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Borderlands 4 is my first foray into the series. I own all of them, shout out to both Sony AND Nintendo sales. I’ve also briefly dabbled in Tiny Tina’s on PC, but it didn’t stick despite the gorgeous art and hilarious commentary. I also fully believe sometimes games come into our lives at the wrong time and we can always circle back. Tiny Tina’s may very well be that for me. Only time will tell.

Anyways, I dove into Borderlands 4 riding the tidal wave of hype that was splashing its way across social media. Instantly, I fell hard for the art style, it would be hard not to, and decided my Vault Hunter would be Vex – largely because of this guy:

If you know me at all, you know anytime I can play and have buddies/homies/minions/etc…that’s how I am going to play. Similarly to maining Necromancer in both Diablo 3 and 4. Speaking of…

Borderlands 4 and Diablo 4 are both similar games for me. And no, its not because of the “4”. I promise. It’s that both are fantastic games with incredibly fun gameplay loops but two “strikes” against them.

1. I do not care to understand enough in either game to create builds. (Or generally care to build craft in any game. I’ll let you in on a secret – all of my Destiny 2 build’s come from other people.) I just plug and play with my skill points and generally choose skills and attributes that sound “cool”. This means I do not have an OP build or usually even a good one. Maybe I like playing on hard mode? (Nope. I once tried Hardcore in Diablo 4 after strictly playing Hardcore co-op in Diablo 3 and proceeded to have the world’s biggest pity party when my character died. So much so that my boyfriend basically had to turn my PlayStation off and tell me to go sit in a corner. I was SEETHING.)
2. While incredibly well-made games with a ton of lore, I tend to not know at all what’s going on story-wise and find myself not really caring. I know, blasphemy. But after 30 hours in Borderlands 4, I really don’t know what I’m doing other than spending most of my time doing side quests, finding collectibles, and removing any “?” I find because neurodivergent. This is my campaign progression after over a cumulative day of gameplay because I CAN’T STOP DOING SIDE QUESTS (….also similar to it taking me two years to beat Diablo 4’s campaign because *insert same reason here*).

Narratively both games are incredible. What I understand of the plot and/or lore is interesting. But I just don’t follow the story at all. It could be that I play it with the volume low and as of now my boyfriend and I are gaming in the same space, so oftentimes he has his game and music going as well. However, I also don’t feel the desire to WANT to know what is going on. The game just feels too good and that’s all I really want out of it…besides giggling at guns that fire guns with little legs and throwing grenades that are also fish somehow. The gunplay, movement, and pacing are what draw me to this game. Of course, again, the art is phenomenal. Oh…and this is my favorite character:

(Before you roll your eyes too far into your head, I want to share that JarJar Binks is my favorite Star Wars character. Now that’s two things you didn’t want to know.)

In all sincerity, I imagine the story is incredible in Borderlands 4 but it is not why I am playing it. I don’t think it means the game is bad. Far from it. I think that there are a myriad of ways to enjoy the game and this is how I am enjoying it. But it also means that to itch the proverbial scratch of a deep and enthralling story, I will simply play other games. I don’t connect to the narrative and that is absolutely fine. My massive backlog awaits with open arms.

I will be finishing Borderlands 4 because I do sincerely enjoy the gameplay loop. It just will not a game that will stand out solely for its story. I will wax poetic about gunplay and movement and then also suggest Expedition 33 or The Midnight Walk for their deep narratives (and psychological warfare). It could simply be that I am not as connected as others due to not playing the games leading up to this installment. It could also just be the season of life in which I am currently. Whatever it is, it’s still a great game. It’s just not my GOTY.