amount of carnage in the least time possible.
The mission culminates in what is undoubtedly one of the franchise’s best boss fights against Idolator Sol. I can’t speak too much to the details, but it combines all of Borderlands 4’s elements, new and old, to create an extremely active fight that keeps you on your toes. It’s so much more than the simple strafe and shoot as you emptied clip after clip into healthy bosses, and I hope there’s more to come throughout the rest of the game.
It’s still early days yet in regards to my time with Borderlands 4, and this preview is just a small slice of what to expect when the game launches later this month. I’m excited to explore more of what Kairos has to offer, endgame and all as I continue to build out my Vault Hunter and arsenal of weapons. It’s a Borderlands that feels fresh for a number of reasons, but how that carries into the later hours is yet to be seen.
Borderlands 4 launches of September 12th for PC PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. It launches of October 3rd for Nintendo Switch 2.
