With Borderlands 4 releasing next year, the excitement is building up for the next installment of the looter-shooter video game series. A new, full trailer showcasing hints of story and footage of gameplay was revealed at The Game Awards 2024. Let’s take a look at everything it has to offer.

Borderlands 4 – Official First Look

This new trailer picks up right where the teaser trailer left off. We see the who metal arm holding the discarded bandit mask belongs to and they look terrifying. It looks as though this new villain, named the Timekeeper according to Gearbox Software, has the ability to resurrect and control the undead. An army of undead bandits and psychos sounds like a horrifying and exciting new idea.

On top of that, this antagonist will apparently be using their zombie horde to go to war with the Eridians. This could lead to the biggest and darkest conflict seen in the series yet. This could also be the biggest threat heroes have faced in any Borderlands game, with undead foes covering the planet.

It’s also worth noting that Elpis, the moon of Pandora, is once again lingering in orbit in this trailer as well. It makes one wonder if something else came to this new planet along with it. Could Lilith be alive and here somewhere? Could any of the buildings or tech that was on Elpis be here as well? Could this mysterious Timekeeper use Elpis and the path of Lilith’s Phase to find their way back to Pandora? There are a lot of questions and concerns that this brings up.

There are several quick glimpses at new cities and environments waiting to be explored. One of the many things that makes Borderlands feel special is that the environments always have a lot of character to them. The world itself feels like a character. Showing off the various parts of the world like this trailer does gives the feeling that this will be no different in Borderlands 4.

The new playable Vault Hunters are also revealed in this trailer. It’s not quite clear what their classes and abilities are yet, but we do see a little bit of what they can do. The bigger muscular guy throws elemental axes at one point. If this isn’t a new type of weapon anyone can use, then that’s likely his primary ability. The woman in punk rock attire has Siren tattoos, so a new Siren is confirmed; we just don’t know what powers she has yet. The guy in the green jacket uses laser swords at one point, so he’s definitely the melee specialist of sorts. The woman with the glasses isn’t seen using an ability at all, so it’s anyone’s guess what class she will be and what she’ll be capable of.

Claptrap is also seen in the trailer, so either characters from Pandora have somehow made it to the new planet, or the gameplay will also find its way back to Pandora. Either implication could mean something quite interesting. It’s no surprise to see him, though, as he’s essentially the franchise’s mascot and a Borderlands game that doesn’t feature him is hard to imagine.

It’s also no surprise to see tons of guns and loot raining from the sky. Borderlands is a gaming franchise that prides itself on having an insane amount of weapons for players to use so that no two experiences are exactly the same. With previous games having guns that could talk or choose exploding cheeseburgers or even walk, it will be a blast to see what they’ll be able to do in this game.

The trailer ends with a glimpse of the new villain in front of a Vault. It wouldn’t truly feel like a Borderlands game without a Vault, so it’s good to see it. The new big bad standing in the entryway of it is sure to spell bad news for the heroes.

It’ll be especially exciting to see new information released leading up to the game’s anticipated release.

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