PS5 Xbox Series X

Borderlands 4

ShooterRole-playing (RPG)Adventure

Time to beat: about 35.5 hours

Overview

Borderlands 4 is a 2025 action role-playing first-person looter shooter game developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K. It is a sequel to Borderlands 3 (2019) and the fifth mainline entry in the Borderlands series. The game was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on September 12, 2025 to generally favorable reviews from critics. A Nintendo Switch 2 release was announced but has been put on an indefinite pause with no future plans. Set six years after the events of the last game, the story follows a new group of Vault Hunters in the ancient planet Kairos, who join its local resistance to find the planet's Vault and overthrow the despotic Timekeeper.

As with its predecessors, Borderlands 4 is a first-person looter shooter with elements commonly found in action role-playing games. Gearbox described the game's world as "seamless", and there will not be any loading screens as players explore new areas. New vehicles and traversal tools, such as a grappling hook, are introduced in Borderlands 4. The game can be played solo or cooperatively with up to three other players.

Pandora's moon Elpis, after being teleported away by Lilith using her Siren powers, destroyed the protective barrier of a planet named Kairos. In Borderlands 4, players assume the role of a Vault Hunter who must lead the resistance against a ruthless dictator named the Timekeeper and his army of synthetic followers, while searching for "secret alien treasures".

Developer Gearbox Software began working on the game prior to the release of Borderlands 3 (2019). Gearbox described Kairos as a "seamless" playable space, in which players can explore various locations of interest without being interrupted by any loading screen. While the team avoided using the term "open world", Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford claimed that Borderlands 4 was "the most open and free" game in the franchise, contrasting Borderlands 3's planet-hopping structure, which resulted in a more "compartmentalized" design. As with its predecessors, Borderlands 4 was envisioned to be a humorous game, though the team wanted to ensure that the humor derived from emergent gameplay, in which the playable Vault Hunters will react to actions performed by players.

Borderlands 4 received "generally favorable" reviews for the Windows and PlayStation 5 versions while the Xbox Series X/S version received "universal acclaim", on review aggregator website Metacritic. Fellow review aggregator OpenCritic assessed that the game received strong approval, being recommended by 88% of critics. However, the game received criticism for its performance and optimization issues. In Japan, four critics from Famitsu gave the game a total score of 33 out of 40.