Borderlands 4 preview: One key thing could make it the best looter shooter ever

How do they do it? After all these years, how do Borderlands developers keep finding brilliant ways to keep gameplay feeling so fresh?

That's my main takeaway from playing through Fortress Indomita in Borderlands 4, an area where I had to take out waves of enemies on my way to defeating boss Idolator Sol.

For context, after arriving in the Fadefields, as Vex the Siren I've tamed up with the Crimson Resistance in their battle against Sol, one of the Timekeeper's lieutenants.

And I'm taking the fight straight to him.

I played through Fortress Indomita as Vex the Siren / 2K

To start with, I have to navigate through the fortress, fighting off scores of enemies that appear. Each section quickly becomes a bloody playground where I'm taking out enemies in a variety of different ways using my trusty build.

I'm shooting them, downing them with throwing knives (a set of which I've come across that are extremely powerful) and setting my trusty companion Trouble the tiger on them.

But what sets Borderlands 4 apart and from its predecessors is how good movement feels and acts in combat. In this area specifically, double jumping, gliding and grappling are the standouts.

I can double jump and glide from one area of the field to another to directly take on enemies and take them out in incredibly satisfying ways, like landing a few shots on them before nailing them with a throwing knife to wipe them out. This can also be used defensively to get away from enemies too.

I can grapple explosives and more to throw at enemies without using any ammo. Although ammo is not scarce here because of the frequent drops from enemies and the amount scattered around at all times.

This is what gives so many different avenues to be able to take down waves of enemies and it never grows tiresome. Especially not when more difficult enemies drop weapons with stats that you can pour over and figure out if it's worth you trying out or not.

It's then so incredibly satisfying finding an upgrade to the load out you've got. That gameplay loop itself is so addictive and Borderlands 4 seems to take it to new heights.

After taking out waves and making my way to the final arena, here comes Sol.

Sol is one of the big boss battles in Borderlands 4 / 2K

Sol is a huge brute that can't be attacked until he leaves behind a timed grenade that must be thrown back at him to penetrate his armour. He has weak spots that can be targeted for critical hits but his armour regenerates so staying on top of this is crucial.

He also performs much more powerful attacks the more his armour depletes and it's a thrill working out what he's doing and adapting accordingly.

Sol did feel like a little bit of a bullet sponge at times and some of his attacks were fairly straightforward to navigate but that can lull you into a sense of security where you think you've got it under control before you're suddenly frantically moving around the arena trying to heal before you're downed.

But it was satisfying killing him and seeing the mass of loot pop out from him - although the rewards given here weren't the best and I didn't actually add anything new to my loadout. I just picked it up for the money to sell but that gives a sense of increased loot rarity.

Performance wise, I found this level ran smoothly on the whole and looked fantastic. I encountered the odd stutter here and there, usually when reloading in a very crowded area, but nothing that really detracted from my experience or affected gameplay.

Borderlands 4 really is shaping up to be the best looter shooter of all time through it's superb gameplay if this mission is anything to go by.

A code was provided by the publisher and I played through Borderlands 4 on PC through Steam using an Acer Predator Helios 16 AI with Intel Core Ultra 9 processor, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti GPU and 32GB of RAM.

Elsewhere from indy100:

• Borderlands 4 developers claim campaign is 'meaty' and game is 'naturally' different
• Borderlands 4: What's the difference between standard, deluxe and super deluxe editions?

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.