Borderlands 4 Review Summary

Smooth and satisfying gunplay: The gameplay and gunplay are highlighted as smooth, satisfying, and well-done. Players enjoy the combat, parkour, and gun design, finding the gunplay to be on point and brilliant.

Enjoyable and engaging gameplay: Players consistently report that the game is fun and entertaining, with enjoyable mechanics and engaging gameplay. Many players found the game solid and fun enough to platinum it.

Great graphics and visuals: The game is praised for its great graphics, stunning visuals, and appealing art direction. Players appreciate the distinctive and cartoon-like graphics that run well.

Improved story compared to Borderlands 3: The story is considered better than that of Borderlands 3, with improved writing and character quality. Many players find the story to be intriguing, new, and interesting.

New gameplay features: Players appreciate the new gameplay features, mechanics, and movement options. These additions are seen as improvements and evolutions of the game.

Lack of atmosphere and story depth: The game lacks atmosphere, with uninspired environments and a lack of excellent music. The story is also criticized for being slow, not deep, and lacking personality and humor.

Performance and optimization issues: The game suffers from various performance problems including long loading times, poor framerate, severe FPS drops, and high CPU usage. These issues are exacerbated by poor optimization, leading to a subpar gaming experience.

Empty open world: The open world feels empty and stretched out with too much empty space, making it feel unfinished and shallow. This design flaw leads to a boring and unengaging exploration experience.

Lack of endgame content: Players find the endgame content lacking and boring, with little to no meaningful activities after reaching the level cap. The endgame is described as nonexistent or very boring, needing significant improvement.

Shader compilation issues: Players experience long shader compilation times, which can be annoying and take too long. This includes frequent shader recompilation and excessive shader compilations during loading screens.

New gameplay mechanics: The game introduces new mechanics and innovations, including improved movement options and different gameplay mechanics for characters. Combat and exploration mechanics have also been enhanced.

Open world design: The game features an open-world structure with four distinct zones, offering a seamless and free-roaming experience. Players can explore various activities and enjoy the sandbox environment.

Rich loot system: The game offers a massive amount of loot with a rich loot system, encouraging farming for better equipment. Players can enjoy a variety of loot and drop rates.

Side quests and missions: There are numerous quests and side missions available, providing a variety of activities for players. However, some side missions may feel repetitive.

Story and cutscenes: The game includes a main storyline with improved writing and skippable cutscenes. The story is better compared to previous iterations, offering a more engaging narrative.

Performance and optimization issues: Many players report performance issues such as long loading times, FPS drops, and poor optimization. These problems are frequent and affect the overall gameplay experience.

Frequent game crashes: The game experiences frequent crashes, including random crashes and crashes on launch. Some players report crashes occurring multiple times during a single play session.

Shader compilation problems: Players encounter long shader compilation times during loading screens, which can be frustrating and time-consuming. This issue is consistently mentioned across various reviews.

Frame rate issues: Players experience frequent frame rate drops and stuttering, which can be disruptive to gameplay. These issues are noted across various hardware configurations.

DLSS dependency for performance: Players note that DLSS is often required to achieve good FPS, especially at higher resolutions. Without DLSS, the game struggles to maintain high frame rates.

Wait for a sale: Many players suggest waiting for a discount before purchasing the game, indicating that the full price may not be justified.

Not recommended at full price: Several reviews mention that the game is not worth buying at its current full price unless there is a significant discount.

Recommended for shooter fans: The game is worth trying for fans of shooter games and those who enjoy the unique graphic style of the Borderlands series.

Recommended for Borderlands fans: The game is highly recommended for fans of the Borderlands series, suggesting it stays true to its roots.

Wait for bug fixes: Players advise waiting for bug fixes and performance improvements before buying the game.

Community fair range: $30.00 - $50.00.

Game completion: 45.0h.

Story completion: 25.0h.

Session length: 2.0h.

Endgame: 50.0h.

Borderlands 4 has a delayed onset of fun due to repetitive missions, an unengaging storyline, and technical issues. Players may need to overcome initial frustrations before finding enjoyment, particularly in cooperative play.

Reported time to anchor: 1h.

Performance Optimizer: Technical and methodical, focusing on improving game performance and stability. Motivation: Optimizing game performance and stability. Stance: sale.

Franchise Fan: Exploratory and immersive, focusing on the game's story, humor, and loot mechanics. Motivation: Enjoying the unique aspects of the Borderlands franchise. Stance: buy.

Story-First Explorer: Story-driven and exploratory, focusing on the game's narrative and characters. Motivation: Experiencing the game's story and narrative. Stance: sale.

Steam Deck: The analysis of user feedback reveals significant issues with the Steam Deck experience of the game. Major themes include frequent crashes and stability problems, poor performance and optimization requiring high-end hardware, numerous gameplay bugs affecting quests and multiplayer functionality, reliance on upscaling technologies due to poor optimization, and compatibility issues with certain platforms. These issues collectively contribute to a frustrating user experience.

Linux and Proton: The game generally runs well on Linux, especially with AMD GPUs and appropriate settings. However, there are notable issues with DRM and anti-cheat systems, which can prevent users from playing the game. Various workarounds and tweaks have been found to improve performance, and many users have had positive experiences. Graphical issues and driver problems, particularly with NVIDIA GPUs, have also been reported.

Monetization: The game exhibits several predatory monetization practices, including day-1 DLC, overpriced DLCs and editions, a high base price, and pay-to-win mechanics. These practices can significantly impact the user experience by making players feel like they are being nickel-and-dimed for content that should be part of the base game or by creating an unbalanced playing field for those who do not spend extra money.

Mod reliance: The analysis of user feedback reveals a significant reliance on community-created mods to optimize and enhance the performance of the game. Many users report that the vanilla game experience is subpar, with issues such as frame stutters, drops, and overall poor performance. Specific mods are frequently recommended to address these problems, indicating that the community fixes are essential for an improved gaming experience. Additionally, there is notable frustration among users about the necessity of using these mods, suggesting that the base game does not meet performance expectations. Engine-specific issues, particularly with Unreal Engine 5, are also highlighted as a common problem that mods help to mitigate.

External guides: The analysis of user feedback reveals significant issues with technical stability, navigation, game mechanics, story depth, and performance optimization. The most severe problems include frequent crashes and the need for external guides to progress, which greatly hinder the user experience. While some users report satisfactory performance, others face substantial technical difficulties, highlighting a lack of consistent optimization.

Improvements needed in cutscene voice acting: There are suggestions for improving the voice acting in cutscenes, as well as balancing the audio levels.

Pricing concerns for additional content: Players have mentioned the pricing of additional content, suggesting it is a topic of interest or concern.

Playtime discussions: Several reviews discuss the amount of playtime the game offers, indicating it is a notable aspect for players.

Health concerns mentioned: A player reported experiencing their first migraine aura while playing the game.