I still can’t quite believe that Gearbox has brought Borderlands 4 forward. The next entry in the looter shooter series is easily my most anticipated game of 2025, and knowing I’ll be playing it a few weeks earlier than expected leaves a sweet taste in the mouth. Gearbox certainly seems confident about how BL4 is going, then, and that feels especially true from the team’s recent Pax East panel, where they gave us our best look at the FPS yet alongside a mountain of positive quality-of-life changes. So if Borderlands 3 didn’t quite hit the mark, don’t worry, Gearbox has heard you.
With the Borderlands 4 release date inching closer, Gearbox knows how important co-op is to the experience. I’ve always played through the series with two characters – one solo and the other with friends – so I’m happy to report that the entire online system is being overhauled for the better in Borderlands 4.
During the Pax panel, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford says the team has revamped the co-op game‘s lobby system to make it easier than ever to connect with others. You can drop in and drop out at absolutely any time, so you and your friends don’t need to be up to specific points in the game to play together.
Even bigger than that, however, is the new fast travel to friends feature. Borderlands 4 is going to have a massive, seamless world, and you’ll more than likely split off from your friends at some point to do your own thing. In BL4, you can now instantly fast travel to anyone in your lobby, meaning you can join back up for a particularly tough boss with ease.
Just like Borderlands 3, the sequel will also have level scaling. This means no matter where you are in the game you can dive into a friend’s lobby, and not need to worry about the enemy being far too tough. According to Pitchford “the game will handle it” no matter the difficulty. Loot is also going to be instanced, so every player gets their own pool of goodies to sift through without worrying about it being stolen.
Speaking of loot, Gearbox is dramatically revamping how the system works in Borderlands 4. For starters, loot’s complexity scaling is being adjusted so you don’t feel overwhelmed with mechanics and ideas all the time. This does mean that the sheer amount of legendaries you find in BL4 will fall (there were far too many in Borderlands 3), but now their power and abilities will feel even more special.
You won’t be leaving every single piece of loot up to chance, however, as Borderlands 4 ships day one with dedicated drops. Every miniboss and major encounter will give you something special, so you can always come away feeling like that fight was time well spent. If you want to grind, though, you definitely still can. Gearbox is introducing Moxxi’s Big Encore Machine in Borderlands 4, which you can use to replay both missions and bosses, removing the need to reload saves if you want to farm one piece of loot.
All together, Borderlands 4 sounds like the best game in the series yet. The team at Gearbox heard our complaints with Borderlands 3, and is not only changing how loot works, but introducing quality-of-life features to overhaul your experience. The game’s combat is being significantly changed, too, so I’m itching to finally get my hands on it.
We’ve also got all the best multiplayer games and FPS games, if you can’t wait for the looter shooter to return.
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