Borderlands 3 artwork header
News

Borderlands 3: Gameplay features, characters, guns, loot & more

13 Comments

Borderlands 3 is the fourth game of the looter-shooter series. I do not really like these kind of games but Borderlands is OK and I dig the style and humor, well..more often than not. My favorite game is the second one, which was the only one I finished with friends and it was a blast, lots of hilarious moments.

Now Borderlands 3 is coming really soon right after the summer ends on September. So far we have seen enough gameplay to get a good idea how the game will play. It looks like it plays like before and that’s a good thing. Of course that  doesn’t mean it’s completely the same, no, not at all. There are many new features and new gameplay mechanics, like proper climbing, oh god yes, mantling ledges.

These are some of the new features that intrigued me the most:

  • Most guns have alternate firing modes
  • Guns have item scores to help you pick the best quickly
  • Action Skills can be customized with augments
  • Cover is now destructible
  • You can chuck elemental barrels around
  • Radiation damage replaces slag damage
  • No additional Vault Hunter post launch
  • Both major and background NPCs revive you in battle
  • Vault Hunters have much more customization
  • Loot-instancing and level scaling can be turned off for those who prefer the classic Borderlands co-op experience
  • Borderlands 3 features a day/night cycle for each planet, with different lighting and effects to make each world “feel alien”
  • Borderlands 3 features more boss fights than any previous game in the series, and will be “the biggest game ever for this franchise”
  • Big bosses will have multiple stages during their encounters
  • Crew challenges are like quest collectibles
  • Troy and Tyreen (the baddies) are based off social media influencers
  • Players use their ship, the Sanctuary III, to travel to planets
  • Sanctuary III acts as a customizable hub world and home base that houses characters like Mad Moxxi
  • From Sanctuary III, open gold key chests, buy storage deck upgrades, gamble, interact with characters, purchase wares and travel to new planets
  • Sanctuary 3 has a ‘lost loot’ machine that stores the guns you lose
  • Tannis is your doctor in Sanctuary 3, not Dr Zed
  • The beasts you kill get mounted on Hammerlock’s wall
  • You have your own customizable quarters
  • Vehicles are way, way more customizable
  • You can steal enemy vehicles and take them to Ellie to scan into Catch-A-Ride
  • Multiple active abilities per character
  • At vending machines you can hit one button to instantly refill your ammo
  • There is offline play
  • Fast travel can be used to travel between points on these planets, and to other planets players have already visited
  • Players can use Quick Change Stations to customize heads, skins, colors, emotes, ECHO skins and ReSpec their character’s skill tree
  • Players can slide while sprinting and mantle ledges to reach elevated surfaces
  • The game retains Borderlands’ cel-shaded art-style, but runs on Unreal Engine 4
  • It purportedly features gore and dismemberment similar to what was seen in the first Borderlands
  • Borderlands 3 will be “Rife with Easter eggs”
  • Each Vault Hunter has three action skills to choose from starting at level 3
  • Passive skills, augments and modifiers can also be gained further in the skill tree

Unfortunately David Eddings, the original voice of Claptrap, will not be in the game and that is probably because of the Gearbox’s CEO Randy Pitchford.

Thanx IGN & GamesRadar