Borderlands 4: We played it - this is everything you need to know

After being hands-on with Borderlands 4, here's a look at everything we know that's new in the upcoming game.

Borderlands 4 is set in a brand new world called Kairos, which is split into four different regions. They are the rolling hills of the Fadefields, the frigid peaks of Terminus Range, the shattered lands of Carcadia Burn and the Dominion.

Each region can be seamlessly navigated between and there are no loading screens between each one like in previous Borderlands entries. The world is a lot more reactive and cycles between night and day with the weather changing dynamically too.

Fadefields is where indy100 played as Vex, a Siren, to meet the Outbounders who are rebelling to escape. Rafa, an Exo-Soldier, was played in one of the Vault missions. Harlowe, a Gravitar, and Amon, a Forgeknight, will also be available at the game's launch. Each Vault Hunter has a unique passive ability called a trait.

As ever, players play as one of these four vault hunters who is on the hunt for the best loot possible in Vaults while helping out local inhabitants against an abhorrent leader.

The main antagonist in the game is called The Timekeeper who rules over the planet with his army of synthetic robots called the Order. Kairos inhabitants have a Bolt in their nervous system which The Timekeeper uses to control everyone but there is an uprising against his rule which the new Vault Hunters side with.

The enemies indy100 came across during its preview were varied and offered different challenges to take down. Some opponents were genuinely tough, especially when swarmed from all angles in the Vault mission we played.

The game is fully open world and non-linear; quests can be completed in any order the player chooses given them complete free reign in how they want to progress.

The tone of the game has shifted much more towards the original Borderlands entries - the humour is more dry and grounded rather than having too much toilet in there and this is incredibly welcome.

Borderlands' iconic art style has been tweaked slightly to make it more expansive with dynamic lighting and improved character models.

Discovery is a huge focus within the game and there are more Vaults and bosses than ever before for players to tackle. Character skill trees are as in-depth as they ever have been in the Borderlands series.

Borderlands 4 releases on September 12 / Screenshot from 2K

Borderlands is, of course, famed for its insane amount of guns and there are more than ever, more licensed parts than ever before and loads more combinations can be made. A typical weapon now has six or seven unique combinations each.

Gear comes from one of eight manufacturers each with their own trademarks. There are now enhancements where bonuses are applied to specific manufacturers.

There's a new ordnance slot which is a new gear slot for grenades and heavy weapons. Instead of taking up a weapon slot and ammo, ordnance now has cooldown timers.

Experimenting away from what indy100 typically goes for was a blast and we can't wait to play around with different combinations when the full game is available.

There's a new inventory system too along with a companion robot called Echo-4. This helps players to navigate the world and can provide a route to the player's objective across Kairos. This works well but wasn't perfect during when being hands-on; there were instances where it tried to take indy100 through walls.

Echo-4 also hacks tech and scans the environment. There's a repkit players can use by pushing the left button that acts like a stim and offers other buffs like improved traversal speed. This is welcome and indy100 found it incredibly useful, especially during the Vault, to quickly replenish health.

Speaking of traversal, there are more options than ever to get around in Borderlands 4 including grappling, gliding, double jumping, climbing, swimming and dashing. These all make navigating Kairos a blast to get around when used in conjunction with the new Digirunner. It never felt boring or tiresome in the time we had with Borderlands 4.

The Digirunner is a new vehicle that's available on the fly pretty well at the press of a button at any moment. The body, paint job and handling can all be customised. It has guns on it too.

Drop rates and loot have been overhauled with a focus on making rarity more of a priority. There are full mission and boss replay options as well, meaning players do not need to load old saves to replay certain sections.

Even when playing in co-op, individual difficulties of the campaign can be set by each player for the experience they want. Loot is shared among all players equally. Two player split screen is back too.

Borderlands 4 is available to preorder on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC and releases on September 12.

Elsewhere from indy100, the Borderlands 4 reveal had fans losing their minds and the difference between Borderlands 4 standard, deluxe and super deluxe editions.

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