Borderlands 4 boasts the biggest evolution of the series thus far. It’s the most ambitious game the team at Gearbox has ever created, boasting a seamless open-world map, numerous hours of exploration-based opportunities, and a core gameplay loop that facilitates endless playstyles.
I caught up with Randy Pitchford, Gearbox CEO, at Gamescom, and took a deep dive into the changes that will help to differentiate Borderlands 4 from Borderlands 3. He wasn’t afraid to admit he’s nervous about one key change that will alter the game’s difficulty rating.
Here’s the full video interview before you jump in:
Is Borderlands 4 Hard?
I played Borderlands 4 for an hour at Gamescom and can confirm that it’s not super tough. I was playing on a lower difficulty level, so it’s tough to give an accurate representation of how the game will feel when you’re playing with more users to push the challenges up and running the game at a higher difficulty grade.
Going into my interview with Randy Pitchford, I knew that the team at Gearbox had designed some of the toughest bosses in franchise history. I was curious why and how that challenge would be felt by even the most die-hard veterans of the series.
We have lots of players that actually aren’t interested in deep, hard challenges; lots of people that love just exploring the Borderlands or spending time with the characters.
I’m a little nervous because there are points of Borderlands 4 that are more challenging, but one of the coolest things about Borderlands 4, because of the nature of the RPG, is if anything is a little challenging for you, you can just grind somewhere and level up and become more powerful.
You will find that things that were hard when you were a little chump will become trivial when you become a badass.
But we definitely have pushed the challenges quite a lot, especially with bosses and boss fight mechanics.
Fans of the series will recognize this gameplay mechanic. If you can’t defeat an enemy, go away and level up, and you’ll do much better on your successive pass at that boss or objective.
In my exclusive Gamescom demo, I got to control Harlowe, one of the game’s more technical Vault Hunters, and I faced off against a fairly challenging boss, a ‘Spy Master’ of the game’s ‘Timekeeper’ big bad. It was innovative, enjoyable, and satisfying, even considering my hatred for intense challenges.
Let me know if you’re interested in fighting very tough bosses in Borderlands 4 on the Insider Gaming forum.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that Dying Light: The Beast has an insanely diverse map
Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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