‘Borderlands 4’ Has A ‘See That Mountain? You Can Climb It’ Open World

Given that it has been five years since the release of Borderlands 3, fans are hoping that the series can evolve in meaningful ways. While we still have our four Vault Hunters and the same cel-shaded style, there is at least one significant change coming.

Borderlands 4 is going true open world at last. The series has long been known for its self-contained “zones” with different aesthetics, enemies and themes. A dozen plus instances, in some cases, with loading screen between them. Now, that’s about to change, and they’re headed back to Bethesda’s “See that mountain? You can climb it” claim about Skyrim ahead of launch which…was actually true in the end.

Here’s Randy Pitchford speaking with GameStop with a variant version of that quote:

“Now, when you look at [this] scene [in the trailer], you can see these characters looking out at a vista,” Pitchford said. “In every video game you’ve ever played that’s a backdrop, right? In Borderlands 4, everything you’re seeing is playable space that you can get to and reach without a load time.”

That supposedly includes things that seem like background vistas like the tower above, which is included as well, Pitchford says. He says he doesn’t want to call it open world as that term comes with “baggage,” but given what he’s saying, I’m not sure how else you would describe it.

I don’t care about baggage in this case and I’m not trying to meme Pitchford. I think it’s a genuinely great idea to do a fully seamless Borderlands world as a way to evolve the series past its sectioned-off zones. The implication there is that gameplay may be filled with more dynamic encounters, and Pitchford says that they’re doing things that “none of [other open world games] have done,” whatever that might mean.

One thing that is not exactly new is the ability to give players a grappling hook this time around in a move that’s reminiscent of the recent Halo Infinite, which also, for the first time, threw Master Chief into an open world. It really did help significantly with traversal (and combat) and I am in favor of grappling hooks being in all games. Only half joking. Grappling hooks are great.

I will never not be excited for a Borderlands game, and even if the BL4 trailer wasn’t what the general public may have been buzzing about after The Game Awards, I thought it looked great, and this open world format, or whatever they want to call it, seems like a great idea for the franchise.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.