The Borderlands video game series has given the world a handful of games and gained a rather sizable fanbase over the years. The whole series is loved for its action-packed gameplay, memorable characters, unique sense of humor, and intriguing worldbuilding. Fans are always eagerly awaiting the next installment in the series. However, the conversation gets a little less positive when it comes to Borderlands 3.

The community around Borderlands is overall awesome and loves any celebration of the franchise. There just seems to be an odd amount of hate toward Borderlands 3. While everyone is entitled to their opinion, it’s a level of hate that isn’t truly deserved.

These folks cite the story as their primary reason for not liking it. They claim that the story is terrible, which hurts the game itself. What they don’t like about the game’s story is that the villains aren’t as interesting as the villain from the second game, one of the new NPC characters is annoying, a couple of characters are killed off, the humor, and that the player’s character doesn’t really feel like they’re part of the cutscenes. Most of these complaints are rather… interesting to say the least.

Writing a villain as fantastically as Handsome Jack would be a challenge, to say the least. Handsome Jack quickly became a staple of great video game villains upon the release of Borderlands 2. A lot of people consider him on the same level as Bowser, Dr. Eggman, or GLaDOS. The villains for Borderlands 3 were almost definitely not going to be quite as great as Handsome Jack. That being said, the Calypso Twins were still threatening and entertaining as antagonists. Their Siren powers were strong, they united the bandits into one militant cult, they always had the upper hand, and their banter was fun. They may not have been as cool as Handsome Jack, but they’re not nearly as forgettable as the antagonist of the first Borderlands game.

One of the new main NPC characters, Ava, is annoying. This is absolutely true. She’s obnoxious. Tiny Tina worked much better as a kid character because she was funny and had great dialogue. Ava is just angsty. She also technically causes the death of Maya, a fan-favorite character. Ava can grow into a much better character in future installments, and hopefully she does. For the time being though, she’s not great. That being said, if a single bad character keeps you from liking something, you might have other issues going on. Good luck enjoying other works of fiction.

Characters being killed off doesn’t immediately make something bad. It makes the stakes higher, the drama and emotion feel real, and the villain more of a threat. A new annoying character inadvertently being the cause of one of those deaths is a problem, but as a whole, characters being killed off isn’t a bad thing for story writing. Afain, good luck enjoying other works of fiction.

Citing the game’s humor as a problem is a head-scratcher. Borderlands has always been full of wacky humor. Handsome Jack has a crystalized horse named Butt Stallion, Kreig shouts about being “the conductor of the poop train,” and porter potties have been launched into space. The fact that it’s suddenly an issue in Borderlands 3 doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. It’s like certain fans just forgot about those moments. 

The Vault Hunters that the players control during the game aren’t really in the cutscenes. The cutscenes show the NPC characters acting everything out while the playable ones watch idly by. This is a pretty legitimate complaint. It’s a big issue. This makes the player not feel a part of the story. It hurts the game’s immersion. However, it is just a blemish on an otherwise phenomenal game.

The gameplay is especially great in Borderlands 3. The skill trees offer more abilities and customizability, the map is more 3D and detailed which makes it much more helpful, the playable characters are all extremely fun to play as, there are new vehicles that are a blast to drive, there are more planets to explore than just Pandora, the gunplay feels amazing, and the new enemies and bosses shake up the action a lot.

Sure, there are a couple of minor issues with the story here and there, but they don’t take away from it being a wildly entertaining and riveting game. It’s hard not to have fun with it, and it plays incredibly well. Borderlands 3 definitely doesn’t deserve the hyperbolic complaints and exclamations of hatred that it receives online.

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