Borderlands 3

Borderlands 3 is a role-playing adventure first-person shooter with action elements and the first game in the series where players visit new planets, where they will find new friends and enemies. The basic concept of the game has not changed: collecting increasingly better loot and weapons, as well as a quartet of heroes united to fight chaos and defeat a common threat.

The story is a direct sequel to the second part. Old characters gave way to new ones — Amara, Zane, Moze, and FL4K, who have significantly revamped their skill trees. The story is dedicated to the confrontation between the heroes and the Calypso twins — ruthless leaders of the most dangerous cult in the galaxy.

Borderlands 3 takes place on five fictional planets, scattered across the "Borderlands" universe. For each planet, the developers created their own biome — weather and geological conditions, unique nature, landscape, and a set of enemies. Using Unreal Engine 4, they brought to life a couple of huge levels and many smaller ones designed for one planet.

Travel between worlds is possible with the spaceship "Sanctuary-3," which serves as both a hub and a base. Not all planets are available at once; they unlock in a strict sequence as the story progresses. Later, players are free to move between planets at any time and complete side quests or challenges.

The game begins on the familiar Pandora from previous games in the series, presented with a new set of locations, mostly consisting of wastelands, dusty cliffs, ruins of settlements, and factories, all in the spirit of the first Borderlands. The main enemies here will be the cultists of the Calypso twins, bandits, and raiders.

Promethea is a futuristic megacity world in a cyberpunk style. Players will visit the center of this world, fully built up with skyscrapers, the headquarters of the Atlas corporation, and several districts where life thrives in urban jungles. It is a harsh world, rivaling Pandora, with its pest animals, numerous security robots, and a completely insane AI.

Eden-6 is a humid world teeming with diverse wildlife and vegetation, densely populated with swamps and jungles. It is the headquarters of the Jacobs corporation and the sixth moon of the giant planet Eden. The abandonment of industrial development and colonization of the moon has kept nature untouched, so expect fierce resistance from flora and fauna. The few settlements that harvest wood for Jacobs' weapons collaborate with the cult of the Calypso twins.

Athena is a calm planet reminiscent of Earth with its picturesque plains of lush vegetation, dense forests, and deep lakes, with high peaks propping up the sky. The population lives in cities, and their spiritual guidance is provided by the monks of the "Order of the Approaching Storm," who live in the mountains. By the time of the third part, the planet is occupied by the Maliwan corporation, and the plains are filled with predatory monsters that seem to have appeared out of nowhere. Players will have to fight their way through.

Necrotafeo - few people believe in the existence of this world, but the Calypso twins and the Maliwan corporation are making significant efforts to discover it. Rumor has it that this was the capital of the Eridian civilization at the time of the catastrophe, after which all Eridians suddenly disappeared. If that's the case, it's a treasure trove of interesting technologies and Eridium for both corporations and treasure hunters.

Borderlands 3 features even more complex gameplay than the previous games in the series, based on long-term development akin to Diablo, with constant drops of increasingly cool weapons and ammunition, and character leveling. To unlock all possibilities, Borderlands 3 needs to be completed twice.

New heroes have received a revamped skill tree, allowing for the creation of even more interesting and deadly builds, with diverse and unusual abilities. As before, experience is gained by completing quests, killing enemies, and exploring the game world, which accumulates into levels. For each level, points are awarded, which can be spent on new abilities for the chosen character.

"Guns" are still represented by pistols, submachine guns, assault and sniper rifles, machine guns, shotguns, and rocket launchers. There are over a billion options and types of gear, weapons, and shields, thanks to an improved procedural content generation system. There are also new modifiers for weapons and grenades.

All weapons in Borderlands 3 have an alternative firing mode, often unusual: shooting discs from a circular saw, launching a pack of micro-grenades at a target, firing bullets in a curve towards a target behind cover, and much more. Several new types of vehicles have been added, and their physics, control, customization, and sound have been significantly improved. Now it's easier to drive a vehicle and shoot from it while performing crazy stunts.

Enemies can be ignited and burned to ashes, all cover in the game can be destroyed, and a barrel of explosives can be thrown into a group of enemies, where it will explode over a large radius. Dismemberment is also present.

Movement has been refined: rolls have been introduced, along with parkour elements allowing players to climb to heights. Players can teleport from anywhere on the map to any previously visited area, to a station, or even directly into a vehicle. The craziest vehicles have been designed for Borderlands 3, like a giant wheel powered by attached rocket engines.

The events of the third part begin 7 years after the second and the collapse of the Hyperion corporation. On Pandora, no laws are in effect, and at this moment, the antagonists - the Calypso brother and sister - arrive. They have founded their religious cult "Children of the Vault" (COV) and gathered a huge army of fanatics, uniting various bandit clans.

A break from the template is guaranteed, the main antagonists are teenagers obsessed with social media, making funny faces for selfie cameras, editing funny videos and streaming, gathering followers and subscribers in the universe of "Borderlands". At the center of the plot, youthful maximalism is armed to the teeth and is set to find a weapon capable of destroying the universe. The story raises themes of feminism and the fight for social justice.

In previous games of the series, numerous corporations and adventurers from across the galaxy rushed to seek the remnants of the alien civilization of the Eridians and their technologies, as well as to develop the resource eridium. All of this was securely sealed in Vaults, which the heroes of the game ultimately plundered. This time, everything revolves around the Eridian Vaults with their incredibly dangerous technologies.

At the time of release, Borderlands 3 features four characters, but expect a couple more in the expansions — as has been the case with all other installments. Here’s what you need to know about the new heroes:

You can play Borderlands 3 either solo or in co-op with friends (squads of up to four players). Progress and collected loot are saved separately for each player, but unlike previous Borderlands, you can adjust loot drop settings — for all players from one chest or generate separately for each player (loot distribution is based on the level and class of each character in the squad).

The usual way to play Borderlands 3 hasn’t changed — you spawn in a new location, receive a set of quests, clear the area completely, and move on. All squad members contribute according to their skills and watch the overall story videos and cutscenes. The balance also takes into account the difference in character levels, so players with a large level difference feel almost equal.

During battles, players need to give their all and help each other — the enemies in the third part are noticeably more dangerous than those in previous games and in certain modes become "thicker" depending on the number of players. In addition to the main quest, players can complete small side missions, participate in challenges, and activate the "Mayhem" mode.