A Few Lines of Dialogue Have Finally Convinced Me That Borderlands 4 Will Be Great

Okay, so here’s the thing about Borderlands 4. I mean, where do I even begin? It’s like — did anyone else feel a weird mix of excitement and anxiety when they announced it? I did. Loved some parts of Borderlands 3, don’t get me wrong. Vault Hunters, combat — all cool. But the story? Eh, not so much. Then you’ve got this big pivot to open-world in BL4. I dunno. Is that what I wanted? Nah, not really. I was kind of attached to those chunky map styles, you know? Kept getting flashbacks to how less fun Doom Eternal felt to me after it went large. And, oh boy, the vehicles. Just couldn’t get into them the way others did.

Then—this is where it gets interesting—people got to preview the game, and they can’t stop saying nice things. And I was like, yeah okay, let’s see if this helps my nerves. But I’ll admit, I had this lingering doubt that short glimpses couldn’t squash. Enter: Vex’s character teaser. It tackled a biggie for me: the tone. We all remember the humor in the series. Toilet jokes are great, but going dark could’ve been risky. Could’ve fallen flat or, I don’t know, gone overboard losing all the charm. Somehow, Gearbox seems like they have it figured out. Vex’s backstory hit just the right nerve for me — blended the old quirky with new daring.

And, like, Vex’s clip — wow — actually pokes some fun at BL3. Can we talk about that for a second? All those community ideas floated by fans, like “Hey, why not pretend BL3 was just a bad dream?” They crossed my mind too. But then, Vex’s story trailer tells it differently. There’s this bit, right? A customer and Vex chat about some “Deathening 4” movie, totally mocking BL3 in code. Pretty bold move. Acknowledgment sprinkled with humor, almost like Gearbox is saying, “We hear ya, BL2 was the real hero, wasn’t it?” Love it when creators admit past slips.

Before I go off on another tangent, there’s more to unpack. BL4’s teasing trailers possibly signal trailers for other characters too—a thing they did with BL3. Just wait, we might get more of those short trailers.

And maybe here’s the big takeaway. BL4 cracking jokes about BL3 gives me this odd sense of confidence. Because, like, who openly criticized their earlier stuff while hyping new stuff unless they’re sure it’s gonna rock? Some subtleties, I guess, like those changes in loot and storytelling, whisper of a real shift. A shift towards awesomeness. Plus, it’s not gonna abandon the series’ vibe, but elevate it. This made me genuinely stoked. What do you think they have in store? Everything? Nothing? Guess we’ll see. Anyway, that’s all I got. Sort of a jumble, but hopefully, you get my drift.