UPDATE: Borderlands 3 has just been announced to have a release date for Sept. 13 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. The PC release will be an Epic Games Store Exclusive for six months, ending in April 2020.
After waiting seven years for a third title to the Borderlands series, Gearbox released a trailer to officially announce the next gun frenzy adventure. Full of old and new characters and plenty of action, not much is shown except to tell fans that what they want is coming. The few bits shown reveals nothing but fanfare and disappointment.
As a hardcore fan of these looter shooters, I enjoyed seeing some of my favorite characters like Sir Hammerlock, Lilith, Claptrap, and many more. We see a large portion of central and side memorable personalities along with some mysterious new faces, some of whom could be the new playable classes (maybe they are the ones at 33 seconds in the trailer). New villains, who remain unnamed, appear to replace Handsome Jack as the antagonist look intriguing, I cannot wait to shoot them with an infinite pistol that can be thrown as an explosive at their faces.
One of the new characters who could be playable is what appears to be a Siren. We see her shoot plenty of baddies along with developing six lightning arms to assist her. None of the others show any sign of their abilities, but we may just have to wait for that.
New locations are shown from deserts similar to previous titles, colorful lit up cities, and swamps. Hopefully, Gearbox does not recycle or give off that feeling of recycled landscapes. The deserts have me worried due to all the time spent in the second title, but the cities and swamps do have my attention. Each game has a vast amount of variety and appears Borderlands 3 will follow its predecessors.
Unique enemies always drew me into this universe. Original monsters that breathe fire, scene kid looking villains, and giant mechs deliver plenty of variety to the foes that make combat even more fun.
Vehicles always ran as a convenient option for travel in previous games, but it is getting revamped. Flying cars, trucks with mounted guns, and other options display more than we have seen from any of its predecessors. Hopefully, we can see more implemented than what has been done before.
Hundreds to maybe thousands of guns are shown throughout the announcement. One pistol is seen walking around while shooting, so it is safe to say that the wacky weapons that never get old will not have any issues. They claim there are over a “billion,” but we will see how much is exaggerated, but who cares, it is Borderlands?
Reveal trailers are never much, and I am not one to critique graphics often, but this looks too old to for 2019 (or later). The cell-shaded style is iconic and always looks beautiful. However, the actual graphics look out of date and the exact same from all of the previous titles. When having fun playing cooperative will keep me distracted, it will still be on the back of my mind on how this looks like its from 2012, not 2019.
More info is to come soon on April 3. Keep an eye out on here for that updated information.
I have my concerns, but I still cannot contain my excitement for another Borderlands. What do you think of the reveal trailer? What do you want to hear on April 3 about the new title? Comment what you think and let’s chat about the glorious announcement of Borderlands 3.
Tristan Zelden 