Borderlands 4 looks set to in some ways return the franchise back to its roots, and in others jettison it into entirely new directions. In its gameplay especially, Borderlands 4 is delving into entirely new territory, and a lot of it is to do with movement.
Speaking to Epic Games in a meaty new interview, Gearbox chief Randy Pitchford described the approach the developer took to gameplay in Borderlands 4. "The biggest commitment we made in Borderlands 4 is to give the players what they want. We just said, 'F*ck it. You can double jump,'" he said. "There's no rationalization for how that works. You're literally in the air, and you hit the jump button again, and you'll get another jump out of it. Does it feel good? Is it fun? Then I don't give a sh*t if it makes any sense."
"We get all kinds of fun stuff like dashing and gliding and using a grappling hook, not just to pull objects into your hands and throw them—causing an interruption on certain enemies—but to even bounce around the environment a little bit," Pitchford explained.
Borderlands has never been a series to take itself too seriously, so it's interesting to know in the past that gameplay was still considered from some points of realism and mechanics making sense. Now, that's been thrown out the window and we'll have to see if Borderlands 4 reaches new heights because of it.
Borderlands 4 launches on the 12th of September for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. A Nintendo Switch 2 version launches on the 3rd of October.