Borderlands 4 Xbox Series X Review 8/10 *More shooty, less bang bang* 💥

I covered Borderlands 3 back in 2021, scoring it a 9/10 and celebrating the zany world of Pandora and its myriad denizens. Whilst there were hardly any immense leaps in terms of core gameplay between games, the series always delivered mindless blasting action, which ramped up gloriously when playing with friends. 

This newest instalment instead shifts the action to Kairos, a hidden planet run by ‘The Timekeeper’; a masked, golden, and seemingly immortal figure that plants chips in the minds of his subjects allowing him to control their will, or to drive them insane, if he deems necessary…which he does deem quite often, quite frankly.

I was hips deep in the initial unveiling and first couple of hours, everything that I enjoyed about the series had returned, and now it was tied to a story that - although basic - seemed slightly more serious and focused which was certainly refreshing. Starting the game off with an epic prison escape got my engine revving and my guns cocked and loaded.

The soundtrack isn’t handled by Jesper Kyd this time around; instead the music is split through a variety of different artists that broaden the soundscape. Whilst this means that there’s a new twist on things, there’s nothing as saucy as the sublime Sanctuary 3, and it does lose its sense of identity a little to my ears, although the soundtrack is by no means weakened, just more of a change of scenery.

And yet, whilst the first couple of hours passed blissfully, it wasn’t long before a few things stood out in a more negative sense. Aside from little irritations such as my guns appearing to be invisible every now and again during firefights, or the shrubs, foliage and landscape having jittery graphical moments, which is infuriating when you are focused on sleek robotic enemies, and teleporting foes as your eyes naturally flit to any sort of disturbance in your field of vision, as this usually means a bullet/laser/enemy, but more often that not it was just a visual quirk or artefact. It was surprisingly grating after a while and appears to be an issue throughout the game. 

The weaponry – usually a highlight of the series – is lacking somewhat this time around, and I found myself desperate for some weapons that felt satisfying to use, as the vast majority of shields, grenades and guns overall seems to be junk, and I spent far less time in my inventory screens perfecting my loadout this time around, and more time just trying to find something interesting, practical or essentially satisfying to use. Combine this with some tastier enemies that are bullet-sponge tastic, and I found the shine of the combat – the main draw for me, usually – lacking.

This is a far more open-world Borderlands experience, and you really can head off and dive into whatever side quests you desire. Whilst the games tone is a touch more serious this time around, and the powers of the main characters and the subsequent skill trees do have an impact on your game, it’s the sheer amount of time that I spent wishing I was having slightly more fun that stuck with me whilst playing Borderlands 4, and I found myself bouncing off the game after a couple of hours each session instead of sticking with it each time I sat down to play - I remember pounding through Borderlands 3 as I couldn’t get enough of it, but that draw simply wasn’t here for me this time around. It could be that the formula is finally drying up for me, or maybe the balancing has now flipped far more to multiplayer being the de facto way to play, but whilst this Borderlands hooked me with the straighter narrative and tone, the endless junk pickups and mostly tiresome weaponry wore me down.

SUMMARY

All in all, if you are a fan of the basics of the series, this is very much more of the same with a few tweaks. 

The music may click with a lot of folks, and perhaps there are some that will relish the sheer amount of items and loadouts that you can wangle, but whilst there are thousand of weapons and a huge open world to explore, I can’t help but feel that this is quantity over quality in some areas.