The original Borderlands was different from all of its competitors when it came out in 2009. The cartoony style and mixture of FPS with Diablo loot were unique and fresh. Now in 2018, we’ve got two Destiny games and a Rage sequel on the way, so audiences have options for both barren landscapes and loot-driven shooting. Of course, we haven’t seen any footage or even been told what to expect. Gearbox could surprise us and retool the Borderlands formula completely to make BL3 a fresh experience. But I highly doubt that.
What Changed?
Once BL1 had introduced the hybridization of FPS and loot RPG, we began to see loot cropping up in many other games. The most notable example of this is Destiny. Destiny functions as a polished, more self-serious child of Borderlands. BL1 was the second time Gearbox had been ahead of the curve, with the first being Brothers in Arms. But after hitting on this idea, they didn’t seem to know how to evolve it. BL2 is fundamentally the same game. The presentation and ‘tude are cranked up, but the core loop of “Shoot, loot, level up, repeat” is unchanged. And that ‘tude is the worst part of BL2 and the Pre-Sequel
What Needs To Change?
Borderlands 2 and the Pre-Sequel were stepping in the wrong tone direction, overall. While Borderlands 1 had used sarcastically grim humor occasionally, BL2 and the Pre-Sequel heaped on the raunchy radio conversations and meme references. The result is that instead of the rare comment giving personality to the junkyard planet you’re exploring, you can’t go two minutes without Handsome Jack or Claptrap obnoxiously reminding you of how much personality the game is supposed to have. Everything from skill names to off-screen horse names is either ripped-off from mems or designed to become memes. And that’s not funny. Humor is subjective, of course. But, how well does a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic reference age in 2-5 years? Not very well, as it turns out.
What Will Change?
I honestly don’t know if Borderlands 3 will be that different from the last two Borderlands games. Especially after Battleborne. Gearbox seems entrenched in their raunchy, sarcastic, and lackadaisical routine. Battleborne was rife with unfunny humor, and they forced Duke Nukem into the rerelease of Bulletstorm. Every game Gearbox has internally worked on has had their specific brand of attitude. And that attitude can’t carry a generic shoot ‘n loot game now. So unless Gearbox is willing to rethink that, or make BL3 completely different from its predecessors, I cannot think of a reason why I should get BL3 over Rage 2 or Destiny 2, even though Destiny 2 has been pretty underwhelming overall.
I thoroughly enjoyed Borderlands 1 and 2. But as time has passed everything the series did has been done better in other games. And when Gearbox had the budget to make the game they’d wanted to with BL2, they made grating, bloated, and grindy romps. So I’m not looking forward to Borderlands 3, regrettably. If I need to shoot and/or loot, the original games and Destiny will be waiting for me.