I’ll admit I have had a bit of trepidation around Borderlands 3 and all its hype. I loved Borderlands 2 but felt it would be hard to capture the same magic again.
Whilst at Gamescom 2019 I was able to get hands-on with 2K games upcoming title Borderlands 3. Safe to say I no longer have any doubt and am fully hyped for Borderlands 3 now!
First up was a brief presentation on how the characters and worlds have been built with a narrative at its core before moving on to what’s new in the Borderlands 3.
The Calypso twins, Tyreen and Troy, have risen to power by manipulating the bandits into a religious cult named “The Children of the Vault”. There is some mystery around them as we know Troy is a siren and has immense power but 2k Games reps were reluctant to discuss anything about Tyreen.
The new vault hunters seem to be deeper and varied than any playable Borderlands character before. Each character has multiple action skills instead of the single one. making each character loadout and customised to your play style.
The addition of multiple action skills and deeper skill trees mean character builds are more essential than ever before. Now action skills from each character might actually complement each other in-game.
Next up to change is the guns them self. Yes, we know there are a billion guns in the game but did you know every gun has a secondary fire action? You still have the same four weapon slots but the secondary actions are so varied it is more or less like carrying eight guns. This is a simple yet potentially game-changing addition to Borderlands that works really well. During my time playing, I found I actually used the secondary action a lot as the situation unfolded around me.
Badass ranks are still in Borderlands 3 but won’t unlock until you have completed the main story. Proving Grounds is Borderlands 3’s endgame content.
A series of trails. A single mandatory quest that once completed earns you a loot chest. However, there are multiple optional quests as well. Completing an optional quest before the main one will turn on a light on the loot chest and upgrade the rarity of the loot chest. Complete all optional quests and the mandatory quest and you will get maximum loot!
It was the Proving Grounds that I played for about half an hour and it is great fun. Playing as the newest vault hunter FL4K I was able to spend some time spending points in his skill tree before taking on the endgame content.
Proving grounds in fun, frantic and challenging. In the two runs, I had my best was 4 lights out of 6 on the loot chest at the end. FL4K is an incredibly fun character to play though. The beast master class is so much fun to play.
Graphics-wise Borderlands 3 looks exactly how you would expect Borderlands to look. It plays and moves the same too. I guess if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. This isn’t a complaint in any way. If you know and love borderlands you are gonna love playing Borderlands 3.
The other big update was scaling in multiplayer which is quite mindblowing and I still ain’t sure I got my head around it properly. Basically, if you are level 10 and join my level 50 game the enemies on my screen will be level 50 and you will do level 50 damage. Whilst at the same time that level 50 enemy will be level 10 on your screen and I will be doing level 10 damage. The loot you ask? yep, that’s the same as well. Level 10 loot will drop on your screen will level 50 drops on mine. It is mind-blowing and an amazing fix to ensure that you can always play online with friends without worrying about been left behind or under levelled.
I admitted earlier I wasn’t blown away by the hype and trailers for Borderlands 3 but after actually playing it I can’t wait. The new additions to gameplay such as multiple actions and secondary firing modes are a beautiful touch and feel like they have been there all along.
Visually, gameplay and control wise it is the same Borderlands that you know and love. It’s like slipping into that pair of comfortable old slippers that you love.
New worlds, new vault hunters, new villains, new game features yet somehow the same old yet brilliant Borderlands…
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