Now that the dust has settled on yesterday’s Borderlands Fan Fest, many content creators and streamers have finally had a chance to actually playBorderlands 4. Some were flown out to 2K Studios while others played the game live yesterday during the live stream event but, whatever the case, the impressions are very positive.
How Good Could A New Movement System Really Be?
Well, Those Who Have Played Borderlands 4 Think It’s A Great Change
YouTuber Epic NNGsaid, “The movement system… is some of the best parts of Borderlands 4 and perhaps the best part.” He shared his early impressions and gameplay recently, and detailed how the new movement abilities made the game and combat flow more naturally. He was constantly dashing, grapple-hooking, and double-jumping throughout hectic fights, and the new actions fit seamlessly in the confines of the Borderlands-style of gameplay.
The footage looked super fun and reminded me of myDestinydays zipping through hordes of enemies with space magic.
AnotherYouTuber, Ki11erSix, showed off a boss fight against Inceptus, who was part monster part… beehive? He highlighted the way in which the new grappling hook was needed to hit certain weak points during the fight and showcased a few legendary items other creators found. The boss mechanics were interesting, but the new ability to reset arena bosses using “Moxxi’s Encore Machine” was easily the highlight. No more saving and quitting to the main menu to farm bosses is a huge win for any dedicated Borderlands player.
It’s not all glowing praise though. Ki11erSix counted at least 24 modifiers on enemies. In the past, Modifiers have ranged from the mundane to the super annoying (looking at you, “Not the Face”) althoughYouTuber, Joltzdude139,noted that these modifiers are toned down and not nearly as frustrating as they’ve been in the past.
“This is the hardest Borderlands to date,” Joltzdude139. “This is also the most different Borderlands we’ve ever had.” Other creators who played the game agree that the difficulty has been cranked up. “There is a noticeable difficulty spike from Borderlands 3,” said Ki11erSix.
EpicNNG also expressed some doubts about the boss drop loot system. Boss farming is a past time as old as dust and there’s a certain masochistic enjoyment in murdering the same boss over and over, hoping to see a glowing orange beam of light fall from their corpse. And that’s great, because bosses have dedicated drops again, but he found a mission-specific boss that doesn’t respawn, making farming this boss very difficult.
When EpicNNG asked a Gearbox representative if this was a glitch, he was told it was intentional, but that the boss can spawn randomly in the world. EpicNGG was unable to find the boss again and expressed worry about the ability to farm some bosses in the release version and reminded him of past issues the community had withBorderlands 3 and its rare spawn enemies.
Despite all the positive impressions and gameplay, fans are still upset by the pricing structure of theDeluxe ($99.99) and Super Deluxe Edition ($129.99). While the $69.99 price tag for the standard edition isbetterthan $80, fans lament the cost of the future DLC story content, which are both only included in the Super Deluxe Edition.
