The Borderlands video game franchise has won over a massive fanbase with its several games and spin-offs. The next installment in the series, Borderlands 4, has finally been announced at Gamescom 2024. Along with this announcement, a brief teaser trailer was also released. It’s a quick one, but it’s rather ominous and does contain some hints as to what the new game could be about. Let’s dive into this teaser to figure out what it could all mean.

Borderlands 4 – Official Teaser Trailer

Elpis is Crashing

Borderlands 3 had an especially explosive ending. Elpis, the moon of Pandora, was about to tear Pandora apart thanks to the opening of the Great Vault. Lilith saved the day by going full Firehawk and charged directly at the moon and stopping it from destroying the planet. Only her Firehawk seal was left lingering in the sky.

This teaser trailer seemingly picks up right where that left off. Elpis is hurtling through space after appearing in the Firehawk seal. It appears Lilith teleported Elpis away from Pandora. If you look closely, you can even see an orange streak crashing into Elpis itself; this is likely Lilith.

Elpis breaks through an invisible barrier and is on a collision course for a futuristic-looking planet that was hidden behind it. What sort of threats does this new planet hold? How will Pandora be able to exist without its moon?

The Eridian

During the destruction, a mysterious metal arm reaches into the debris and pulls out the iconic bandit mask, something that has become somewhat of a symbol of the franchise. This arm resembles that of a Guardian, which were left on Pandora, Elpis, and neighboring celestial bodies by the Eridians, an ancient and powerful species. This could be hinting that Borderlands 4 might be giving us more of an insight into the Eridians and what happened to them.

The Watcher

Eridian writing appears on the screen in the teaser trailer. Of course, the Internet did its thing and deciphered it already. It apparently says “HE IS WATCHING” and “BREAK FREE.” Many fans have been speculating this is a nod to the Watcher, an Eridian NPC introduced in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. The Watcher lived long ago and foretold future events. They even warn about the coming of Handsome Jack.

It’s not clear if someone else wants others to break free of the Watcher’s predictions, to live free of predetermined fate, or if the Watcher is warning someone to break free of someone else’s oppression. Not much is known about the Watcher, but perhaps this new game will give us more about them.

A New Threat

An image of a face flickers in at the end of the teaser. It certainly feels like whoever that face belongs to will be the big bad of the game. Randy Pitchford, the CEO of Gearbox, already debunked any theories of the character being the return of Handsome Jack, meaning this is likely a new threat.

The way the face is shown is eerily similar to the depiction of how Sirens communicate telepathically. Could this new villain be a Siren? Nyriad, a Siren and Vault Hunter from long ago, left logs stating there may be a 7th Siren out there that’s been hidden away. This new baddie could very well be that 7th hidden Siren. This could also be a new Siren now that there are no longer six alive at the end of Borderlands 3 (that we know of, at least).

New Planet

Something particularly exciting is that this teaser may indicate that players will now be able to explore a new planet in addition to the ones we already know. Borderlands 3 introduced a few new ones, allowing players to adventure across planets other than Pandora (and its moon) for once. Adding to this lineup of worlds makes this universe that much bigger and that much more exciting to explore.

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