Borderlands 4 Review – Amazing Gameplay, Terrible Optimization
The wait is over – Borderlands 4 has at long last arrived and fans of the chaotic looter-shooter series are already getting stuck in. This time, Gearbox hyped a darker tone, a huge open world, and™ least but not last smoother co-op play. For most players, this was meant to be the game that took them back to Borderlands 2’s glory days.
In our Borderlands 4 review we’re dissecting exactly what the game does right — and why its technical condition may give you pause before purchasing it at launch.
Gameplay
Borderlands 4 At Its Best
When it comes to series fans and what we gravitate toward, Borderlands 4 has that in the bag — fetching guns and looney combat loop.
Gunplay and Skills
The weapons feel punchy and weighty, and the focus on action skills means that combat feels like it has a faster pace and is more aggressive. “This is the best the shooting has ever felt,” fans say.
“Game is legit fun insane amount of content beautiful looking game and great shooting mechanics. The co-op absolutely smokes, and it has cross-play.”
The way the game is navigated has also been refined, with added verticality and fresh methods for navigating the battlefield. You’re able to easily call in vehicles and the combat arenas are more well realized than previous outings.
Open World Design
Bigger and Better
The other massive victory for Borderlands 4 is the open world. It’s more labyrinthine and rooted in smarter design, filled with secrets and spaces that invite exploration.
“Open world is huge, interconnected and well-designed with some fun arenas to shoot around in and spaces large enough to have vehicle play.”
Players have been calling the game “more Destiny than Destiny,” but very much in a good way — the flow of traversal and design of its world are often spot-on.
Story & Tone
Darker but Still Borderlands
Borderlands 4 also changes its tone, providing a somewhat darker main story that still offers the humor in the side content. The cringey Borderlands 3 dialogue has been reduced, much to the delight of many returning players.
“I’m actually shocked at how SERIOUS the game feels now… it’s fun, fast-paced and the combat loop is actually very addictive."
Performance
Borderlands 4’s Biggest Problem
Now here is the elephant the flaw in the system. While Borderlands 4 shines in gameplay, its performance is a disaster for several players.
Unreal Engine 5 Issues
Some fans point the finger at Unreal Engine 5, which has been a notorious challenge for AAA developers to optimize. Players are experiencing:
- Stuttering and hitching during traversal
- Frame pacing issues
- Massive FPS dips even on high end PCs
“UE5 unification was, perhaps, the single biggest mistake in the history of AAA industry… stuttering traversal artifacts with all that trails & frames following to every place of a scene and bad stroke-quality FPS is almost guaranteed signature value for UE5 releases.”
Poor Optimization
Some people with even an RTX 3080 / 4080 in tandem with solid CPUs still can’t get a silky 60fps without using DLSS or frame generation.
“Game is an absolute stutter fest combined with zero optimisation, they expect everyone to run the scaler and frame gen over 60 fps which of course is completely unacceptable.”
Crashes and freezes and choppy frame rates, oh my. Some experiences are stable, but many more players have reported that (to put it politely) this game was a hot mess from a technical standpoint upon shipping.
Network & Stability Issues
Borderlands 4’s co-op is just as fun as always, if you can get the network hiccups out of the way. It’s also far from infrequent to see players talk about random drops/crashes, hopping around, or even full shutdowns during heavy combat encounters or when transitioning between zones. Solo play has been mostly stable, but these issues hamper the co-op experience — one of the reasons people play Borderlands. Gearbox has admitted these issues and is working on patches, so the stability should improve with time.
Endgame Frustrations
After the story is over and done with, players will be raring to go farm legendaries while refining their builds — but Borderlands 4’s endgame loop could use more substance for now. Some bosses are pushovers for optimized characters, while others experience drastic difficulty spikes that can leave casual players extremely frustrated. The loot pool is large, and a bit lopsided; there are about three or four guns that stand out above the rest for meta consideration. And a few hours into the farming process, that work can feel repetitive as players find themselves craving more variety. But seasonal activities or new raid bosses in future updates would help keep the grind interesting.
“It took about 22 hours to unlock everything up on my old toon. Not cool.”
Price & Value – $70 for This?
When this is how it plays for so many players, that $70 USD (or more, in other regions) is a bit stanky. Some players have likened this to predatory pricing for an incomplete product.
“This is not good enough for a game that costs me $110 Australian dollars for the bog standard edition.”
Should You Buy Borderlands 4 Now or Wait?
This is the ultimate question. Strong to quite strong when running well, the worst things about Borderlands 4 are a shame. There's tons of content, the world is engaging to explore and the co-op is some of Gearbox's best in years.
But it’s being held back by its technical condition. Very Classic Nerd Brand Computer Preferences Let's face it, unless you've got a high end PC (or don't mind losing some of your frames and experiencing a stutter now and again), you may just want to wait for the first couple major patches.
“If you don't wither the thought of 400 hours in co op with ya mates I would wait before you buy and maybe come back in a month or two after Gearbox fix the usual UE5 mess.”
Final Verdict – Borderlands 4 Review Conclusion
It’s the boldest addition to the series and quite possibly just as enjoyable as Borderlands 2. It’s a huge game full of content that gets so many things right in its gameplay, tone and co-op design.
But at release, its performance hitches and optimizations hold it back from being the perfect looter-shooter fans were hoping for.
Score: 8/10 (with major caveats)
If you can get past the techie issues, Borderlands 4 is crazy fun. Otherwise, it might be worth waiting for some patches — the game could be excellent if its issues were addressed. Let us know what you think?
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