Borderlands 3 Review

Previously, Bordlerands were not a great games. They had lot of issues in writing, pacing, balancing, class identity, gearing, map layout, etc. You name it, it has problems. Pre-sequel had remedied some of Borderlands 2 issues, but at its core it remained the same game. Borderlands 3 on the other hand makes leaps in all of those areas and raise them to average or good status. Game does not have any glaring issues anymore and thus it is an entertaining game to play.


The ever consistent problem with Borderlands series was its juvenile, try-hard writing. Firing previous writer was the best decision that this company could make. Writing is amazing and while the stark contrast between old Borderlands writing and new one exist in some mission, it serves to highlight the higher quality achieved in this instalment. Characters are not obnoxious. They do not overdo or lean too much on any single character. Gone is obnoxious claptrap. Gone is over the top, self serving hype of characters. Gone are dry, try-hard humour of old Borderlands. Now jokes fit more naturally into the story and characters do not try to outdo each other at every second they are on a screen. This creates an environment where player can actually appreciate jokes and take story and villains more seriously. Jack in Borderlands 2 was done rather poorly with no clear motivation of his own outside to always be 1 step ahead of you and to antagonise you at every step. Calipso Twins is not only an original concept for villains, but they also act like world does not revolve around you. This makes story flow a lot more naturally than when villain has nothing more to do than to taunt and joke about you at every damn second.

Who knew that there can be any good loot in loot shooter!

It took us a while. In previous Borderlands games, loot system did not worked at all. You will never get any good items and player would have to go 10-20 levels without replacing his items. Game generated a lot of trash rather than loot. In this game you actually can replace your items quite frequently. However, scales had turned to the other end, while previously you could not find any good or interesting loot at all, in this game it is all you get are epics and legendares. In this game colours had lost their meaning and you will be replacing them every hour or so which devalues entire loot rarity system. But hey, at least there is some progress and we do not have to suffer absolutely abysmal loot systems of previous Borderlands games.

Improved character trees

Game has also much improved character build trees. Token system and its never ending RNG redeeming process was replaced with guardian points which reduced busy work and has some consistency in how you want to build your character. Tokens are no longer meaningless stat boost and you can actually plan your build accordingly. Furthermore, classes themselves received a big overhaul. There are a lot more talents and skills to use. No longer entire classes are one dimensional and boring. There is a lot more skills and build paths available allowing you to customise how you want to play your class. In previous Borderlands, classes only had very limited and very lackluster skills like briefly turning invisible with no interplay with that. Here you can make that invisibility skill a lot more dynamic and impactful. Talents themselves are no longer unworkable “stack to 999 and lose all stacks on a single shot” kind of nonsense. There are no longer 6 different stacks to follow and to memorise. Talents are actually good now and you are excited to spec into them. Nothing is completely useless like in Borderlands 2. Everything has its own place at least in some builds. It took them three games to actually make interesting characters and builds, but we finally got there!


Borderlands 3 is one of these series which actually builds upon itself and becomes better and more popular as time goes on. It became more professional, production values had dramatically improved. Most of amateurish, bad jokes are gone. Game is competent in every regard which I did not expected from this series. It doesn’t have severe issues in most of its mechanics like previous entries and it is a joy to play. It is one of those games which I want to play after completing main campaign which for me means that game is really good and worthy of a recommendation. I will be definitely playing this game again in the future when its DLC becomes available at a cheaper price, taking my time to slowly complete side quests and just enjoying my time in Borderlands world. It is one of those rare stories, rare games which are not grossly over hyped, which does not its flaws actively ignored and hidden by the community. It is one of those games which just works well and thus is just fun to play in this modern gaming market overfilled with soulless, boring and grindy games.

[h1]The best Borderlands entry so far[/h1] Previously, Bordlerands were not a great games. They had lot of issues in writing, pacing, balancing, class identity, gearing, map layout, etc. You name it, it has problems. Pre-sequel had remedied some of Borderlands 2 issues, but at its core it remained the same game. Borderlands 3 on the other hand makes leaps in all of those areas and raise them to average or good status. Game does not have any glaring issues anymore and thus it is an entertaining game to play. [h1]Writing is finally actually decent[/h1] The ever consistent problem with Borderlands series was its juvenile, try-hard writing. Firing previous writer was the best decision that this company could make. Writing is amazing and while the stark contrast between old Borderlands writing and new one exist in some mission, it serves to highlight the higher quality achieved in this instalment. Characters are not obnoxious. They do not overdo or lean too much on any single character. Gone is obnoxious claptrap. Gone is over the top, self serving hype of characters. Gone are dry, try-hard humour of old Borderlands. Now jokes fit more naturally into the story and characters do not try to outdo each other at every second they are on a screen. This creates an environment where player can actually appreciate jokes and take story and villains more seriously. Jack in Borderlands 2 was done rather poorly with no clear motivation of his own outside to always be 1 step ahead of you and to antagonise you at every step. Calipso Twins is not only an original concept for villains, but they also act like world does not revolve around you. This makes story flow a lot more naturally than when villain has nothing more to do than to taunt and joke about you at every damn second. [b]Who knew that there can be any good loot in loot shooter![/b] It took us a while. In previous Borderlands games, loot system did not worked at all. You will never get any good items and player would have to go 10-20 levels without replacing his items. Game generated a lot of trash rather than loot. In this game you actually can replace your items quite frequently. However, scales had turned to the other end, while previously you could not find any good or interesting loot at all, in this game it is all you get are epics and legendares. In this game colours had lost their meaning and you will be replacing them every hour or so which devalues entire loot rarity system. But hey, at least there is some progress and we do not have to suffer absolutely abysmal loot systems of previous Borderlands games. [b] Improved character trees [/b] Game has also much improved character build trees. Token system and its never ending RNG redeeming process was replaced with guardian points which reduced busy work and has some consistency in how you want to build your character. Tokens are no longer meaningless stat boost and you can actually plan your build accordingly. Furthermore, classes themselves received a big overhaul. There are a lot more talents and skills to use. No longer entire classes are one dimensional and boring. There is a lot more skills and build paths available allowing you to customise how you want to play your class. In previous Borderlands, classes only had very limited and very lackluster skills like briefly turning invisible with no interplay with that. Here you can make that invisibility skill a lot more dynamic and impactful. Talents themselves are no longer unworkable “stack to 999 and lose all stacks on a single shot” kind of nonsense. There are no longer 6 different stacks to follow and to memorise. Talents are actually good now and you are excited to spec into them. Nothing is completely useless like in Borderlands 2. Everything has its own place at least in some builds. It took them three games to actually make interesting characters and builds, but we finally got there! [h1]A pleasant game to play[/h1] Borderlands 3 is one of these series which actually builds upon itself and becomes better and more popular as time goes on. It became more professional, production values had dramatically improved. Most of amateurish, bad jokes are gone. Game is competent in every regard which I did not expected from this series. It doesn’t have severe issues in most of its mechanics like previous entries and it is a joy to play. It is one of those games which I want to play after completing main campaign which for me means that game is really good and worthy of a recommendation. I will be definitely playing this game again in the future when its DLC becomes available at a cheaper price, taking my time to slowly complete side quests and just enjoying my time in Borderlands world. It is one of those rare stories, rare games which are not grossly over hyped, which does not its flaws actively ignored and hidden by the community. It is one of those games which just works well and thus is just fun to play in this modern gaming market overfilled with soulless, boring and grindy games.