I like Borderlands. It’s a great turn-your-brain-off-and-blast-things kind of game. But at this point, I have to say the original looter shooter has come a long way down from its height, which was Borderlands 2 waaaay back in 2012. If you don’t have it yet, somehow, you can get it for free on Steam this weekend.
Borderlands 2 is a big leap forward versus the original game, with far better graphics, more interesting abilities, better multiplayer support, and a much, much better story and more vibrant world to putter around in. If you’ve remained unfamiliar with it: Borderlands is basically a blend of Halo and Mad Max, with a focus on finding the best randomly generated guns among a ridiculous variety of bang-sticks.
Borderlands‘ humor might be its most divisive element. There was a bit of irreverence and sarcasm in the original, but Borderlands 2 is where things really started to ramp up. Your tolerance for the writing might depend on how much time you spent on certain websites in the 2000s and 2010s, saving and reposting memes and GIFs. But on the other hand, the actual story of the game is more fleshed out and interesting. It brings back characters from the original and makes them, well, characters, as well as introducing new faces and a truly excellent villain.
It’s good, is what I’m saying! I’ve tried all of the subsequent Borderlands games but haven’t finished any of them because they just couldn’t hit that same sweet spot of gameplay, environment, and story.
I should also mention that the game is currently getting review-bombed, with an “overwhelmingly negative” rating on the recent reviews. Players seem to be upset at a recent change in Take-Two’s user license agreement. Or maybe they’re just lashing out at Gearbox’s CEO, who tends to make really dumb public statements on a regular basis.
Borderlands 2 is free until June 8th at 10 AM Pacific time, and the rest of the games in the series (along with tons of DLC) are heavily discounted ahead of the Borderlands 4 launch in September. It will not be free.