Gearbox Software wouldn’t necessarily call its upcoming looter shooter behemoth Borderlands 4 an open-world game, but it is seamless and you will be able to travel to any location in sight without loading screens, so we might just be splitting hairs here.
In response to one content creator who called Borderlands 4 open world, Gearbox CEO and occasional magician Randy Pitchford tweeted that he wouldn’t use those worlds because “the term comes with a lot of baggage that doesn’t apply. You’ll see.”
In an interview with Gamespot, Pitchford elaborates that Borderlands 3’s world was “more compartmentalized” since the player was jumping across a bunch of different planets in the threequel. Borderlands 4 sets itself apart by being the “most open and free” game in the series run so far.
Pitchford calls out one specific shot in the most recent trailer where our party gazes over the horizon, and explains that “everything you’re seeing is playable space that you can get to and reach without a load time.” When asked if the moon of Elpis that shows up multiple times in the trailer – the same one from Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel – is also “playable space” reachable without a loading screen, Pitchford just says “Everything in the scene.”
But if you can drive to far off cities, run up any old mountain, and even reach the moon without waiting for the game to load, then how is Borderlands 4 different from any other open-world game? Pitchford argues that it’s all about intent: “We care so deeply about combat dynamics and care so deeply about that moment-to-moment feeling. We craft this [world]. Everything that unfolds has [purpose]. You can feel the heart of the designer behind it. You can tell, people that care a lot made this shit… This isn’t all just a systemic, algorithmically filled world… I wouldn’t say ‘open world’ because that will come with baggage. That isn’t what we are. But it is seamless, and it is expansive, and it is larger than anything we’ve ever done, and it is filled like nothing we’ve ever done.”
To make getting around the biggest Borderlands Land even easier, Gearbox also showed off some of the shooter’s snazzy new movement options, which includes the ever trusty grappling hook and some interesting vehicles, though we’ll need to wait for Borderlands 4 to come out later this year on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S before we understand how its seamless (not open) world is truly structured.
Meanwhile, another Borderlands 4 lead said it wouldn’t have as much toilet humor as Borderlands 3 – even the thought of “skibidi toilet” or “Hawk 2A” in the game makes him shudder.
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