This fall, Borderlands 4 is bringing the mainline franchise to the current console generation. With the game just a few months away from release, the development team at Gearbox Software has created a new YouTube show, Beyond the Borderlands, to chronicle its progress. And the first episode focuses on what it takes to create a memorable vault hunter.
“We want them to be somebody that players and ourselves can relate to,” explained art director Adam May. “A comic book [hero] is frequently a good reference point for us. You want to get something that feels familiar and play as somebody [you] actually want to be in real life. It starts with the ideation of trying to define and decipher what kind of fantasies we want to build for players.”
The team also explained that pitches for new vault hunters come in from all over the company, and sometimes character pitches are combined into new combinations. According to lead character designer Nick Thurston, “The guiding principle of Borderlands, just in general, is just to be badass. The abilities, the gear, everything; it all has to be the things that our community expects. They can be from any walk of life. They can bring anything to the table, but ultimately they have to be cool and they have to be fun to play.”
The price for Borderlands 4 hasn’t been announced yet, but Gearbox Software boss Randy Pitchford caused some controversy when he suggested that “real fans” will find a way to come up with $80 to buy it, if it costs that much. Pitchford subsequently walked that statement back a bit.
Borderlands 4 will hit PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on September 12. A port will also be released on Nintendo Switch 2 at a later date.
