The Borderlands 4 State of Play dove deep into the new gameplay elements of Gearbox Software’s next looter-shooter, with loads of information on loot, new types of enhancements, and two of the four playable Vault Hunters, Vex and Rafa. The trailer also highlighted the world of Kairos–a brand-new planet to the Borderlands universe–and how exploring it will focus less on being given quests, and more on finding them yourself.
Kairos, according to the video, is a secret world, hidden away for thousands of years by The Timekeeper, Borderlands 4’s main villain. Its location was discovered thanks to the events of Borderlands 3, as the moon Lilith teleported away from Pandora broke the veil hiding Kairos and exposed it to the rest of the universe.
The State Of Play showed one of the game’s missions, set in a snowy mountain area called Terminus Range. New movement abilities were highlighted–including gliding, dashing, double-jumping, and point grappling, and a new vehicle called a Digirunner–as well as a dynamic weather system.
The demo then introduces a silo, which according to the video is “one of several new activities found throughout Borderlands 4.” These activities will appear “naturally” as players explore the world of Kairos, without the need of being assigned the mission first–once you find one of these random events, it’ll be added to your map and tracked on the HUD.
The latest in Gearbox Software’s popular looter-shooter series, Borderlands 4 was first announced at Gamescom Opening Night Live 2024 last August. The first gameplay trailer then aired at The Game Awards 2024, where it was confirmed to launch in September of this year.
Borderlands 4 will launch September 12 on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC. It was originally set to launch on September 23, but 2K and Gearbox moved the date up earlier this week–and they swear it was not because of Grand Theft Auto VI.
