Post by Jonathan on Dec 20, 2022 14:42:37 GMT -5
Borderlands is a 2009 action role-playing first-person shooter video game developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K Games. It is the first game in the Borderlands series. It was released for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Shield Android TV.[5][6] The game was released worldwide in October 2009,[1] with the Mac OS X version being released on December 3, 2010 by Feral Interactive.[7] The game's story focuses on a group of four "Vault Hunters", who travel to the distant planet of Pandora to search for the "Vault", which is rumored to contain advanced alien technology and other priceless riches. The hunters piece together clues to find the Vault while battling the savage wildlife of Pandora and the bandits and outlaws that populate the planet, ultimately banding together to prevent the Atlas Corporation and its privately-funded paramilitary forces from reaching the Vault first.
The game features the ability to explore the in-game world, and complete both main missions and optional side quests, either in single-player or online cooperative gameplay, with the latter providing additional options for duels and competitive PVP matches in designated areas. Gameplay features include access to various weapons and shields that vary in type and statistics, weapons with special elemental functions, each playable character having distinctive class types and unique abilities for combat, upgradable skills, and the use of two-person vehicles. The game itself is rendered in cartoon-style graphics, to provide greater detail on weapons and environments, and was inspired by various action role-playing games of the time, such as Ultima and Diablo.
Considered one of the greatest video games ever made, Borderlands received critical acclaim upon its release, and sold over two million units by the end of 2009. Its success spawned four DLCs—The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned in November 2009, Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot in December 2009, The Secret Armory of General Knoxx in February 2010, and Claptrap's New Robot Revolution in September 2010—and three follow-ups, Borderlands 2 in September 2012, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel in October 2014, and Borderlands 3 in September 2019. A remastered version for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One— was released on April 3, 2019, which features graphical enhancements, and gameplay improvements backported from Borderlands 2.[8] A version for the Nintendo Switch was released alongside Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel in the Borderlands Legendary Collection for release in May 2020.
Borderlands includes character-building elements found in role-playing games, leading the developer Gearbox Software to call the game a "role-playing shooter". At the start of the game, players select one of four characters, each with a unique special skill and with proficiencies with certain weapons.[9] From then on, players take on missions assigned through non-player characters or from bounty boards, each typically rewarding the player with experience points, money, and sometimes a reward item.[9] Players earn experience by killing both human and non-human foes and completing in-game challenges (such as getting a certain number of kills using a specific type of weapon). As they gain levels from experience growth, players can then allocate skill points into a skill tree that features three distinct specializations of the base character; for example, Mordecai can become specialized in sniping, gunslinging with revolvers, or using his pet Bloodwing to assist in kills and health boosting. Players can distribute points among any of the specializations, and can also spend a small amount of in-game money to redistribute their skill points.
Players start the game with the ability to equip two weapons but later gain up to four weapon slots, as well as slots for an energy shield, a grenade modification, and a class modification. Items collected can be sold back at vendors for money that then can be used to buy better items. One of the key features of Borderlands is the randomly generated weapons and items created either as dropped by enemies, found in storage chests about the game, on the ground, sold at vendors in the game, or as quest reward items. The game uses a "Procedural Content Creation System" to create these weapons and items, which can alter their firepower, rate of fire, and accuracy, add in elemental effects such as a chance to set foes on fire or cover them in burning acid, and at rare times other special bonuses such as regenerating the player's ammo.[10] A color-coded scale is used to indicate the rarity of the weapon or item. According to Gearbox developers, the random system could generate around 16-17 million variations of weapons.[11][12] The Procedural system is also used to create the characteristic of random enemies that the player may face. This allows for enemies of the same species to have widely varying attacks: for example, variations of "spiderants" in the game could leap around and would jump onto players' faces, while another variant can roll up into a ball and attack people, depending on the content generator.[13]
When in combat, the player can take damage if their shield is depleted, affecting their health. If they lose all their health, they must either wait to be revived by another player or attempt to kill an enemy to achieve a "second wind", or otherwise will be regenerated back at the last "New-U" station that they passed, losing a 'ratio-appropriate' percentage of their money in the process. Players quickly gain access to two-passenger vehicles, and can engage in vehicular combat with other enemies. Eventually, a system of fast transit points between the game world is available to the player; until then, players must walk or drive between areas to get around.
The game can be played alone, but also supports two-player cooperative play through split-screen (on consoles), and up to four players playing cooperatively online or over LAN. The game follows the progress of the host player, rewarding the other active players for completion of quests for their characters. If the other players are doing the same quests in their campaign, the completed quests remain the same in their campaign as well as the host's. When more players are present, the game alters the statistics of the generated enemies, balancing the game due to the larger number of players. Players can take part in one-on-one duels anywhere in the game world,[14] or can visit arenas in the game world to participate in free-for-all, 2-on-2 or 3-on-1 combat battles with their fellow players.[15] The original title as shipped for Windows used GameSpy servers for multiplayer modes; as a result of GameSpy's shutdown in 2013, 2K Games patched the game and moved the servers to Steam, as well as providing Steam-versions of the game for those that purchased the title through retail channels
Borderlands is set in the distant future of 2864, at a time when various mega-corporations seek control of planets to colonise and mine for their mineral wealth and resources. Prior to the events of the game, the Atlas Corporation, one of the major mega-corporations, uncovered an ancient alien Vault filled with advanced weapons technology, allowing them to rapidly overtake their competitors. Finding similar ruins of the same alien architecture on the planet Pandora, Atlas sought to settle the planet in hopes of finding more alien technology, but were forced to abandon their plans due to a failure to find any alien technology on the surface, and being unprepared for the dangerous wildlife coming out during their stay. After their departure, the Dahl Corporation, another mega-corporation, colonized the planet to secure its vast deposits of minerals, using large amounts of convict labor for the mining operations, while initiating their own search for a Vault.
Their research team's efforts to find the Vault were headed up by Patricia Tannis, a respected xenoarchaeologist. Despite losing all of her colleagues to the planet's wildlife and being driven partially insane herself, Tannis found proof that a Vault does exist on Pandora. Her news was intercepted by Atlas, who sent its private military force, the Crimson Lance, to kidnap Tannis and get the Vault's location from her. Faced with their invasion, Dahl abandoned the planet, taking only the wealthy colonists with them, and leaving the remaining population to scavenge for a living amongst the barren wastelands and industrial trash heaps across the planet. To make matters worse, the convict labor was allowed to go free, leading them to form gangs of bandits that terrorize the local populace. Despite the circumstances, the Vault and its rewards transformed into a legend that attracts mercenary "Vault Hunters" to the planet.
Characters
There are four playable characters featured in the game for players to choose from: Brick - a large, powerful man, who operates as a Berserker; Lilith - a woman with powerful alien abilities, operating as a Siren; Mordecai - a skilled marksman with an avian companion named Bloodwing, operating as a Hunter; and Roland - a former member of the Crimson Lance, operating as a Soldier. Each character's class defines the style of weaponry they specialise in, along with the unique skill they can use - Brick can enter a rage state for increased melee strength and a short period of health regeneration; Lilith can turn invisible to enemies, moving much faster in this state, and capable of shock blasts when entering and exiting this state; Mordecai can call his companion to attack enemies in his crosshairs; and Roland can utilize an automated turret to take on enemies, and provide additional cover.
Story
Borderlands begins some time after the Dahl Corporation's abandonment of the planet Pandora. Four Vault Hunters (Brick, Lilith, Mordecai, and Roland) arrive in search of the fabled Vault. After discovering the town of Fyrestone, the Vault Hunters begin to receive psychic instructions from a mysterious woman known as the "Guardian Angel". The Vault Hunters meet a CL4P-TP or "Claptrap" robot and a doctor named Zed who help them establish a reputation by killing several bandit leaders, eventually leading to the collection of an alien artifact, being the first piece of a key needed to open the Vault. This causes Patricia Tannis, Dahl's former archaeologist still in residence on the planet, to contact the Vault Hunters, revealing that the Vault can only be accessed once every 200 years and that the time of the next opening is approaching. Tannis also explains that three more artifacts are needed to complete the Vault Key. Meanwhile, Commandant Steele of the Crimson Lance (a well-outfitted military force led by the Atlas Corporation) threatens to declare martial law and demands the Vault Key pieces.
The Vault Hunters secure the second and third pieces by following Tannis' instructions, but the final piece, supposedly in the possession of a bandit lord named Baron Flynt, turns out not to be where it was expected. Steele contacts the Vault Hunters to reveal that there are in fact only three pieces and that Tannis has betrayed and misled them. Steele then disables the planet's ECHO network, preventing further communication with the Guardian Angel and anyone else. The Vault Hunters infiltrate the Crimson Lance's headquarters and find Tannis imprisoned. She claims she was forced into betrayal and urges the Vault Hunters to restart the ECHO network and stop Steele and the Crimson Lance before they reach the Vault. After restoring the network, the Guardian Angel directs the Vault Hunters toward Steele's location. During the final approach to the Vault, the Vault Hunters encounter Crimson Lance forces already locked in combat with the Vault's alien Guardians.
The Vault Hunters finally arrive at the Vault only moments too late to stop Steele from using the Key. When the Vault opens, a giant monster emerges and wipes out Steele and the rest of her troops. The Guardian Angel explains that the monster is called the "Destroyer" and was imprisoned in the Vault long ago by the Eridians, the alien race who left behind the ruins and created the Vault, in order to prevent the destruction of the universe, and that the Guardians were posted to prevent anyone from opening it. Although the Vault Hunters kill the Destroyer, the Vault is re-sealed for another 200 years. The Guardian Angel is revealed to be transmitting her signals through a Hyperion satellite in orbit high above Pandora. The game ends with the satellite sending a signal to a Claptrap robot on the planet, changing it into an "Interplanetary Ninja Assassin" (continued in the plot of the DLC Claptrap's New Robot Revolution).
Gearbox's Randy Pitchford said that the idea of Borderlands was inspired both being an avid role-playing game (RPG) fan, including roguelikes such as NetHack and action role-playing games like Ultima and Diablo, and being drawn into first-person shooters (FPS) that he worked on in his early career, including Duke Nukem 3D.[17] He recognized that the core gameplay loops for both genres are at different time scales; whereas the core loop for a role-playing game is long in terms of leveling up characters, a shooter has a much shorter one in moving and shooting to clear out a new area. Pitchford felt these two loops were not mutually exclusive due to the different time scales, and believed some type of fusion could be made from the two genres, thus forming the basis of Borderlands.[17] Pitchford recognized this could be a risk but was not afraid to take it: in a 2017 interview, Pitchford recounted that industry analyst Michael Pachter had believed Borderlands was going to be a failure, as players that would want to play a role-playing game or a shooter would more than likely play a game dedicated to that genre instead of the hybrid. After the Borderlands series had sold more than 30 million copies, Pachter admitted to Pitchford how wrong he had been.[17]
Gearbox did not have the narrative defined at the onset of development for Borderlands, but needed to find some reason to have the player feel rewarded about killing enemies and collecting loot from them. As they developed the game further, they came to the idea of casting the player as a "vault hunter", so that looting equipment and other items would be "kind of virtuous". This led to the Pandora narrative, since the act of opening a vault or box to obtain potentially disastrous results was compared to the mythological Pandora's box.[17]
The game's development started around 2005, internally pitched as "Halo meets Diablo".[18] The initial period involved Pitchford selling his team on the idea of the FPS-RPG hybrid, and eventually determining that the FPS genre would be the defining genre for the game.[18] The game's art style was initially more realistic, with visual ideas inspired partially by the Gears of War and Mass Effect series.[18] The team expanded and prepared for releasing the game's first public reveal in September 2007 via a Game Informer cover story, with trailers to be shown in the following year's E3 and other game conventions, building atop a modified Unreal Engine 3.[18][9] Elements that were planned at the time of that cover story but that did not make the final game included procedurally generated "loot caves", and the ability to hire non-playable character mercenaries to help in combat. Further, the game initially had three Vault hunters; Brick had not been included yet, as Gearbox thought that it would be interesting in the co-op to have two or more players playing the same characters but with persistent improvements that the players had made to them.[19]
Internal teams, assembled to give Gearbox's projects a critical review, started cautioning the team that at this stage, as they felt Borderlands was beginning to look much closer to the then-recent Fallout 3 or Rage games. The realistic look, which gave much of the visuals a brown, muted color palette, clashed with some of the more fantastical elements they had included at that point, such as extraordinary jump heights and the vehicle systems.[18] By this point, the game was 75% complete and there was a target release window they wanted to reach, so scrapping major elements of the game was not an option for the studio. According to chief creative officer Brian Martel, they opted to try to find their "purple cow", some visual element that would make the game stand out and gain sales. Martel and a small team spent some time in secret to create prototype of the game using an art style similar to cel shading, fearing that if they had said anything to the other team members, there may have been discontentment among the staff.[18] Pitchford would later acknowledge that this new style was not wholly original to Gearbox and was partially inspired by Ben Hibon's short film Codehunters.[20] Hibon has stated that while he was contacted by Gearbox to possibly work on artwork for Borderlands, nothing ever came of the talks.[21] The style itself appears as cel-shaded comic book artwork, but is rendered using a combination of hand-drawn textures with engine modifications to outline major features, creating the comic book appearance.[22]
When the new style was revealed to both Gearbox and 2K Games, nearly everyone was pleased with it. However, the game's original art director was so disappointed with having her work discarded that she left the company and the video game industry all together.[18] The style was refined further with the help of a comic book artist.[18] Most of the rest of the elements of the game, such as the type and variety of enemies, were kept as is; the skill trees, initially filled with more mundane abilities, were repopulated with applies inspired by magic systems from RPGs, such as healing bullets, embracing the more extreme aspects of the game.[18] Other shortcuts were taken to complete the game in a timely manner such as reusing systems from other Gearbox games, and adjusting the narrative and setting to simplify the end product, such as having Pandora's moon in a fixed location so they could create dramatic shadows for the various levels.[18]
The change did still delay their initially planned release in 2008 into 2009, with Gearbox showing off the new style by May of that year.
Borderlands was released in three separate versions:
The Standard Edition includes the game disc and instruction manual.
The retail downloadable content packs which includes the first two episodes of Borderlands downloadable content: The Zombie Island of Doctor Ned and Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot was released on February 23, 2010, in North America.[25]
The first Game of the Year Edition, released on October 12, 2010, in North America,[26] included the original Borderlands game, one-time use vouchers for all four of the downloadable content packs, and a hand drawn bonus map. Players who bought this edition gained access to the Duke Nukem Forever First Access Club, granting them exclusive items, including early access to the Duke Nukem Forever playable demo before it was publicly released.[27] The second Game of the Year version included all 4 of the DLCs on a second disc on Xbox 360, and on the same disc on PlayStation 3.
The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned
The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned is the first installment of downloadable content (DLC) for Borderlands and includes new quests, items, and enemies—including WereSkags and various zombies.[28] The storyline takes place in an area known as Jakobs Cove which is a small town built by the Jakobs Corporation. Dr. Ned had been in charge of keeping the workers of Jakobs Cove alive, but ended up transforming them into zombies. The main plot revolves around finding previous visitors to Jakobs Cove and investigating Dr. Ned himself after the Jakobs Corporation become suspicious of his work. The playable area includes a large outdoor map with several further areas branched from the main zone—including a dark, abandoned version of previous area 'Old Haven'.[29] The installment was released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions on November 24, 2009, which was celebrated with a trailer. The PC version was released via Steam with SecuROM on December 9, 2009.[30]
Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot
Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot is the second piece of DLC for Borderlands. It features three new riot arenas (Hellburbia, the Gully, and Angelic Ruins) and storage for players' items. The plot of the DLC is Moxxi, a crazed lover who is setting out to find her 4th husband, leading her to make the arenas in the DLC. Players fight several of the game's enemies, including bosses, in arenas. No experience is gained from killing enemies in the arena battles, but experience can be gained from completing challenges or quests in the arena. New game modes are added, such as low gravity fighting, enemy health regeneration, and shieldless fighting. It was released on December 29, 2009, for the Xbox 360 and was released January 7, 2010, for the PlayStation 3 and PC.[31]
The Secret Armory of General Knoxx
The Secret Armory of General Knoxx was unofficially announced on January 21, 2010, via the official Gearbox forums, posted by Gearbox level designer Jason Reiss saying the pack will increase the level cap to level 61, and is "the biggest DLC we have made".[32] A tweet by Gearbox creative director Mike Neumann on January 21, 2010, said the pack would also include "more Scooter", who is a character in the game.[33] This was followed by an official announcement from Gearbox via Gearboxity on January 29, 2010, confirming the release, level cap increase, brand new weapons, and "brutal, never-before-seen enemies in a huge new environment complete with tons of brand new missions." The plot of this DLC revolves around Athena, a rogue agent for Atlas who is self-described as the best, a woman sick of Atlas' lies who wants to bring them to their knees, and General Knoxx (Steele's superior), a man with extreme loathing for his job to the point of literally hating his life, who is tasked to destroy Athena and the protagonist(s). Along the way you also run into Moxxi who aids the player in taking on Atlas as well (if you help her face down her ex-husband) and Scooter, who reveals he is related to Moxxi. The DLC package became available February 23 for Xbox 360, and February 25 for PlayStation 3 and PC.[34]
Claptrap's New Robot Revolution
On March 3, 2010, 2K officially announced a fourth piece of downloadable content, stating that they will "continue to support the title with more add-on content, and our approach to digital content for Borderlands gives [Take-Two] a road map for other titles going forward."[35] On July 15, 2010, General Knoxx's Twitter page was updated for the first time in months, stating that he had "new orders (sent from the future)" On July 30, 2010, Randy Pitchford, Co-founder of Gearbox Software and current CEO, announced via Twitter regarding the content "I get a LOT of questions about more DLC for Borderlands. Yes, more is coming! T2 already said so! Let's talk soon
"[36] On August 5, 2010, a long list of content that was supposedly going to be included in the content was posted on the Gearbox Forums by forum user Legendrew. The data was gathered from files in the 1.31 update for the PC version of Borderlands.[37]
On August 11, 2010, 2K confirmed the title of the content, Claptrap's New Robot Revolution, and its main premise.[38] The DLC has 21 missions (split between 9 main missions and 12 side quests), 2 new skill points, and six additional backpack slots. The game focuses around a rogue army of brainwashed Claptraps (led by CL4P-TP, Interplanetary Ninja Assassin, the same Claptrap that is seen getting struck by lightning just after the end credits of the main game) who plan to destroy humanity for their mistreatment, along with an army of familiar enemies transformed into Claptrap styles (i.e., Crab-Traps, Rakk-Traps, and Skag-Traps). A wide variety of old cast members return alongside new faces. New fast-travel destinations were also expected, a first for Borderlands DLC, but ultimately they were not included.[39] On September 5, 2010, Pitchford announced at the Penny Arcade Expo that the release date was scheduled to be September 28, 2010. Pitchford also announced a free patch to increase the level cap by 8 for all players (to a maximum of Level 69, or 58 for those without Knoxx's Armory), regardless of whether the expansion had been purchased.[40][41][42]
Game of the Year Enhanced Edition
In conjunction with the announcement of Borderlands 3 in March 2019, Gearbox announced a Game of the Year Enhanced edition of Borderlands co-developed by Blind Squirrel Games, for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows (as a free patch to the existing version of the game on Steam). In addition to 4K resolution textures and HDR support, the enhanced version backported improvements from Borderlands 2—such as replacing the compass display with a minimap, additional character customization options, and four-player split-screen multiplayer on console, as well as changes to the game's final boss fight.[43][44]
Nintendo Switch port
On March 26, 2020, Gearbox announced that the first three Borderlands games would be released for Nintendo Switch as part of Borderlands Legendary Collection on May 29, 2020
Borderlands received positive reviews. Aggregating review website Metacritic gave the Xbox 360 version 84/100,[47] the PlayStation 3 version 83/100,[46] and the PC version 81/100.[48] In late 2011, Borderlands was named 35th on IGN's Top 100 Modern Video Games list.[62]
Jeff Gerstmann from Giant Bomb gave Borderlands 4 stars out of 5, called it a successful loot-driven first-person shooter "where plenty of other Diablo-inspired games have failed miserably", but criticized the "paper-thin story" and the predictable AI.[63] Charles Onyett from IGN awarded Borderlands an 8.8/10 and an Editor's Choice Award. He noted that fans of RPGs would enjoy the streamlined item management, and treasure hunting, but criticized the lack of character skills. With "beautiful visuals, tried and true RPG mechanics, and solid first-person-shooter gameplay", Onyett felt that the game was very enjoyable.[59] RPGLand's Ivan Taran gave it a rating of "Great"[64] and the game went on to win the site's Xbox 360 Game of the Year award, and be named the Runner-up for overall Game of the Year 2009, losing out to Demon's Souls.[65]
Sales
In late August 2009, Electronic Entertainment Design and Research analyst Jesse Divnich said "Borderlands could very well surprise the market and consumers as BioShock did in 2007." By December 2009, the game had sold over 2 million copies according to Take-Two Interactive's financial report.[67] By February 2010, the number had risen to 3 million.[68] By August 2011, the game had sold 4.5 million units worldwide.[69]
The game's commercial success was enough to turn the Borderlands intellectual property into a large gaming franchise with numerous mainline sequels and even a spin-off game.
Sequels
Main article: Borderlands 2
A sequel, Borderlands 2, was announced on August 2, 2011 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows platforms. The game was also developed by Gearbox Software and distributed by Take-Two Interactive, and was released on September 18, 2012. The game features many technical improvements and follows four new Vault Hunters (six with the downloadable characters added later) on Pandora as they battle Handsome Jack and the Hyperion Corporation.
Notes
Blind Squirrel Games developed the Game of the Year Enhanced Edition.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (stylized as Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!) is an action role-playing first-person shooter video game developed by 2K Australia, with assistance from Gearbox Software and published by 2K Games. It is the third game in the Borderlands series, and is set after 2009's Borderlands and before 2012's Borderlands 2. It was released for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on 14 October 2014. PlayStation 4 and Xbox One ports were released as part of Borderlands: The Handsome Collection on 24 March 2015.
The storyline of The Pre-Sequel focuses on Jack, an employee of the Hyperion corporation; after the company's Helios space station is captured by a military unit known as the Lost Legion, he leads a group of four Vault Hunters—all of whom were non-playable characters and bosses in previous Borderlands games—on an expedition to re-gain control of Helios, defeat the Lost Legion, and find the hidden vault on Pandora's moon Elpis. The game expands upon the engine and gameplay of Borderlands 2 and introduces new gameplay mechanics, including low-gravity environments, freeze weapons, and oxygen tanks, which are used to navigate and perform ground slamming attacks.
The Pre-Sequel received positive reviews, being praised for its new gameplay features and character classes, but was criticized for its confusing level design and not providing enough significant deviations from the core mechanics and gameplay of Borderlands 2.
Gameplay in The Pre-Sequel is similar to Borderlands 2, but with the addition of new mechanics. Two varieties of items have been added, including laser guns, and items possessing a cryogenic elemental effect, which can be used to slow down and freeze enemies. Enemies that are frozen take increased damage from explosive, melee or critical attacks and are smashed into pieces when killed. The game features low-gravity environments, causing players to jump higher but slower, and items such as loot and dead bodies to float away. O2 kits are added to supply air while in space; oxygen supplies can be replenished using generators, vents, and through oxygen tank items dropped by enemies. The kits can be used like a jetpack to perform double jumps, hovering, and ground slamming attacks; as with other items, different types of O2 kits can provide stat bonuses and affect how ground slams deal damage. A new "Grinder" machine allows players to deposit combinations of existing weapons to receive one of higher rarity. Vehicles were introduced, including a Moon buggy, and the "Stingray"—a type of hoverbike.
As with Borderlands 2, completing the main campaign with a character unlocks "True Vault Hunter Mode", a second playthrough that is higher in difficulty, while beating the mode and reaching level 50 unlocks the third playthrough "Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode".
The Pre-Sequel features four playable characters, each with a different class and abilities. All four of The Pre-Sequel's protagonists were non-player characters (NPCs) or bosses in previous Borderlands games.
Athena, "the Gladiator", is a rogue assassin from the Atlas Corporation introduced in the Borderlands DLC campaign The Secret Armory of General Knoxx. As her primary skill, Athena can temporarily use a shield to absorb damage; her skill trees revolve around upgrading the shield, allowing it to be thrown at enemies, and absorb and reflect elemental damage, or towards melee attacks or elemental damage.
Nisha, "the Lawbringer", first appeared in Borderlands 2 as Handsome Jack's girlfriend and the sheriff of the town of Lynchwood. Her primary skill, "Showdown", allows her to automatically aim at enemies for a period of time, increasing gun performance for the duration. Her skill trees revolve around increasing her survivability, Showdown performance, or gun damage.[4][9][10]
Claptrap, "the Fragtrap", is the last remaining robot of its kind as of Borderlands 2; his skill "VaultHunter.exe" generates random effects depending on the current situation. These effects can have a positive or negative impact on the player and their party members; among these effects are versions of skills used by the previous playable characters in the franchise.
Wilhelm, "the Enforcer", is a mercenary who becomes increasingly augmented with technology and weaponry over the course of the game, transforming him into Jack's cybernetic minion who is fought in Borderlands 2. He can summon a pair of drones, Wolf and Saint; Wolf serves an offensive role by attacking other enemies, while Saint defends Wilhelm by providing shields and health regeneration.
Two additional playable characters have been released as downloadable content. The first character, Jack, "the Doppelganger", is a man called Timothy Lawrence working as a body double of Jack who can summon digital copies of himself to help in battle. The second, Aurelia, "the Baroness", is the sister of Sir Hammerlock who uses an experimental "Frost Diadem Shard" to deal ice elemental damage to enemies.
Multiple characters from past Borderlands titles also appear. Handsome Jack, the main antagonist of Borderlands 2, appears as a key non-playable character, with the game's story mainly centered around his descent into villainy and rise to power. Additional returning characters include Miss Mad Moxxi, Tiny Tina, Sir Hammerlock, Professor Nakayama, Crazy Earl, and Mr. Torgue. The four playable Vault Hunters from the first game, Lilith, Roland, Brick, and Mordecai, also appear in supporting roles. The Pre-Sequel's DLC includes appearances from Borderlands 2's playable Vault Hunters Gaige and Axton, Patricia Tannis, Dr. Zed, Mr. Blake, and T.K. Baha.
The Pre-Sequel begins on Sanctuary after the events of Borderlands 2 and Episode 3 of Tales from the Borderlands, where Lilith, Brick, and Mordecai interrogate the captured Athena. Athena recounts her story via flashback, starting after the death of General Knoxx, when she received an offer to find a Vault on Pandora's moon, Elpis, from a Hyperion programmer named Jack. She joins fellow Vault Hunters Claptrap, Nisha, Wilhelm, Timothy, and Aurelia on a spaceship headed for the Hyperion moon base Helios. On the way they are ambushed by the Lost Legion, an army of former Dahl marines led by Tungsteena Zarpedon, and crash-land onto Helios. After meeting up with Jack, they try to use Helios' defense system against the Lost Legion, but there is a jamming signal coming from Elpis. They attempt to escape but are stopped by Zarpedon and a mysterious alien, so Jack stays behind and sends the Vault Hunters to Elpis via a moonshot rocket.
On Elpis, the Vault Hunters are guided by the junk dealer Janey Springs to the spaceport town Concordia. There, they request help from Jack's ex-girlfriend Moxxi to disable the jamming signal. They discover that the signal was put up by the Meriff, a former subordinate of Jack who is now in charge of Concordia. Meanwhile, Zarpedon uses Helios' primary weapon, the Eye of Helios, to fire upon Elpis, intending to destroy it to stop Jack from opening the Vault. Jack kills the Meriff, then decides to build a robot army to retake Helios.
The team infiltrates a Lost Legion base run by two Dahl officers, the Bosun and the Skipper, in search of a military artificial intelligence. After defeating the Bosun, the Skipper, who renames herself Felicity, is revealed to be the A.I. they seek. The Vault Hunters travel to a robot production facility, where Jack enlists Gladstone, a Hyperion scientist, to build his army. Gladstone suggests using his prototype robot, the Constructor, which can build an infinite number of robots. Felicity agrees to become the A.I. for the Constructor, but hesitates upon witnessing the violence she has to go through. She is forced into the Constructor, but takes control of it and battles the Vault Hunters. Felicity is defeated and her personality is deleted from the Constructor.
With his robot army, Jack and the Vault Hunters travel to Helios with the aid of Moxxi and former Vault Hunters Roland and Lilith. On Helios, Jack kills Gladstone and his team of scientists, suspecting one of them to be a Lost Legion spy. The Vault Hunters defeat Zarpedon and proceed to reboot the Eye of Helios, which is revealed to be the eye of the Destroyer from the first game, turned into a weapon by Jack. Moxxi, Roland, and Lilith betray Jack and destroy the Eye to prevent him from gaining its power. Seeking revenge, Jack and the Vault Hunters travel back to Elpis, where they find its Vault already opened. They battle the Vault's alien forces and defeat its guardian, the Empyrean Sentinel.
Jack enters the Vault but finds nothing of value, other than a mysterious floating symbol. As he interacts with it, the symbol shows Jack a vision of the Warrior. However, he is interrupted by Lilith who destroys the Vault symbol, burning it onto Jack's face and disfiguring him. She teleports away, leaving a scarred and insane Jack behind, who swears vengeance on Lilith and all the "bandits" on Pandora. Seeing how low Jack has fallen, Athena leaves his employ.
After listening to Athena's story, Lilith orders the Crimson Raiders to execute her against Brick and Mordecai's protests. However, as they open fire on her, Athena is saved by the alien previously seen on Helios, revealed to be an Eridian. The Eridian warns the Vault Hunters of an imminent war, and that they will need "all the Vault Hunters they can get".
During the credits, several scenes reveal what became of the Vault Hunters afterwards. Wilhelm and Nisha join Jack; Wilhelm is transformed further into a machine and destroys the settlement of New Haven while Nisha is made Lynchwood's sheriff and hooks up with Jack; Athena discards the money given to her by Jack and leaves Elpis; Claptrap is dismantled and left for dead by Jack. In a post-credit scene, Jack, now calling himself "Handsome Jack" and wearing a synthetic mask, murders his CEO Harold Tassiter and replaces him as the new head of Hyperion.
Claptastic Voyage
The Claptastic Voyage story add-on continues shortly after Handsome Jack's takeover of Hyperion, as he discovers a secret program called the H-Source, containing all of Hyperion's secrets. However, it was hidden inside the "Fragtrap" unit by Tassiter. Jack employs his Vault Hunters once more to be digitally scanned and sent into Claptrap's mind in order to retrieve the H-Source. In the process, the Vault Hunters are tricked into releasing 5H4D0W-TP, a subroutine representing Claptrap's inner evil side, who attempts to use the H-Source for his own gains. As the group pursues 5H4D0W-TP, they delve deeper into Claptrap's mind, learning of his origin and the reasons for his quirky behavior. Eventually, the group defeats 5H4D0W-TP and retrieve the H-Source for Jack. Jack reveals his plan to use the H-Source to wipe out all existing CL4P-TP units, including Claptrap himself. All CL4P-TP units are disabled and dumped in Windshear Waste; however, 5H4D0W-TP, who still remains alive within Claptrap, sacrifices himself to revive Claptrap, allowing him to be found and saved by Sir Hammerlock.
Borderlands 2, developed by Gearbox Software and released in late 2012, was one of the most successful video games in 2K's history. Speaking in February 2013, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford stated that there were no plans for a third installment in the franchise, as the company believed that a sequel to Borderlands 2 would have to be "massive", but that "when you think of what Borderlands 3 should be... No, we don't know what that is yet. We can imagine what it must achieve, but we don't know what it is yet". The company also cited a desire to focus its attention onto new games for next-generation consoles, such as Brothers in Arms: Furious Four, Homeworld: Shipbreakers (a new game in the Homeworld franchise, which Gearbox had recently acquired in THQ's bankruptcy auction), and new properties such as Battleborn.[14] Despite this, the company still believed that they had not yet met the demands of fans, or even its own staff, in regards to the franchise (even with the overall success of Borderlands 2 and the large amount of downloadable content that had been released), prompting the creation of spin-offs such as Tales from the Borderlands, an episodic adventure game being developed by Telltale Games, and a port of Borderlands 2 for PlayStation Vita.
A few months after the release of Borderlands 2 (and shortly after it had concluded its contributions to BioShock Infinite), Gearbox began working with 2K Australia to develop a prequel to the game which would take place directly after the events of the original. The decision to make the game a prequel to Borderlands 2 was centered around a desire to use the Hyperion moonbase (a location alluded to, and visible in Borderlands 2) as a playable location; the development team felt that going to the moonbase in a sequel to Borderlands 2 would be too "boring" for players since the relevant conflict was already resolved, and because "if we're going to go to the moonbase anyway, what if we try something completely different that people aren't expecting[?]". Pitchford noted that this setting would allow the game to address plot elements and events alluded to in the first two games that were not yet completely addressed—on the possibility that the game could introduce holes in the continuity of the franchise, he joked that the franchise already contained many plot holes to begin with. He suggested that working on The Pre-Sequel could be a breakout role for 2K Australia, similar to Gearbox's own Half-Life: Opposing Force. As for the size of the game, Pitchford stated that The Pre-Sequel's playable world would be in between the size of the original and Borderlands 2.
2K Australia performed the majority of development on The Pre-Sequel, but worked in collaboration with Gearbox on certain aspects of the game. The studio also provided its writing staff—including Anthony Burch, lead writer of Borderlands 2—as a complement to 2K Australia's own writers. The engine of Borderlands 2 was used as a starting point, allowing the 2K Australia team to quickly prototype and implement features on top of the existing functionality already provided by Borderlands 2. Most of the new mechanics in the game, such as ice weaponry, were conceived by the 2K Australia team; Gearbox's developers had shown concerns that freezing weapons were illogical in comparison to the other elemental weapon types, such as incendiary and acid, but Pitchford excused their inclusion in The Pre-Sequel because cryogenic technology was more "natural" in the space-oriented setting of the game.
The four playable characters have an increased amount of dialogue in comparison to their equivalents in previous instalments; NPC dialogue can change depending on the characters present.[20] Developers also felt that The Pre-Sequel would have more diverse humour than previous installments due to the makeup of its writing staff, and a decision to portray the Moon's inhabitants as being Australians themselves, allowing for references to Australian comedy and culture, including missions referencing cricket, the folk song "Waltzing Matilda", and a talking shotgun based upon the bogan stereotype. Bruce Spence, a New Zealand actor known for his role as the Gyro Captain in Mad Max 2 (the second film in the Mad Max franchise that was cited as an influence on the setting of Borderlands as a whole), is among the game's voice actors–voicing a gyrocopter pilot in reference to his role from the film.
The Pre-Sequel would be the final video game developed by 2K Australia, as the studio was shut down on 16 April 2015
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel was released in North America on 14 October 2014. Initially, the game was not released on eighth-generation consoles such as PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. As porting The Pre-Sequel to next-generation consoles would require rebuilding the engine (and thus defeating the purpose of retaining the engine used by Borderlands 2), developers instead targeted the game to the same console platforms that previous installments in the Borderlands franchise were released for. In July 2014, 2K Australia's head Tony Lawrence stated that there was a possibility that The Pre-Sequel could be ported to next-generation consoles, gauged by fan demand and sales.[25] In August 2014, financial statements by Take-Two Interactive disclosed that a Linux port of the game was also in development; these details were confirmed by 2K in a statement to gaming news site IGN.com. The port, which was accompanied by a port of Borderlands 2 released in late-September 2014, was released for Linux through Steam.
As part of pre-release promotional efforts for the game, Gearbox began releasing Pre-Sequel-inspired character skins for Borderlands 2 in July 2014,[27] and at San Diego Comic-Con, Gearbox partnered with The Nerdist to set up a Borderlands-themed laser tag field at Petco Park during the convention.[28][29]
On 18 September 2014, an extended 10-minute trailer featuring Sir Hammerlock and Mr. Torgue was released.[30] On 30 September 2014, Pitchford confirmed that the game had gone gold.
On 20 January 2015, 2K announced that it would release a compilation of Borderlands 2 and The Pre-Sequel, Borderlands: The Handsome Collection, for PS4 and Xbox One on 24 March 2015. It includes both games and all of their respective DLC.[32] On 26 March 2020, 2K announced that both games, as well as the original Borderlands game, would be released for Nintendo Switch as part of Borderlands Legendary Collection on 29 May 2020.
Downloadable content
As with Borderlands 2, downloadable content (DLC), including new characters and story campaigns, were made for The Pre-Sequel, which can be purchased separately or together as a "Season Pass". The Shock Drop Slaughter Pit was released at launch as a pre-order exclusive.[23]
The first DLC character, released on 11 November 2014, is a body double of Handsome Jack, "the Doppelganger"; he can summon clones of himself known as "digi-Jacks" to fight alongside him. Jack's skill trees mainly focus on granting bonuses to himself, as well as his Digi-Jacks.
The first DLC campaign, The Holodome Onslaught, was released on 14 December 2014; it includes missions in the titular challenge arena, which features Athena re-telling a shortened version of the game's story to Borderlands 2's Axton and Gaige. The Holodome Onslaught DLC was received poorly by the playerbase on release. The third playthrough, "Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode", raises the character level cap to 60, and includes an additional mission that ties into Handsome Jack's presence in Tales from the Borderlands.
The second DLC character, Lady Aurelia Hammerlock, "the Baroness", was released on 27 January 2015; she is the elder sister of supporting character Sir Hammerlock. Her action skill is a homing ice shard which can cycle between enemies as they are killed by it: her skill trees provide enhancements to the shard, can increase cryo damage, and the ability to assign a teammate as her "servant"—allowing both players to benefit from bonuses granted by each other's kills.
The second DLC campaign, Claptastic Voyage and Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Pack 2, was released on 24 March 2015, coinciding with the release of The Handsome Collection. The DLC's title is a reference to the film Fantastic Voyage, which has a similar plotline involving miniaturisation and travel through a body. It features the player characters being sent into the mind of Claptrap by Handsome Jack to retrieve a mysterious piece of software known as the "H-Source", hidden within it by Hyperion's former CEO Harold Tassiter, resulting in the release of Shadowtrap, the digital manifestation of Claptrap's FR4G-TP program. The story also features the CL4P-TP genocide and a deeper look into Claptrap's depression. 2K Australia's creative director Jonathan Pelling cited Fantastic Voyage, Tron, and the holodeck of Star Trek as influences on the campaign, explaining that "We thought the best way to get to know Claptrap a little bit more was to actually go inside his mind and see what he thinks. To get those perspectives, recover those memories, and dig through his dirty laundry." The DLC also raises the character level cap to 70, and feature a customisable challenge arena.
On 28 March 2019, Gearbox announced that 4K support for PC and the Handsome Collection ports (on PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X) would be released on 3 April 2019.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel received positive reviews from critics. Aggregating review website Metacritic gave the PlayStation 3 version 77/100 based on 24 reviews, the Microsoft Windows version 75/100 based on 55 reviews[44] and the Xbox 360 version 74/100 based on 16 reviews.
Daniel Bloodworth from GameTrailers gave the game an 8.4/10. He praised the characters and the new gameplay mechanics introduced in The Pre-Sequel. He ended the review by saying that "new playable characters are worth exploring and the tweaks to the formula have an impact across the entire breadth of the game."[52] David Roberts from GamesRadar gave the game an 8/10, praising its diverse character classes, hilarious writing and the core combat which he stated, "has maintained the series' weird, satisfying mix of anarchic, tactical gunplay and compulsive RPG overtones". However, he criticised the weak story, as well as non-drastic changes when compared with Borderlands 2. He described the general experience as "a hilarious, fan-focused continuation of the series' core values, but lacking any true evolution, which made it a fun diversion rather than a meaningful new chapter."
Vince Ingenito from IGN gave the game an 8/10. He praised the gearing options and the low-gravity mechanics, which made the game "a fresh experience". He also praised the entertaining Jack-focused story, but criticised its poor pacing.[54] Jessica Conditt from Joystiq gave the game a 7/10, praising its new gameplay mechanics, well-defined classes, as well as the interesting and comedic bosses encountered and unique environments, but criticising the confusing level design, frustrating death and predictable missions which lack variety. Evan Lahti from PCGamer gave the game a 77/100, praising its new gameplay features, which he stated had brought novelty and a gracefulness to Borderlands' combat, but criticising the mission design, which seldom made use of the gameplay mechanics introduced in Pre-Sequel. He stated that "The Pre-Sequel feels like a super-sized Borderlands 2 DLC. While the new setting, classes, and weapon types reinvigorate the experience, The Pre-Sequel doesn't deviate much from the feel and format of Borderlands 2."
Darren Nakamura from Destructoid gave the game a 6/10, praising its fast yet tactical combat, but criticising the disappointing ending, number of bugs, as well as boring and uninteresting environmental art direction, but he still summarised the game as a "solid entry to the series."[47] Jim Sterling from The Escapist gave the game an 8/10. He praised the combination of weapons with the use of the Grinder, a new machine introduced in The Pre-Sequel, as well as the new vehicles available, but criticised the map design, frustrating encounters with enemies, as well as being too similar to the previous installments.[7] Adam Beck from Hardcore Gamer gave the game a 2.5/5, criticising its bugs, loot system, script, campaign, world design and performance of characters. He summarised the game as "an unpolished, uninspired adventure where fun can be had with friends, but that time could be better spent elsewhere."
IGN gave the Claptastic Voyage campaign an 8.4 out of 10, praising it for its "whimsical" setting, new mechanics, making better use of the anti-gravity mechanics that were introduced by The Pre-Sequel, and for not containing the "excessive backtracking and pacing problems" faced by the game's main storyline. Ingenito concluded that it "[still] doesn't quite match the towering success of Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep for Borderlands 2, but it still handily sets a high watermark for The Pre-Sequel. It's lean and focused in a way the main game it belongs to sometimes wasn't, and yet it still feels substantial and complete.
The game features the ability to explore the in-game world, and complete both main missions and optional side quests, either in single-player or online cooperative gameplay, with the latter providing additional options for duels and competitive PVP matches in designated areas. Gameplay features include access to various weapons and shields that vary in type and statistics, weapons with special elemental functions, each playable character having distinctive class types and unique abilities for combat, upgradable skills, and the use of two-person vehicles. The game itself is rendered in cartoon-style graphics, to provide greater detail on weapons and environments, and was inspired by various action role-playing games of the time, such as Ultima and Diablo.
Considered one of the greatest video games ever made, Borderlands received critical acclaim upon its release, and sold over two million units by the end of 2009. Its success spawned four DLCs—The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned in November 2009, Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot in December 2009, The Secret Armory of General Knoxx in February 2010, and Claptrap's New Robot Revolution in September 2010—and three follow-ups, Borderlands 2 in September 2012, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel in October 2014, and Borderlands 3 in September 2019. A remastered version for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One— was released on April 3, 2019, which features graphical enhancements, and gameplay improvements backported from Borderlands 2.[8] A version for the Nintendo Switch was released alongside Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel in the Borderlands Legendary Collection for release in May 2020.
Borderlands includes character-building elements found in role-playing games, leading the developer Gearbox Software to call the game a "role-playing shooter". At the start of the game, players select one of four characters, each with a unique special skill and with proficiencies with certain weapons.[9] From then on, players take on missions assigned through non-player characters or from bounty boards, each typically rewarding the player with experience points, money, and sometimes a reward item.[9] Players earn experience by killing both human and non-human foes and completing in-game challenges (such as getting a certain number of kills using a specific type of weapon). As they gain levels from experience growth, players can then allocate skill points into a skill tree that features three distinct specializations of the base character; for example, Mordecai can become specialized in sniping, gunslinging with revolvers, or using his pet Bloodwing to assist in kills and health boosting. Players can distribute points among any of the specializations, and can also spend a small amount of in-game money to redistribute their skill points.
Players start the game with the ability to equip two weapons but later gain up to four weapon slots, as well as slots for an energy shield, a grenade modification, and a class modification. Items collected can be sold back at vendors for money that then can be used to buy better items. One of the key features of Borderlands is the randomly generated weapons and items created either as dropped by enemies, found in storage chests about the game, on the ground, sold at vendors in the game, or as quest reward items. The game uses a "Procedural Content Creation System" to create these weapons and items, which can alter their firepower, rate of fire, and accuracy, add in elemental effects such as a chance to set foes on fire or cover them in burning acid, and at rare times other special bonuses such as regenerating the player's ammo.[10] A color-coded scale is used to indicate the rarity of the weapon or item. According to Gearbox developers, the random system could generate around 16-17 million variations of weapons.[11][12] The Procedural system is also used to create the characteristic of random enemies that the player may face. This allows for enemies of the same species to have widely varying attacks: for example, variations of "spiderants" in the game could leap around and would jump onto players' faces, while another variant can roll up into a ball and attack people, depending on the content generator.[13]
When in combat, the player can take damage if their shield is depleted, affecting their health. If they lose all their health, they must either wait to be revived by another player or attempt to kill an enemy to achieve a "second wind", or otherwise will be regenerated back at the last "New-U" station that they passed, losing a 'ratio-appropriate' percentage of their money in the process. Players quickly gain access to two-passenger vehicles, and can engage in vehicular combat with other enemies. Eventually, a system of fast transit points between the game world is available to the player; until then, players must walk or drive between areas to get around.
The game can be played alone, but also supports two-player cooperative play through split-screen (on consoles), and up to four players playing cooperatively online or over LAN. The game follows the progress of the host player, rewarding the other active players for completion of quests for their characters. If the other players are doing the same quests in their campaign, the completed quests remain the same in their campaign as well as the host's. When more players are present, the game alters the statistics of the generated enemies, balancing the game due to the larger number of players. Players can take part in one-on-one duels anywhere in the game world,[14] or can visit arenas in the game world to participate in free-for-all, 2-on-2 or 3-on-1 combat battles with their fellow players.[15] The original title as shipped for Windows used GameSpy servers for multiplayer modes; as a result of GameSpy's shutdown in 2013, 2K Games patched the game and moved the servers to Steam, as well as providing Steam-versions of the game for those that purchased the title through retail channels
Borderlands is set in the distant future of 2864, at a time when various mega-corporations seek control of planets to colonise and mine for their mineral wealth and resources. Prior to the events of the game, the Atlas Corporation, one of the major mega-corporations, uncovered an ancient alien Vault filled with advanced weapons technology, allowing them to rapidly overtake their competitors. Finding similar ruins of the same alien architecture on the planet Pandora, Atlas sought to settle the planet in hopes of finding more alien technology, but were forced to abandon their plans due to a failure to find any alien technology on the surface, and being unprepared for the dangerous wildlife coming out during their stay. After their departure, the Dahl Corporation, another mega-corporation, colonized the planet to secure its vast deposits of minerals, using large amounts of convict labor for the mining operations, while initiating their own search for a Vault.
Their research team's efforts to find the Vault were headed up by Patricia Tannis, a respected xenoarchaeologist. Despite losing all of her colleagues to the planet's wildlife and being driven partially insane herself, Tannis found proof that a Vault does exist on Pandora. Her news was intercepted by Atlas, who sent its private military force, the Crimson Lance, to kidnap Tannis and get the Vault's location from her. Faced with their invasion, Dahl abandoned the planet, taking only the wealthy colonists with them, and leaving the remaining population to scavenge for a living amongst the barren wastelands and industrial trash heaps across the planet. To make matters worse, the convict labor was allowed to go free, leading them to form gangs of bandits that terrorize the local populace. Despite the circumstances, the Vault and its rewards transformed into a legend that attracts mercenary "Vault Hunters" to the planet.
Characters
There are four playable characters featured in the game for players to choose from: Brick - a large, powerful man, who operates as a Berserker; Lilith - a woman with powerful alien abilities, operating as a Siren; Mordecai - a skilled marksman with an avian companion named Bloodwing, operating as a Hunter; and Roland - a former member of the Crimson Lance, operating as a Soldier. Each character's class defines the style of weaponry they specialise in, along with the unique skill they can use - Brick can enter a rage state for increased melee strength and a short period of health regeneration; Lilith can turn invisible to enemies, moving much faster in this state, and capable of shock blasts when entering and exiting this state; Mordecai can call his companion to attack enemies in his crosshairs; and Roland can utilize an automated turret to take on enemies, and provide additional cover.
Story
Borderlands begins some time after the Dahl Corporation's abandonment of the planet Pandora. Four Vault Hunters (Brick, Lilith, Mordecai, and Roland) arrive in search of the fabled Vault. After discovering the town of Fyrestone, the Vault Hunters begin to receive psychic instructions from a mysterious woman known as the "Guardian Angel". The Vault Hunters meet a CL4P-TP or "Claptrap" robot and a doctor named Zed who help them establish a reputation by killing several bandit leaders, eventually leading to the collection of an alien artifact, being the first piece of a key needed to open the Vault. This causes Patricia Tannis, Dahl's former archaeologist still in residence on the planet, to contact the Vault Hunters, revealing that the Vault can only be accessed once every 200 years and that the time of the next opening is approaching. Tannis also explains that three more artifacts are needed to complete the Vault Key. Meanwhile, Commandant Steele of the Crimson Lance (a well-outfitted military force led by the Atlas Corporation) threatens to declare martial law and demands the Vault Key pieces.
The Vault Hunters secure the second and third pieces by following Tannis' instructions, but the final piece, supposedly in the possession of a bandit lord named Baron Flynt, turns out not to be where it was expected. Steele contacts the Vault Hunters to reveal that there are in fact only three pieces and that Tannis has betrayed and misled them. Steele then disables the planet's ECHO network, preventing further communication with the Guardian Angel and anyone else. The Vault Hunters infiltrate the Crimson Lance's headquarters and find Tannis imprisoned. She claims she was forced into betrayal and urges the Vault Hunters to restart the ECHO network and stop Steele and the Crimson Lance before they reach the Vault. After restoring the network, the Guardian Angel directs the Vault Hunters toward Steele's location. During the final approach to the Vault, the Vault Hunters encounter Crimson Lance forces already locked in combat with the Vault's alien Guardians.
The Vault Hunters finally arrive at the Vault only moments too late to stop Steele from using the Key. When the Vault opens, a giant monster emerges and wipes out Steele and the rest of her troops. The Guardian Angel explains that the monster is called the "Destroyer" and was imprisoned in the Vault long ago by the Eridians, the alien race who left behind the ruins and created the Vault, in order to prevent the destruction of the universe, and that the Guardians were posted to prevent anyone from opening it. Although the Vault Hunters kill the Destroyer, the Vault is re-sealed for another 200 years. The Guardian Angel is revealed to be transmitting her signals through a Hyperion satellite in orbit high above Pandora. The game ends with the satellite sending a signal to a Claptrap robot on the planet, changing it into an "Interplanetary Ninja Assassin" (continued in the plot of the DLC Claptrap's New Robot Revolution).
Gearbox's Randy Pitchford said that the idea of Borderlands was inspired both being an avid role-playing game (RPG) fan, including roguelikes such as NetHack and action role-playing games like Ultima and Diablo, and being drawn into first-person shooters (FPS) that he worked on in his early career, including Duke Nukem 3D.[17] He recognized that the core gameplay loops for both genres are at different time scales; whereas the core loop for a role-playing game is long in terms of leveling up characters, a shooter has a much shorter one in moving and shooting to clear out a new area. Pitchford felt these two loops were not mutually exclusive due to the different time scales, and believed some type of fusion could be made from the two genres, thus forming the basis of Borderlands.[17] Pitchford recognized this could be a risk but was not afraid to take it: in a 2017 interview, Pitchford recounted that industry analyst Michael Pachter had believed Borderlands was going to be a failure, as players that would want to play a role-playing game or a shooter would more than likely play a game dedicated to that genre instead of the hybrid. After the Borderlands series had sold more than 30 million copies, Pachter admitted to Pitchford how wrong he had been.[17]
Gearbox did not have the narrative defined at the onset of development for Borderlands, but needed to find some reason to have the player feel rewarded about killing enemies and collecting loot from them. As they developed the game further, they came to the idea of casting the player as a "vault hunter", so that looting equipment and other items would be "kind of virtuous". This led to the Pandora narrative, since the act of opening a vault or box to obtain potentially disastrous results was compared to the mythological Pandora's box.[17]
The game's development started around 2005, internally pitched as "Halo meets Diablo".[18] The initial period involved Pitchford selling his team on the idea of the FPS-RPG hybrid, and eventually determining that the FPS genre would be the defining genre for the game.[18] The game's art style was initially more realistic, with visual ideas inspired partially by the Gears of War and Mass Effect series.[18] The team expanded and prepared for releasing the game's first public reveal in September 2007 via a Game Informer cover story, with trailers to be shown in the following year's E3 and other game conventions, building atop a modified Unreal Engine 3.[18][9] Elements that were planned at the time of that cover story but that did not make the final game included procedurally generated "loot caves", and the ability to hire non-playable character mercenaries to help in combat. Further, the game initially had three Vault hunters; Brick had not been included yet, as Gearbox thought that it would be interesting in the co-op to have two or more players playing the same characters but with persistent improvements that the players had made to them.[19]
Internal teams, assembled to give Gearbox's projects a critical review, started cautioning the team that at this stage, as they felt Borderlands was beginning to look much closer to the then-recent Fallout 3 or Rage games. The realistic look, which gave much of the visuals a brown, muted color palette, clashed with some of the more fantastical elements they had included at that point, such as extraordinary jump heights and the vehicle systems.[18] By this point, the game was 75% complete and there was a target release window they wanted to reach, so scrapping major elements of the game was not an option for the studio. According to chief creative officer Brian Martel, they opted to try to find their "purple cow", some visual element that would make the game stand out and gain sales. Martel and a small team spent some time in secret to create prototype of the game using an art style similar to cel shading, fearing that if they had said anything to the other team members, there may have been discontentment among the staff.[18] Pitchford would later acknowledge that this new style was not wholly original to Gearbox and was partially inspired by Ben Hibon's short film Codehunters.[20] Hibon has stated that while he was contacted by Gearbox to possibly work on artwork for Borderlands, nothing ever came of the talks.[21] The style itself appears as cel-shaded comic book artwork, but is rendered using a combination of hand-drawn textures with engine modifications to outline major features, creating the comic book appearance.[22]
When the new style was revealed to both Gearbox and 2K Games, nearly everyone was pleased with it. However, the game's original art director was so disappointed with having her work discarded that she left the company and the video game industry all together.[18] The style was refined further with the help of a comic book artist.[18] Most of the rest of the elements of the game, such as the type and variety of enemies, were kept as is; the skill trees, initially filled with more mundane abilities, were repopulated with applies inspired by magic systems from RPGs, such as healing bullets, embracing the more extreme aspects of the game.[18] Other shortcuts were taken to complete the game in a timely manner such as reusing systems from other Gearbox games, and adjusting the narrative and setting to simplify the end product, such as having Pandora's moon in a fixed location so they could create dramatic shadows for the various levels.[18]
The change did still delay their initially planned release in 2008 into 2009, with Gearbox showing off the new style by May of that year.
Borderlands was released in three separate versions:
The Standard Edition includes the game disc and instruction manual.
The retail downloadable content packs which includes the first two episodes of Borderlands downloadable content: The Zombie Island of Doctor Ned and Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot was released on February 23, 2010, in North America.[25]
The first Game of the Year Edition, released on October 12, 2010, in North America,[26] included the original Borderlands game, one-time use vouchers for all four of the downloadable content packs, and a hand drawn bonus map. Players who bought this edition gained access to the Duke Nukem Forever First Access Club, granting them exclusive items, including early access to the Duke Nukem Forever playable demo before it was publicly released.[27] The second Game of the Year version included all 4 of the DLCs on a second disc on Xbox 360, and on the same disc on PlayStation 3.
The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned
The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned is the first installment of downloadable content (DLC) for Borderlands and includes new quests, items, and enemies—including WereSkags and various zombies.[28] The storyline takes place in an area known as Jakobs Cove which is a small town built by the Jakobs Corporation. Dr. Ned had been in charge of keeping the workers of Jakobs Cove alive, but ended up transforming them into zombies. The main plot revolves around finding previous visitors to Jakobs Cove and investigating Dr. Ned himself after the Jakobs Corporation become suspicious of his work. The playable area includes a large outdoor map with several further areas branched from the main zone—including a dark, abandoned version of previous area 'Old Haven'.[29] The installment was released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions on November 24, 2009, which was celebrated with a trailer. The PC version was released via Steam with SecuROM on December 9, 2009.[30]
Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot
Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot is the second piece of DLC for Borderlands. It features three new riot arenas (Hellburbia, the Gully, and Angelic Ruins) and storage for players' items. The plot of the DLC is Moxxi, a crazed lover who is setting out to find her 4th husband, leading her to make the arenas in the DLC. Players fight several of the game's enemies, including bosses, in arenas. No experience is gained from killing enemies in the arena battles, but experience can be gained from completing challenges or quests in the arena. New game modes are added, such as low gravity fighting, enemy health regeneration, and shieldless fighting. It was released on December 29, 2009, for the Xbox 360 and was released January 7, 2010, for the PlayStation 3 and PC.[31]
The Secret Armory of General Knoxx
The Secret Armory of General Knoxx was unofficially announced on January 21, 2010, via the official Gearbox forums, posted by Gearbox level designer Jason Reiss saying the pack will increase the level cap to level 61, and is "the biggest DLC we have made".[32] A tweet by Gearbox creative director Mike Neumann on January 21, 2010, said the pack would also include "more Scooter", who is a character in the game.[33] This was followed by an official announcement from Gearbox via Gearboxity on January 29, 2010, confirming the release, level cap increase, brand new weapons, and "brutal, never-before-seen enemies in a huge new environment complete with tons of brand new missions." The plot of this DLC revolves around Athena, a rogue agent for Atlas who is self-described as the best, a woman sick of Atlas' lies who wants to bring them to their knees, and General Knoxx (Steele's superior), a man with extreme loathing for his job to the point of literally hating his life, who is tasked to destroy Athena and the protagonist(s). Along the way you also run into Moxxi who aids the player in taking on Atlas as well (if you help her face down her ex-husband) and Scooter, who reveals he is related to Moxxi. The DLC package became available February 23 for Xbox 360, and February 25 for PlayStation 3 and PC.[34]
Claptrap's New Robot Revolution
On March 3, 2010, 2K officially announced a fourth piece of downloadable content, stating that they will "continue to support the title with more add-on content, and our approach to digital content for Borderlands gives [Take-Two] a road map for other titles going forward."[35] On July 15, 2010, General Knoxx's Twitter page was updated for the first time in months, stating that he had "new orders (sent from the future)" On July 30, 2010, Randy Pitchford, Co-founder of Gearbox Software and current CEO, announced via Twitter regarding the content "I get a LOT of questions about more DLC for Borderlands. Yes, more is coming! T2 already said so! Let's talk soon
"[36] On August 5, 2010, a long list of content that was supposedly going to be included in the content was posted on the Gearbox Forums by forum user Legendrew. The data was gathered from files in the 1.31 update for the PC version of Borderlands.[37]On August 11, 2010, 2K confirmed the title of the content, Claptrap's New Robot Revolution, and its main premise.[38] The DLC has 21 missions (split between 9 main missions and 12 side quests), 2 new skill points, and six additional backpack slots. The game focuses around a rogue army of brainwashed Claptraps (led by CL4P-TP, Interplanetary Ninja Assassin, the same Claptrap that is seen getting struck by lightning just after the end credits of the main game) who plan to destroy humanity for their mistreatment, along with an army of familiar enemies transformed into Claptrap styles (i.e., Crab-Traps, Rakk-Traps, and Skag-Traps). A wide variety of old cast members return alongside new faces. New fast-travel destinations were also expected, a first for Borderlands DLC, but ultimately they were not included.[39] On September 5, 2010, Pitchford announced at the Penny Arcade Expo that the release date was scheduled to be September 28, 2010. Pitchford also announced a free patch to increase the level cap by 8 for all players (to a maximum of Level 69, or 58 for those without Knoxx's Armory), regardless of whether the expansion had been purchased.[40][41][42]
Game of the Year Enhanced Edition
In conjunction with the announcement of Borderlands 3 in March 2019, Gearbox announced a Game of the Year Enhanced edition of Borderlands co-developed by Blind Squirrel Games, for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows (as a free patch to the existing version of the game on Steam). In addition to 4K resolution textures and HDR support, the enhanced version backported improvements from Borderlands 2—such as replacing the compass display with a minimap, additional character customization options, and four-player split-screen multiplayer on console, as well as changes to the game's final boss fight.[43][44]
Nintendo Switch port
On March 26, 2020, Gearbox announced that the first three Borderlands games would be released for Nintendo Switch as part of Borderlands Legendary Collection on May 29, 2020
Borderlands received positive reviews. Aggregating review website Metacritic gave the Xbox 360 version 84/100,[47] the PlayStation 3 version 83/100,[46] and the PC version 81/100.[48] In late 2011, Borderlands was named 35th on IGN's Top 100 Modern Video Games list.[62]
Jeff Gerstmann from Giant Bomb gave Borderlands 4 stars out of 5, called it a successful loot-driven first-person shooter "where plenty of other Diablo-inspired games have failed miserably", but criticized the "paper-thin story" and the predictable AI.[63] Charles Onyett from IGN awarded Borderlands an 8.8/10 and an Editor's Choice Award. He noted that fans of RPGs would enjoy the streamlined item management, and treasure hunting, but criticized the lack of character skills. With "beautiful visuals, tried and true RPG mechanics, and solid first-person-shooter gameplay", Onyett felt that the game was very enjoyable.[59] RPGLand's Ivan Taran gave it a rating of "Great"[64] and the game went on to win the site's Xbox 360 Game of the Year award, and be named the Runner-up for overall Game of the Year 2009, losing out to Demon's Souls.[65]
Sales
In late August 2009, Electronic Entertainment Design and Research analyst Jesse Divnich said "Borderlands could very well surprise the market and consumers as BioShock did in 2007." By December 2009, the game had sold over 2 million copies according to Take-Two Interactive's financial report.[67] By February 2010, the number had risen to 3 million.[68] By August 2011, the game had sold 4.5 million units worldwide.[69]
The game's commercial success was enough to turn the Borderlands intellectual property into a large gaming franchise with numerous mainline sequels and even a spin-off game.
Sequels
Main article: Borderlands 2
A sequel, Borderlands 2, was announced on August 2, 2011 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows platforms. The game was also developed by Gearbox Software and distributed by Take-Two Interactive, and was released on September 18, 2012. The game features many technical improvements and follows four new Vault Hunters (six with the downloadable characters added later) on Pandora as they battle Handsome Jack and the Hyperion Corporation.
Notes
Blind Squirrel Games developed the Game of the Year Enhanced Edition.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (stylized as Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!) is an action role-playing first-person shooter video game developed by 2K Australia, with assistance from Gearbox Software and published by 2K Games. It is the third game in the Borderlands series, and is set after 2009's Borderlands and before 2012's Borderlands 2. It was released for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on 14 October 2014. PlayStation 4 and Xbox One ports were released as part of Borderlands: The Handsome Collection on 24 March 2015.
The storyline of The Pre-Sequel focuses on Jack, an employee of the Hyperion corporation; after the company's Helios space station is captured by a military unit known as the Lost Legion, he leads a group of four Vault Hunters—all of whom were non-playable characters and bosses in previous Borderlands games—on an expedition to re-gain control of Helios, defeat the Lost Legion, and find the hidden vault on Pandora's moon Elpis. The game expands upon the engine and gameplay of Borderlands 2 and introduces new gameplay mechanics, including low-gravity environments, freeze weapons, and oxygen tanks, which are used to navigate and perform ground slamming attacks.
The Pre-Sequel received positive reviews, being praised for its new gameplay features and character classes, but was criticized for its confusing level design and not providing enough significant deviations from the core mechanics and gameplay of Borderlands 2.
Gameplay in The Pre-Sequel is similar to Borderlands 2, but with the addition of new mechanics. Two varieties of items have been added, including laser guns, and items possessing a cryogenic elemental effect, which can be used to slow down and freeze enemies. Enemies that are frozen take increased damage from explosive, melee or critical attacks and are smashed into pieces when killed. The game features low-gravity environments, causing players to jump higher but slower, and items such as loot and dead bodies to float away. O2 kits are added to supply air while in space; oxygen supplies can be replenished using generators, vents, and through oxygen tank items dropped by enemies. The kits can be used like a jetpack to perform double jumps, hovering, and ground slamming attacks; as with other items, different types of O2 kits can provide stat bonuses and affect how ground slams deal damage. A new "Grinder" machine allows players to deposit combinations of existing weapons to receive one of higher rarity. Vehicles were introduced, including a Moon buggy, and the "Stingray"—a type of hoverbike.
As with Borderlands 2, completing the main campaign with a character unlocks "True Vault Hunter Mode", a second playthrough that is higher in difficulty, while beating the mode and reaching level 50 unlocks the third playthrough "Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode".
The Pre-Sequel features four playable characters, each with a different class and abilities. All four of The Pre-Sequel's protagonists were non-player characters (NPCs) or bosses in previous Borderlands games.
Athena, "the Gladiator", is a rogue assassin from the Atlas Corporation introduced in the Borderlands DLC campaign The Secret Armory of General Knoxx. As her primary skill, Athena can temporarily use a shield to absorb damage; her skill trees revolve around upgrading the shield, allowing it to be thrown at enemies, and absorb and reflect elemental damage, or towards melee attacks or elemental damage.
Nisha, "the Lawbringer", first appeared in Borderlands 2 as Handsome Jack's girlfriend and the sheriff of the town of Lynchwood. Her primary skill, "Showdown", allows her to automatically aim at enemies for a period of time, increasing gun performance for the duration. Her skill trees revolve around increasing her survivability, Showdown performance, or gun damage.[4][9][10]
Claptrap, "the Fragtrap", is the last remaining robot of its kind as of Borderlands 2; his skill "VaultHunter.exe" generates random effects depending on the current situation. These effects can have a positive or negative impact on the player and their party members; among these effects are versions of skills used by the previous playable characters in the franchise.
Wilhelm, "the Enforcer", is a mercenary who becomes increasingly augmented with technology and weaponry over the course of the game, transforming him into Jack's cybernetic minion who is fought in Borderlands 2. He can summon a pair of drones, Wolf and Saint; Wolf serves an offensive role by attacking other enemies, while Saint defends Wilhelm by providing shields and health regeneration.
Two additional playable characters have been released as downloadable content. The first character, Jack, "the Doppelganger", is a man called Timothy Lawrence working as a body double of Jack who can summon digital copies of himself to help in battle. The second, Aurelia, "the Baroness", is the sister of Sir Hammerlock who uses an experimental "Frost Diadem Shard" to deal ice elemental damage to enemies.
Multiple characters from past Borderlands titles also appear. Handsome Jack, the main antagonist of Borderlands 2, appears as a key non-playable character, with the game's story mainly centered around his descent into villainy and rise to power. Additional returning characters include Miss Mad Moxxi, Tiny Tina, Sir Hammerlock, Professor Nakayama, Crazy Earl, and Mr. Torgue. The four playable Vault Hunters from the first game, Lilith, Roland, Brick, and Mordecai, also appear in supporting roles. The Pre-Sequel's DLC includes appearances from Borderlands 2's playable Vault Hunters Gaige and Axton, Patricia Tannis, Dr. Zed, Mr. Blake, and T.K. Baha.
The Pre-Sequel begins on Sanctuary after the events of Borderlands 2 and Episode 3 of Tales from the Borderlands, where Lilith, Brick, and Mordecai interrogate the captured Athena. Athena recounts her story via flashback, starting after the death of General Knoxx, when she received an offer to find a Vault on Pandora's moon, Elpis, from a Hyperion programmer named Jack. She joins fellow Vault Hunters Claptrap, Nisha, Wilhelm, Timothy, and Aurelia on a spaceship headed for the Hyperion moon base Helios. On the way they are ambushed by the Lost Legion, an army of former Dahl marines led by Tungsteena Zarpedon, and crash-land onto Helios. After meeting up with Jack, they try to use Helios' defense system against the Lost Legion, but there is a jamming signal coming from Elpis. They attempt to escape but are stopped by Zarpedon and a mysterious alien, so Jack stays behind and sends the Vault Hunters to Elpis via a moonshot rocket.
On Elpis, the Vault Hunters are guided by the junk dealer Janey Springs to the spaceport town Concordia. There, they request help from Jack's ex-girlfriend Moxxi to disable the jamming signal. They discover that the signal was put up by the Meriff, a former subordinate of Jack who is now in charge of Concordia. Meanwhile, Zarpedon uses Helios' primary weapon, the Eye of Helios, to fire upon Elpis, intending to destroy it to stop Jack from opening the Vault. Jack kills the Meriff, then decides to build a robot army to retake Helios.
The team infiltrates a Lost Legion base run by two Dahl officers, the Bosun and the Skipper, in search of a military artificial intelligence. After defeating the Bosun, the Skipper, who renames herself Felicity, is revealed to be the A.I. they seek. The Vault Hunters travel to a robot production facility, where Jack enlists Gladstone, a Hyperion scientist, to build his army. Gladstone suggests using his prototype robot, the Constructor, which can build an infinite number of robots. Felicity agrees to become the A.I. for the Constructor, but hesitates upon witnessing the violence she has to go through. She is forced into the Constructor, but takes control of it and battles the Vault Hunters. Felicity is defeated and her personality is deleted from the Constructor.
With his robot army, Jack and the Vault Hunters travel to Helios with the aid of Moxxi and former Vault Hunters Roland and Lilith. On Helios, Jack kills Gladstone and his team of scientists, suspecting one of them to be a Lost Legion spy. The Vault Hunters defeat Zarpedon and proceed to reboot the Eye of Helios, which is revealed to be the eye of the Destroyer from the first game, turned into a weapon by Jack. Moxxi, Roland, and Lilith betray Jack and destroy the Eye to prevent him from gaining its power. Seeking revenge, Jack and the Vault Hunters travel back to Elpis, where they find its Vault already opened. They battle the Vault's alien forces and defeat its guardian, the Empyrean Sentinel.
Jack enters the Vault but finds nothing of value, other than a mysterious floating symbol. As he interacts with it, the symbol shows Jack a vision of the Warrior. However, he is interrupted by Lilith who destroys the Vault symbol, burning it onto Jack's face and disfiguring him. She teleports away, leaving a scarred and insane Jack behind, who swears vengeance on Lilith and all the "bandits" on Pandora. Seeing how low Jack has fallen, Athena leaves his employ.
After listening to Athena's story, Lilith orders the Crimson Raiders to execute her against Brick and Mordecai's protests. However, as they open fire on her, Athena is saved by the alien previously seen on Helios, revealed to be an Eridian. The Eridian warns the Vault Hunters of an imminent war, and that they will need "all the Vault Hunters they can get".
During the credits, several scenes reveal what became of the Vault Hunters afterwards. Wilhelm and Nisha join Jack; Wilhelm is transformed further into a machine and destroys the settlement of New Haven while Nisha is made Lynchwood's sheriff and hooks up with Jack; Athena discards the money given to her by Jack and leaves Elpis; Claptrap is dismantled and left for dead by Jack. In a post-credit scene, Jack, now calling himself "Handsome Jack" and wearing a synthetic mask, murders his CEO Harold Tassiter and replaces him as the new head of Hyperion.
Claptastic Voyage
The Claptastic Voyage story add-on continues shortly after Handsome Jack's takeover of Hyperion, as he discovers a secret program called the H-Source, containing all of Hyperion's secrets. However, it was hidden inside the "Fragtrap" unit by Tassiter. Jack employs his Vault Hunters once more to be digitally scanned and sent into Claptrap's mind in order to retrieve the H-Source. In the process, the Vault Hunters are tricked into releasing 5H4D0W-TP, a subroutine representing Claptrap's inner evil side, who attempts to use the H-Source for his own gains. As the group pursues 5H4D0W-TP, they delve deeper into Claptrap's mind, learning of his origin and the reasons for his quirky behavior. Eventually, the group defeats 5H4D0W-TP and retrieve the H-Source for Jack. Jack reveals his plan to use the H-Source to wipe out all existing CL4P-TP units, including Claptrap himself. All CL4P-TP units are disabled and dumped in Windshear Waste; however, 5H4D0W-TP, who still remains alive within Claptrap, sacrifices himself to revive Claptrap, allowing him to be found and saved by Sir Hammerlock.
Borderlands 2, developed by Gearbox Software and released in late 2012, was one of the most successful video games in 2K's history. Speaking in February 2013, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford stated that there were no plans for a third installment in the franchise, as the company believed that a sequel to Borderlands 2 would have to be "massive", but that "when you think of what Borderlands 3 should be... No, we don't know what that is yet. We can imagine what it must achieve, but we don't know what it is yet". The company also cited a desire to focus its attention onto new games for next-generation consoles, such as Brothers in Arms: Furious Four, Homeworld: Shipbreakers (a new game in the Homeworld franchise, which Gearbox had recently acquired in THQ's bankruptcy auction), and new properties such as Battleborn.[14] Despite this, the company still believed that they had not yet met the demands of fans, or even its own staff, in regards to the franchise (even with the overall success of Borderlands 2 and the large amount of downloadable content that had been released), prompting the creation of spin-offs such as Tales from the Borderlands, an episodic adventure game being developed by Telltale Games, and a port of Borderlands 2 for PlayStation Vita.
A few months after the release of Borderlands 2 (and shortly after it had concluded its contributions to BioShock Infinite), Gearbox began working with 2K Australia to develop a prequel to the game which would take place directly after the events of the original. The decision to make the game a prequel to Borderlands 2 was centered around a desire to use the Hyperion moonbase (a location alluded to, and visible in Borderlands 2) as a playable location; the development team felt that going to the moonbase in a sequel to Borderlands 2 would be too "boring" for players since the relevant conflict was already resolved, and because "if we're going to go to the moonbase anyway, what if we try something completely different that people aren't expecting[?]". Pitchford noted that this setting would allow the game to address plot elements and events alluded to in the first two games that were not yet completely addressed—on the possibility that the game could introduce holes in the continuity of the franchise, he joked that the franchise already contained many plot holes to begin with. He suggested that working on The Pre-Sequel could be a breakout role for 2K Australia, similar to Gearbox's own Half-Life: Opposing Force. As for the size of the game, Pitchford stated that The Pre-Sequel's playable world would be in between the size of the original and Borderlands 2.
2K Australia performed the majority of development on The Pre-Sequel, but worked in collaboration with Gearbox on certain aspects of the game. The studio also provided its writing staff—including Anthony Burch, lead writer of Borderlands 2—as a complement to 2K Australia's own writers. The engine of Borderlands 2 was used as a starting point, allowing the 2K Australia team to quickly prototype and implement features on top of the existing functionality already provided by Borderlands 2. Most of the new mechanics in the game, such as ice weaponry, were conceived by the 2K Australia team; Gearbox's developers had shown concerns that freezing weapons were illogical in comparison to the other elemental weapon types, such as incendiary and acid, but Pitchford excused their inclusion in The Pre-Sequel because cryogenic technology was more "natural" in the space-oriented setting of the game.
The four playable characters have an increased amount of dialogue in comparison to their equivalents in previous instalments; NPC dialogue can change depending on the characters present.[20] Developers also felt that The Pre-Sequel would have more diverse humour than previous installments due to the makeup of its writing staff, and a decision to portray the Moon's inhabitants as being Australians themselves, allowing for references to Australian comedy and culture, including missions referencing cricket, the folk song "Waltzing Matilda", and a talking shotgun based upon the bogan stereotype. Bruce Spence, a New Zealand actor known for his role as the Gyro Captain in Mad Max 2 (the second film in the Mad Max franchise that was cited as an influence on the setting of Borderlands as a whole), is among the game's voice actors–voicing a gyrocopter pilot in reference to his role from the film.
The Pre-Sequel would be the final video game developed by 2K Australia, as the studio was shut down on 16 April 2015
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel was released in North America on 14 October 2014. Initially, the game was not released on eighth-generation consoles such as PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. As porting The Pre-Sequel to next-generation consoles would require rebuilding the engine (and thus defeating the purpose of retaining the engine used by Borderlands 2), developers instead targeted the game to the same console platforms that previous installments in the Borderlands franchise were released for. In July 2014, 2K Australia's head Tony Lawrence stated that there was a possibility that The Pre-Sequel could be ported to next-generation consoles, gauged by fan demand and sales.[25] In August 2014, financial statements by Take-Two Interactive disclosed that a Linux port of the game was also in development; these details were confirmed by 2K in a statement to gaming news site IGN.com. The port, which was accompanied by a port of Borderlands 2 released in late-September 2014, was released for Linux through Steam.
As part of pre-release promotional efforts for the game, Gearbox began releasing Pre-Sequel-inspired character skins for Borderlands 2 in July 2014,[27] and at San Diego Comic-Con, Gearbox partnered with The Nerdist to set up a Borderlands-themed laser tag field at Petco Park during the convention.[28][29]
On 18 September 2014, an extended 10-minute trailer featuring Sir Hammerlock and Mr. Torgue was released.[30] On 30 September 2014, Pitchford confirmed that the game had gone gold.
On 20 January 2015, 2K announced that it would release a compilation of Borderlands 2 and The Pre-Sequel, Borderlands: The Handsome Collection, for PS4 and Xbox One on 24 March 2015. It includes both games and all of their respective DLC.[32] On 26 March 2020, 2K announced that both games, as well as the original Borderlands game, would be released for Nintendo Switch as part of Borderlands Legendary Collection on 29 May 2020.
Downloadable content
As with Borderlands 2, downloadable content (DLC), including new characters and story campaigns, were made for The Pre-Sequel, which can be purchased separately or together as a "Season Pass". The Shock Drop Slaughter Pit was released at launch as a pre-order exclusive.[23]
The first DLC character, released on 11 November 2014, is a body double of Handsome Jack, "the Doppelganger"; he can summon clones of himself known as "digi-Jacks" to fight alongside him. Jack's skill trees mainly focus on granting bonuses to himself, as well as his Digi-Jacks.
The first DLC campaign, The Holodome Onslaught, was released on 14 December 2014; it includes missions in the titular challenge arena, which features Athena re-telling a shortened version of the game's story to Borderlands 2's Axton and Gaige. The Holodome Onslaught DLC was received poorly by the playerbase on release. The third playthrough, "Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode", raises the character level cap to 60, and includes an additional mission that ties into Handsome Jack's presence in Tales from the Borderlands.
The second DLC character, Lady Aurelia Hammerlock, "the Baroness", was released on 27 January 2015; she is the elder sister of supporting character Sir Hammerlock. Her action skill is a homing ice shard which can cycle between enemies as they are killed by it: her skill trees provide enhancements to the shard, can increase cryo damage, and the ability to assign a teammate as her "servant"—allowing both players to benefit from bonuses granted by each other's kills.
The second DLC campaign, Claptastic Voyage and Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Pack 2, was released on 24 March 2015, coinciding with the release of The Handsome Collection. The DLC's title is a reference to the film Fantastic Voyage, which has a similar plotline involving miniaturisation and travel through a body. It features the player characters being sent into the mind of Claptrap by Handsome Jack to retrieve a mysterious piece of software known as the "H-Source", hidden within it by Hyperion's former CEO Harold Tassiter, resulting in the release of Shadowtrap, the digital manifestation of Claptrap's FR4G-TP program. The story also features the CL4P-TP genocide and a deeper look into Claptrap's depression. 2K Australia's creative director Jonathan Pelling cited Fantastic Voyage, Tron, and the holodeck of Star Trek as influences on the campaign, explaining that "We thought the best way to get to know Claptrap a little bit more was to actually go inside his mind and see what he thinks. To get those perspectives, recover those memories, and dig through his dirty laundry." The DLC also raises the character level cap to 70, and feature a customisable challenge arena.
On 28 March 2019, Gearbox announced that 4K support for PC and the Handsome Collection ports (on PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X) would be released on 3 April 2019.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel received positive reviews from critics. Aggregating review website Metacritic gave the PlayStation 3 version 77/100 based on 24 reviews, the Microsoft Windows version 75/100 based on 55 reviews[44] and the Xbox 360 version 74/100 based on 16 reviews.
Daniel Bloodworth from GameTrailers gave the game an 8.4/10. He praised the characters and the new gameplay mechanics introduced in The Pre-Sequel. He ended the review by saying that "new playable characters are worth exploring and the tweaks to the formula have an impact across the entire breadth of the game."[52] David Roberts from GamesRadar gave the game an 8/10, praising its diverse character classes, hilarious writing and the core combat which he stated, "has maintained the series' weird, satisfying mix of anarchic, tactical gunplay and compulsive RPG overtones". However, he criticised the weak story, as well as non-drastic changes when compared with Borderlands 2. He described the general experience as "a hilarious, fan-focused continuation of the series' core values, but lacking any true evolution, which made it a fun diversion rather than a meaningful new chapter."
Vince Ingenito from IGN gave the game an 8/10. He praised the gearing options and the low-gravity mechanics, which made the game "a fresh experience". He also praised the entertaining Jack-focused story, but criticised its poor pacing.[54] Jessica Conditt from Joystiq gave the game a 7/10, praising its new gameplay mechanics, well-defined classes, as well as the interesting and comedic bosses encountered and unique environments, but criticising the confusing level design, frustrating death and predictable missions which lack variety. Evan Lahti from PCGamer gave the game a 77/100, praising its new gameplay features, which he stated had brought novelty and a gracefulness to Borderlands' combat, but criticising the mission design, which seldom made use of the gameplay mechanics introduced in Pre-Sequel. He stated that "The Pre-Sequel feels like a super-sized Borderlands 2 DLC. While the new setting, classes, and weapon types reinvigorate the experience, The Pre-Sequel doesn't deviate much from the feel and format of Borderlands 2."
Darren Nakamura from Destructoid gave the game a 6/10, praising its fast yet tactical combat, but criticising the disappointing ending, number of bugs, as well as boring and uninteresting environmental art direction, but he still summarised the game as a "solid entry to the series."[47] Jim Sterling from The Escapist gave the game an 8/10. He praised the combination of weapons with the use of the Grinder, a new machine introduced in The Pre-Sequel, as well as the new vehicles available, but criticised the map design, frustrating encounters with enemies, as well as being too similar to the previous installments.[7] Adam Beck from Hardcore Gamer gave the game a 2.5/5, criticising its bugs, loot system, script, campaign, world design and performance of characters. He summarised the game as "an unpolished, uninspired adventure where fun can be had with friends, but that time could be better spent elsewhere."
IGN gave the Claptastic Voyage campaign an 8.4 out of 10, praising it for its "whimsical" setting, new mechanics, making better use of the anti-gravity mechanics that were introduced by The Pre-Sequel, and for not containing the "excessive backtracking and pacing problems" faced by the game's main storyline. Ingenito concluded that it "[still] doesn't quite match the towering success of Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep for Borderlands 2, but it still handily sets a high watermark for The Pre-Sequel. It's lean and focused in a way the main game it belongs to sometimes wasn't, and yet it still feels substantial and complete.