Borderlands 4 Hands-On: Several changes to basic Borderlands gameplay make for a new and vastly improved FPS experience
After a few hours of gameplay at an early access event, I can confidently say that Borderlands 4 will be one of the more fun titles in the franchise from a base gameplay perspective. Last month, 2K Games invited me to play Borderlands 4 early at a preview event, and I came away much more excited for the new title than I was originally, and I was already pretty hyped. A lot of that has to do with how it feels to pick up and play, which I felt like some of the other games in the series had some issues with. Smooth moves Screenshot by Destructoid Gearbox gave me the chance to try out one of the earliest missions in Borderlands 4 as a level five Rafa Vault Haunter, working with a local militia group on the new planet Kairos. Like previous games in the series, the low-level early gameplay before you find any decent weapons or level up your character feels a bit sluggish, but the game's new movement mechanics helped mitigate that feeling. Borderlands 4 characters are able to double jump and glide, dodge backwards, forwards, and side to side, reminiscent of how movement works in DOOM. These changes go a long way in making the game feel more active than ever, along with a grappling hook that you can use to climb to higher areas, launch yourself into the air and glide above the battlefield, or pick up exploding barrels and launch them at enemies. In the mission I was tasked with playing, I unlocked the new Digirunner, which is your character's personal vehicle. Once unlocked, you can digitally spawn it into the world and ride it at any given time with the press of a button, similar to Destiny 2's Sparrow, meaning traversal throughout the open world is no longer a slog. No more needing to rely on Catch-a-Ride. At a base level, the Digirunner isn't super fast or maneuverable, but when playing through the game, you can unlock both upgrades and cosmetics to soup it up to make it your own. It has its own front-mounted weapon to mow down enemies, so if you really want, you can turn it into yet another weapon to do battle with while exploring the open world, which is populated with random enemies and events that spawn at random. Screenshot by Destructoid Oh, and all of that hubbub about the game not having a minimap and instead opting for a compass? I hated it at first, but after a couple hours of playing, you forget about it. This may prove more difficult for series veterans who are so accustomed to the minimap, but as someone who played the series a lot at launch and then not much since, it didn't bother me after a while. In place of the minimap, the game utilizes a bot named ECHO-4 that scans the immediate area to find anything of note. ECHO-4 becomes a big part of the gameplay loop the more you play, marking things like grapple points, explosive barrels, and other items of interest. ECHO-4 also has its own button, so pressing it to scan your vicinity becomes habitual over time. Up your arsenal Screenshot by Destructoid Weapons. Borderlands has always been about weapons, and Borderlands 4 ups the ante with its Licensed Parts system, which allows for different parts of guns to utilize different manufacturers. Returning are Tediore, Maliwan, Jakobs, Vladof, and Torgue, with newcomers Order, Ripper, and Daedalus. The higher the rarity of the gun, the more Licensed Parts it has (green has one, blue has two, etc.). I experienced both the upside and downside to this system, as a handful of weapons I found were absolutely useless due to the combinations just not jiving together. But, in the end, that's the game, isn't it? The chase for randomized loot. That's what people love about Borderlands. Mitigating the struggle of targeted loot grinding, however, is Moxxi's Big Encore Machine. For certain boss fights and missions, the machine will allow you to hop right back and replay them for a chance to get a specific weapon. For a price, you can do this to your heart's content and no longer have to save and quit, and it's a godsend for those looking to grind out the best possible weapons. One of the other biggest changes in the game's basic gameplay loop is Repkits, which are an additional piece of loadout gear for you to equip that basically functions as an active healing mechanic. Repkits roll with their own random, unique buffs, abilities, and cooldowns, and are your way of staying in the fight. They remind me a lot of the Stim tactical item in recent Call of Duty games. It's another new mechanic that players must get in the habit of. Healing or using your Repkits to give you a buff to something like movement speed is a core part of the loop when fighting enemies, and it really feels like a nice new touch to make everything feel a bit more active and frantic. Screenshot by Destructoid BL4's gear slots also include a dedicated one for heavy weapons like rocket launchers that operate on a cooldown, and throwables that now include throwing knives. One of those that I got to use had a ridiculo
After a few hours of gameplay at an early access event, I can confidently say that Borderlands 4 will be one of the more fun titles in the franchise from a base gameplay perspective.
Last month, 2K Games invited me to play Borderlands 4 early at a preview event, and I came away much more excited for the new title than I was originally, and I was already pretty hyped. A lot of that has to do with how it feels to pick up and play, which I felt like some of the other games in the series had some issues with.
Smooth moves
Gearbox gave me the chance to try out one of the earliest missions in Borderlands 4 as a level five Rafa Vault Haunter, working with a local militia group on the new planet Kairos. Like previous games in the series, the low-level early gameplay before you find any decent weapons or level up your character feels a bit sluggish, but the game's new movement mechanics helped mitigate that feeling.
Borderlands 4 characters are able to double jump and glide, dodge backwards, forwards, and side to side, reminiscent of how movement works in DOOM. These changes go a long way in making the game feel more active than ever, along with a grappling hook that you can use to climb to higher areas, launch yourself into the air and glide above the battlefield, or pick up exploding barrels and launch them at enemies.
In the mission I was tasked with playing, I unlocked the new Digirunner, which is your character's personal vehicle. Once unlocked, you can digitally spawn it into the world and ride it at any given time with the press of a button, similar to Destiny 2's Sparrow, meaning traversal throughout the open world is no longer a slog. No more needing to rely on Catch-a-Ride.
At a base level, the Digirunner isn't super fast or maneuverable, but when playing through the game, you can unlock both upgrades and cosmetics to soup it up to make it your own. It has its own front-mounted weapon to mow down enemies, so if you really want, you can turn it into yet another weapon to do battle with while exploring the open world, which is populated with random enemies and events that spawn at random.
Oh, and all of that hubbub about the game not having a minimap and instead opting for a compass? I hated it at first, but after a couple hours of playing, you forget about it. This may prove more difficult for series veterans who are so accustomed to the minimap, but as someone who played the series a lot at launch and then not much since, it didn't bother me after a while.
In place of the minimap, the game utilizes a bot named ECHO-4 that scans the immediate area to find anything of note. ECHO-4 becomes a big part of the gameplay loop the more you play, marking things like grapple points, explosive barrels, and other items of interest. ECHO-4 also has its own button, so pressing it to scan your vicinity becomes habitual over time.
Up your arsenal
Weapons. Borderlands has always been about weapons, and Borderlands 4 ups the ante with its Licensed Parts system, which allows for different parts of guns to utilize different manufacturers. Returning are Tediore, Maliwan, Jakobs, Vladof, and Torgue, with newcomers Order, Ripper, and Daedalus.
The higher the rarity of the gun, the more Licensed Parts it has (green has one, blue has two, etc.). I experienced both the upside and downside to this system, as a handful of weapons I found were absolutely useless due to the combinations just not jiving together. But, in the end, that's the game, isn't it? The chase for randomized loot. That's what people love about Borderlands.
Mitigating the struggle of targeted loot grinding, however, is Moxxi's Big Encore Machine. For certain boss fights and missions, the machine will allow you to hop right back and replay them for a chance to get a specific weapon. For a price, you can do this to your heart's content and no longer have to save and quit, and it's a godsend for those looking to grind out the best possible weapons.
One of the other biggest changes in the game's basic gameplay loop is Repkits, which are an additional piece of loadout gear for you to equip that basically functions as an active healing mechanic. Repkits roll with their own random, unique buffs, abilities, and cooldowns, and are your way of staying in the fight. They remind me a lot of the Stim tactical item in recent Call of Duty games.
It's another new mechanic that players must get in the habit of. Healing or using your Repkits to give you a buff to something like movement speed is a core part of the loop when fighting enemies, and it really feels like a nice new touch to make everything feel a bit more active and frantic.
BL4's gear slots also include a dedicated one for heavy weapons like rocket launchers that operate on a cooldown, and throwables that now include throwing knives. One of those that I got to use had a ridiculous roll on it that basically allowed me to one-shot any enemy with a critical hit, and had a very short cooldown on kills. The wild and silly builds will go hard, for sure.
So, I think there will be an initial period of adjustment for players to get used to all of the new mechanics in Borderlands 4. But once that's over, I think that most will feel as I do that it enriches and improves the minute-to-minute gameplay, thus creating a better overall experience.
Lodging and travel for the Borderlands 4 hands-on event was provided by 2K.
The post Borderlands 4 Hands-On: Several changes to basic Borderlands gameplay make for a new and vastly improved FPS experience appeared first on Destructoid.
