In today’s Gearbox livestream, we got the chance to learn a lot of new details about the highly anticipated Borderlands 3. Whether you were able to play the demo or eagerly watching those who played, everyone seems to be at the consensus that this game will be worth the wait.
One of the most notable things from the stream is how familiar the game is. Borderlands 3Â holds all the elements from the old games that we loved so much – the colorful environments, the gritty storyline, the humorous sarcasm, and the diverse gameplay. However, while holding all the old elements, it still stands out as a new game by extending all of the old beloved elements from previous titles.
Obviously one of the most important aspects of the series is the guns. Borderlands 3 delivers with not only offering up one billion guns (about 57 times the amount than that of Borderlands 2), but the stream revealed how much diversity there is within it’s weapons this time around. Weapons have alternate fire modes, are capable of switching elemental damage, and are reportedly more effective than ever in terms of smoothly shooting and swapping quickly. Though players will only be able to hold four weapons at a time, with al the options for each individual weapon it can easily seem like more. Though it would be impossible to know every detail of how the weapons will work in Borderlands 3 (considering there are in fact, one billion of them), the taste we got to see today shows that the guns will be more diverse than ever, and will give ever player their own custom experience with their weapons.
In addition to the weaponry, players will be able to do a lot more in terms of their characters movement and actions. Borderlands 3 will allow the player to kick objects toward enemies, run and slide on the ground, as well as climb up ledges. This will allow users to have a more dynamic experience, where they can really delve into the game with free flowing movement rather than just a general run and shoot.
While previous titles have had beautiful and dynamic settings, Borderlands 3 brings that back but expands on it more than ever before. Instead of being in different locations on Pandora for the game, this time players are going to have to adventure not just to one new planet, but multiple. For the first time, players will be able to move from planet to planet on their spaceship, Sanctuary 3, which will act as a home base for players. Developers have been particularly excited for the diversity of the locations, so there’s no telling what kind of beautiful landscapes the game has in store for us.
One huge upgrade offered in the newest game will be customization. While the vault hunters were already customization in previous games, there are lots of new options such as emotes and respawn animations. In addition to the vault hunters, vehicles will also have more customization than ever, and players will also have their own quarters that will also have it’s own customization options. Each new vault hunter also has three different skill trees, allowing players to make an individual character based off of what skills they’d like.
Borderlands 3 will be available for up to four players in online co-op and will also offer local split-screen for up to two players. If you prefer to play offline and solo, that’s an option as well. Minor NPCs in the game now will revive a downed player, just like Major NPC’s will, which can make the experience a lot better no matter which way you decide to play.
As usual, it will be a four player co-op experience, this time adding in a few nifty features to help better the online gameplay. The most notable additions to help the online experience include loot-balancing and loot-instancing. Loot-balancing will allow players of different levels to see weapons that are suited for their level. Loot-instancing is another feature, which essentially means that if someone were to open a chest and take loot, teammates are also able to go and take from the chest as if it were still full. This can help with giving all your teammates a chance to get something good, as well as preventing loot ninjas from taking all the good loot before you can. Both of these loot additions are optional, and can be turned off by the player if they so choose.
Zane was one of two vault hunters that we were able to learn more about today. His first skill is Digiclone, which allows Zane to create a fake hologram of himself to distract enemies, which he is also capable of switching places with. His second skill is Sentinel, which drops and does various different damaging and stunning effects to enemies, and his third is Barrier, which acts as a defensive shield while also giving his teammates buffs.
Amara also has new details on her three moves. Phasecast is a move similar to Zanes, in which Amara sends out a decoy of herself, only this one damages those in it’s path. Phasegrasp is a move that brings down a fist to hold enemies for a small period of time, and Phaseslam is a crowd control action that knocks enemies off their feet.
In addition to all the fun new gameplay options, Borderlands still doesn’t disappoint with it’s storyline, and it seems this one will be just as intense as the others. Players will have to fight against The Calypso Twins, Troy and Tyreen, as they go on a power hungry adventure, sucking the life out of everything. The twins are heavily inspired by streamers and influencers, in which they gain their following by creating loyal fans through videos and streams. They have a cult following known as the Children of the Vault, which look up to the twins as Gods.
In addition to The Calypso Twins, players will also assist Atlas in their war against Maliwan Corporation, which means that characters like Zer0 and Rhys will be allies. Zer0 and Rhys won’t be the only old characters coming back to assist the vault hunters this round, either – the initial trailer and recent stream show that many of the old characters from every previous game are finally making their comebacks, coming together into one game. This will not only give players the opportunity to see all of their favorite characters again, but will give a very interesting storyline with even more peculiar dynamics between the characters.
Overall, Borderlands 3 is living up to the long awaited anticipation, and although we got a ton of new details today, it seems to only be an inkling of what we’ll get to experience from the full release. It seems the game is holding onto all the elements we loved from the old games, while adding in a bunch of new fun features to make the gameplay more enjoyable than ever before. Though there’s a lot still unknown, it’s easy to say that this addition to the series will be the most diverse and customizable one yet.
Borderlands 3 releases on September 13th on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.
