Borderlands 3 Release: The loot shooter goes into the third round

The murder-hungry leaders of the Children of the Vault Clan, live streamers and calypso twins, Troy and Tyreen, have all planets in the Borderlands 3 universe under their control. Your goal is to become more powerful than ever by using a vault map to track down the loot chambers of the planets in order to forcibly withdraw their power from their powerful protectors. Because the Calypso twins can use the power gained in this way for themselves. With the aim of becoming overwhelming and taking control of all planets. However, the intrepid Siren Lilith, who is already known from previous Borderlands parts, faces them as the leader of the Crimson Raiders, full of action.

Weird characters are a hallmark of the video game franchise. Image: 2K Games

For the first time, the game no longer plays exclusively on the planet Pandora in the course of the story. With Borderlands 3, gamers experience insane adventures on previously unknown planets and space stations. The futuristic atlas homeworld planet Promethia, Jacobs homeworld Eden-6 and the monk planet Athenas are waiting for the gamer to save their lives. The different planets ensure a varied environment in the gameplay, in which the player can expect, for example, a creatively designed landscape with a Japanese touch. This is noticeable and makes the inclined gamer's eye shine.

Borderlands 3: make new out of old?

Much of the newly released title is reminiscent of Borderlands 2, not only the characters are partly familiar faces, the series also remains true to its style. But it is precisely this mixture of old and new that has the potential to please the fans. For example, the clumsy and sometimes cocky face-the-mouth hero Claptrap, one of the most popular characters in the game, plays a role again. Borderlands veterans can almost imagine it: the rough humor is of course retained. This is what defines the video game series.

The player follows in the footsteps of four possible classes, which appear as exterminators as usual and join the Crimson Raiders clan. You can choose between a siren, a shooter, an agent or a beastmaster. After choosing a class, the player notices that the talent trees offer extensive opportunities for skill development. More than ever. The hero begins with three basic skills. As usual, by leveling he gains the points necessary for skill.

The official launch trailer sets the mood for the insane action:

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Initially, only passive skills are available, but other active skills are gradually unlocked for skill. The player therefore has several options for class formation and for influencing the type of damage. These should be adapted again and again and improved by artifacts. A new possibility is to equip a special exterminator weapon, which has to be purchased in the shop for Eridium, but has a strengthening effect on skills or abilities.

If the player does not want to buy a weapon for large sums of money, the game offers what it wants to be: loot for loot shooters. Opponents drop them, you rummage through boxes and piles of rubble, there are countless ways to get to weapons and their accessories. There are at least as many ways to combine the individual weapon parts in order to do the best possible damage. Also to be considered are the different types of weapon manufacturers that offer the player different weapon mechanisms and optics. The two fire modes, which can be switched between, also offer the player new tactical possibilities. In general, the player can equip up to four weapons at the same time. But must first unlock the associated slots. This happens automatically during the gameplay of the campaign.

Borderlands 3 roadmap: This is what players can expect after the release

There should be two comprehensive game updates and the first DLC this year. On the one hand the Bloody Harvest Event, a content that can be used free of charge for all players and a Halloween special, which is supposed to bring a scary atmosphere and scary loot into the game, and also the Maliwan Takedown, another free content that contains a new map with previously unknown powerful opponents and so on should bring considerable loot with it.

What fans can expect in the next few months after the release is already clear. Image: Gearbox

At the end of the year, the first paid story expansion will be waiting for fans. The DLC is the first of four planned expansions. Season Pass users should be able to use the content at no additional cost.

Borderlands 3 is available for Xbox One, Playstation 4 and PC.