9 Mistakes Borderlands 4 Must Avoid to Succeed!

Summary

Explore new planets to avoid repetitive settings and offer unique gameplay experiences.
Simplify skill trees for accessibility without overwhelming casual players with complexity.
Focus on meaningful humor, quest variety, and enemy design to enhance player experience and avoid repetitive mechanics.

The long-awaited release of Borderlands 4 has been confirmed for September 23, 2025! Fans are eager yet guardedly hopeful, having experienced mixed reactions towards both Borderlands 3 and Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands. Despite this, there remains a lingering apprehension as to whether Gearbox can deliver another successful installment.

9. Don’t Rely On Old Settings

It’s A Big Universe

In the universe of “Borderlands”, while it’s expansive, it often revisits a limited number of planets or locations. Notably, Pandora, one of the least appealing vacation spots in video games, was central to “Borderlands 1”, “Borderlands 2”, and a significant part of “Tales from the Borderlands”. It’s high time we bid farewell to our familiar haunts and venture into uncharted territories.

In the sequel, Borderlands 3, they did an exceptional job of exploring various planets. However, we yearn for something more. For Borderlands 4 to truly captivate us, it should resist the urge to revisit familiar territories and instead introduce bizarre and exhilarating new worlds. If these freshly designed planets result in unique gameplay elements such as low gravity or oxygen-depleted areas akin to Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, that would be an added bonus.

8. Don’t Overcomplicate The Skill Trees

Sometimes It Better To Keep Things Simple

Essentially, Borderlands revolves around a thrilling, fast-paced shooting experience and gathering increasingly potent firearms. As time goes by, Gearbox Software has been emphasizing the role-playing game’s advancement systems as well, resulting in the skill trees becoming progressively intricate.

It’s terrific to have the freedom to customize your character, but keep in mind, this isn’t Path of Exile 2. Many Borderlands enthusiasts aren’t seeking a game with intricate skill trees. The skill trees for Borderlands 4 should be user-friendly enough that novice players don’t feel overwhelmed or uninterested due to minor percentage enhancements and complex figures. Simplicity is key; ensure each level-up provides a significant and satisfying boost.

7. We Don’t Need 87 Bazillion Guns

Constant Inventory Management Has Never Been Fun

In every Borderlands game, there’s always been an impressive array of firearms to collect. The first game was marketed with a whopping 87 billion gun count (in reality, it had approximately 16 million), and since then, the number has continued to expand. For Borderlands 4, they’re promising even more guns than before. In truth, what they really mean is countless combinations of procedurally generated weapons.

In essence, it seems that the issue lies in the fact that most of the weapons dropped by adversaries in games like Borderlands tend to be unwanted junk, clogging up our inventory space. Sifting through this low-grade loot and then frequently clearing out our inventory has never been enjoyable, and we’re eager for Borderlands 4 to shift away from this pattern. This could potentially be achieved by enabling players to customize the weapons they find or by adopting a more selective approach to weapon distribution, prioritizing quality over quantity. While Borderlands has produced some exceptional looter-shooter games, it’s time for its loot mechanics to evolve with the times.

6. Don’t Force The Humor

More Jokes Need To Land

In a casual and engaging manner: Borderlands is known for its distinctively witty humor, with many gamers claiming it delivers some of the funniest experiences in open-world games, assuming the jokes connect effectively. Regrettably, the humor in Borderlands can sometimes miss the mark, especially in some of the more recent releases.

Initially, some characters in Borderlands no longer seem humorous or perhaps never were. Tiny Tina and Moxxy continue to be hilarious, but it’s time for Sir Hammerlock to hang up his comedic hat. The humor in Borderlands leans towards the crude, which can be enjoyable in small doses, but the series has exhausted its shock factor. The writers of Borderlands 4 should consider the feedback on the humor in Borderlands 3 and aim to make more jokes that land and avoid those that become annoying.

5. Don’t Use The Same Old Mission Design

Modern Gamers Expect More From Their Quests

In Borderlands, as a looter/shooter game, its quest design has historically been straightforward: go here, shoot that, gather this, then return to the quest-giver. Generally, it works well, but in 2025, we seek more complexity and depth from our quests.

Specifically, it’s time for outdated missions like the Slaughter quest to be phased out. Each Borderlands game has featured a version of this mission where players are trapped in an arena and must fight countless enemies for minimal rewards. Missions that essentially amount to killing X number of a specific enemy (particularly those involving vehicles) should also be discontinued. Instead, Borderlands has provided us with many clever and amusing quests throughout its history; let’s see more of those in the future.

4. Avoid Filling Maps With Boring Open-World Filler

Bigger Isn’t Always Better

Instead of a single expansive open world, Borderlands series opts for vast, interconnected zones, each unique in its own way, thereby steering clear of the excessive content that often characterizes modern open-world games, resulting in exceptional open-world first-person shooter experiences.

In the course of events, these areas have been expanding excessively, which, in turn, makes re-tracing steps for certain quests more tedious than necessary. To ensure a smoother experience, Borderlands 4 ought to prevent the zones from becoming overly spacious and filled with unengaging tasks or vast empty spaces, as demonstrated effectively by Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands.

3. Don’t Force Players To Drive Vehicles Constantly

Vehicles In The Franchise Have Rarely Been Fun To Use

Regarding expanses devoid of life, it’s no secret that the Borderlands series has grappled with vehicle-related issues for quite some time. Truth be told, vehicles in this franchise haven’t exactly been a blast to operate, yet we’ve been compelled to continue using them. The controls have seldom felt intuitive, the physics have always seemed off and unrealistic, and engaging in vehicular combat has often felt more like a burden than an enjoyable experience.

In a more natural and easier-to-understand manner:

Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands was significantly improved by omitting vehicles entirely. For Borderlands 5, it would be beneficial to either follow suit or, at the minimum, reduce the emphasis on vehicles. The appeal of the series lies less in vehicles and more in its other aspects, so why prioritize them so heavily within the games?

2. Don’t Forget Solo Players

Lots Of Fans Like To Play On Their Lonesome

For many of us, Borderlands has consistently been about an engaging cooperative shooter experience that’s best enjoyed with a group. Since its inception, the game’s renowned Vault Hunters were designed for teamwork. However, Gearbox has attempted to cater to both groups and solo players by providing a single-player option. The issue, though, lies in the inconsistency when playing alone, as there’s often an imbalance in the gameplay experience.

In every Borderlands game, there’s at least one location or boss battle that feels less enjoyable when played alone. This is because many of the skills in these games rely heavily on synergy with other characters or need multiple players to function effectively. To ensure a solo experience remains engaging, it could be beneficial to prioritize more AI-controlled companions joining the player during gameplay.

1. Don’t Rely On Boring Bullet Sponge Enemies

Focus On Clever Enemy Design Over Brute Force

As a gamer, I often find myself battling opponents in Borderlands that seem more like indestructible tanks than foes. These enemy units, with their excessive health reserves and overpowered shielding, make for an unenjoyable fight, especially when going solo. The challenge becomes too daunting and tedious, detracting from the overall enjoyment of the gameplay experience.

Instead of making bosses and tough enemies with excessive health, let’s focus on creating intriguing game mechanics for them. Similarly, Badass variants should offer more than just stronger versions of common enemies that require an extensive amount of time to defeat. Gearbox doesn’t need to completely redesign the wheel here. For example, highlighted weak spots might not be groundbreaking, but they are far superior to being instantly killed by a Badass Psycho that requires multiple magazines to defeat.

2025-04-06 11:35