Borderlands 4is sure to be the most ambitiousBorderlandsgameto date. If nothing else, it is certainly a vast improvement in the visual department.
As the firstBorderlandsgame to run on Unreal Engine 5,Borderlands 4will improve upon the visuals of its predecessors withenhanced, beautiful viewswhile keeping its iconicgraphic novel-inspired aesthetics.
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With the power of Unreal Engine 5,Borderlands 4can render objects, characters, and cutscenes in real time and, even better, with great optimization.Player character cosmetics will also be rendered during cutscenes,so players can certainly put on goofy cosmetics to undercut a serious narrative moment, should they choose to do so.
Crisp And Grungy
In the demo version that I got to experience in the hands-on preview event,Borderlands 4ran at a buttery-smooth 60 frames per second with absolutely no dips in frame rate,with graphics set to the highest.
The dynamic lighting can also be seen through the set dressing throughout the map, making the visuals appear much more crisp,showing off the muck and grime that we know and love in the Borderlands universe.
As an open-world that’s much different from its predecessors,Borderlands 4is touted to be the “biggest"BorderlandsGearbox has made, while also featuring a world that is “far more detailed, far more beautiful.”
Visually,Borderlands 4is a natural evolution of the aesthetic of the previousBorderlandsgames, thanks to the powerful Unreal Engine 5.
The various areas of the open world inBorderlands 4will also feature dynamic weather patterns, including storms, rain, snow, etc. However, other than enhancing the visual immersion,weather patterns will have no impact on gameplay.
I also noticed that there is a Day/Night cycle, though I’m not sure whether it affects gameplay or not.
In an interview with Gearbox’s Adam May, he explained that the dev team tried not to let themselves be too influenced by other properties while still allowing inspiration to flourish throughout the process:
“We try to avoid things that are too clean and too overly pristine. We’re supposed to be a post-apocalyptic world more than a utopian future. So if you make the comparison between a Star Trek and a Star Wars or something, we want to avoid those super clean, super high sci-fi things and instead go towards a world that’s got more dirt and grime and history too, in general.”
May also explains that environmental storytelling was crucial in creating the power fantasy that theBorderlandsfranchise has been known to excel at. As befitting of an RPG, the environments inBorderlands 4will reflect the narrative tone, where you may"see the danger in the universe.”
The dev team worked hard to ensure they “start you out in a space that feels safe and soft and less threatening (referencing the Fadefields), and then as you get out into the world, you’re going to get to see something really messed up, dark, creepy, twisted, even—spaces that are reminiscent of even the originalBorderlands 1and2.”
Borderlands 4will take you on an epic adventure across Kairos. Each major region will feel like a completely different world, and can even be as crazy as Eridium Blight in Borderlands 2.
May continues, “… you get to see some of the weirder, wilder stuff. It’s very surreal as you go in there, and also dark and dreary. And one of the neatest things about it to me is, we have a dark, creepy, moving world, but the players are actually the ones who bring the color to it; throwing out all the color into it with your abilities.”
Borderlands 4will launch on September 12th, 2025.
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