Games

Borderlands 4 Should Tread Carefully With One Concept

Published

2 days ago

January 2, 2025

Christoph Rediske

borderlands 4 tread lightly concept large areas

Summary

Table of Contents

Borderlands 4 needs to optimize its supposedly larger areas to maintain the series’ classic chaos.
Larger areas may disrupt Borderlands 4’s rhythm and also limit weapon choice.
Borderlands 4 can make larger areas work by adding meaningful exploration rewards.

Borderlands 4 is getting closer and closer to arriving, though its release date is still currently unknown. Every moment that passes, however, is one moment closer to yet another reveal, with the most recent gameplay trailer for Borderlands 4 showcasing the game’s open world, as well as many of the locations players will be able to discover within it.

Perhaps in tandem with Borderlands 4‘s supposedly massive open world on the planet Kairos, many of the areas featured in the latest gameplay trailer look rather large and open. While it can be assumed that players will spend plenty of time exploring Borderlands 4‘s seamless open world, their time spent in the planet’s more concentrated zones needs to maintain that classic Borderlands feel the series is known for. On the other hand, there may still be a way these apparently larger areas can still work while maintaining their size.

Borderlands 4 News Needs to Leave One Stone Unturned

While it can be a good thing for games to reveal more about their content ahead of release, there’s one thing Borderlands 4 needs to keep under wraps.

Borderlands 4 Needs to Optimize Its Large Areas

Borderlands 4 Should Maintain Its Close-Quarters Chaos

It goes without saying that Borderlands 4 should arguably do whatever it takes to maintain the close-quarters chaos the franchise is known for. Throughout the Borderlands series, players have navigated areas that are intentionally designed to produce fast-paced, chaotic combat where they constantly engage with enemies and the environment. However, if Borderlands 4 introduces significantly larger areas in its open world, it could potentially make the overall experience feel less like Borderlands and more like a typical FPS, depending on how those spaces are utilized.

Larger areas in Borderlands 4 would naturally spread enemies out, leading to less time spent in battle and more time walking between objectives. At the end of the day, that could be enough to disrupt the rhythm of the series’ hallmark chaotic flow. Furthermore, larger areas would also likely increase the need for long-range weapons, thereby diminishing the viability of close-range weapons in Borderlands 4 like shotguns and SMGs. Since Borderlands has almost always been about player freedom when it comes to weapon choice, Borderlands 4‘s supposedly more spread-out spaces could deprive players of that freedom.

Larger spaces would also make co-op in Borderlands 4 a bit more challenging, as it would potentially make it that much harder for players to stick together.

How Borderlands 4 Could Make Larger Areas Work

Even with the potential roadblocks created by larger areas in Borderlands 4, the game could still make those spaces work if it utilizes them well. In essence, Borderlands 4 can’t simply rely on the aesthetics of each area to be enough to keep players invested. Instead, the game will need to ensure each of these areas is the size that it is for a more meaningful reason — one that would enhance exploration and add to the game’s reward factor.

Exploration has always been a big part of the Borderlands series, but if Borderlands 4 prioritizes larger gameplay spaces, it should offer players more than mere weapons if they go off the beaten path. By including additional secrets, optional objectives, and lore, perhaps players might have more incentive to explore Borderalnds 4‘s larger locations than they would if they knew all that was waiting for them was another hundred weapons to sell. Borderlands 4 could also make use of larger areas by pitting players against much larger bosses, who also take advantage of the space provided to them.

Even with the potential roadblocks created by larger areas in Borderlands 4, the game could still make those spaces work if it utilizes them well.

Fortunately, Borderlands 4 is introducing new traversal features, like a Grappling Hook and the ability to summon a vehicle from anywhere, so even if its more concentrated areas are larger, at least players won’t have to worry too much about travel time. On that same note, however, Borderlands 4 simply can’t afford to waste space. Borderlands 4 has an opportunity here to try something different by maintaining the close-quarters chaos the series is known for while also providing players with a more meaningful space to explore.