Borderlands 4 State of Play Deep Dive Reveals Siren Abilities, Progression, Massive Mobility Buffs, and Overhauled Gameplay

As the Borderlands 4 release date nears, 2K Games and Gearbox have seen fit to give fans a glimpse of what to expect from the upcoming looter shooter in a PlayStation State of Play Deep Dive. The video jumps straight into the action, giving us more hints about what to expect from the new vault hunters that will be the center of the story on Kairos. The presenters finally revealed the names of two of the new vault hunters: The siren is called Vex, and the soldier-class hunter is called Rafa; so far, the other two vault hunters still remain a mystery. The deep dive provided a small glimpse at what to expect from the various vault hunters, with the two mentioned above receiving the most attention throughout. Rafa is a former Tediore soldier with an experimental exo-suit able to conjure energy weapons—including some long arm-mounted blades that look lethal for melee combat—and enhance his physical attributes, while Vex features the usual siren pseudo-magical abilities that enable her to summon minions, manipulate her enemies, and buff her own abilities. We only got glimpses of the other two vault hunters in action: The burly vault hunter than has often been likened to a viking shows off an energy shield, similar to what we saw from Athena in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. As expected, he seems to be something of a close-quarters combatant. The other female vault hunter, who has comically been referred to as “pants lady” in online discussions, showed off the ability to use something similar to a Siren’s phase lock ability, although that’s all we have seen from her aside from what was shown of previously.

In terms of plot, the only real plot-relevant mission shown off in the deep dive occurs when the POV player is at level 24, and the vault hunters are on a mission to rescue Lilith from a fortress, where it is discovered that a villain is seemingly conducting human experiments. The planet Kairos has been ruled and seemingly kept out of danger by the Timekeeper, who used cybernetic implants and a fanatical organization called The Order to maintain order, but the whole system was thrown into disarray when Lilith teleported the moon Elpis into Kairos’s orbit at the end of Borderlands 3, six years prior to the events unfolding in Borderlands 4. The disruption of the Timekeeper’s order has caused an uprising in the people, resulting in many of its citizens crudely removing their cybernetic brain implants and apparently causing brain damage in the process. The State of Play deep dive also gave us some ideas of what to expect from its overhauled skill trees, weapons mods, loot mechanics, and greatly enhanced mobility options.

As is typical of a Borderlands game, there is no shortage of weird and wacky weapons, with a total of eight weapons manufacturers confirmed for the new looter shooter. Jakobs, Maliwan, Vladof, Tediore, and Torgue return with their usual roles from previous games—old-fashioned firepower, elemental damage, massive magazines, explosive reloads, and exploding projectiles, respectively—but there are three new weapons manufacturers, each of which has its own characteristics. Order guns will feature powerful charge and release shots, Ripper guns will have full-auto fire with high fire rates, and Daedalus weapons are supposed to be reliable and easy to use, with multiple ammo types being compatible with Daedalus guns. Interestingly, there was no mention of Hyperion guns this time around. Another new addition to the Borderlands 4 gameplay is Echo 4, which is now a little floating droid that follows you around to help open doors and hack terminals. Echo 4 will also fill the usual role of an in-universe explanation for gear radar and objective guidance.

The State of Play Deep Dive also confirmed that Borderlands 4 will feature an overhauled movement system that gives players the ability to dash, double-jump, glide, grapple, and climb up certain surfaces. Even compared to the vastly improved movement system from Borderlands 3, this seems like a massive boon for both exploration and combat. The new movement system includes a new vehicle system with vehicles suspiciously similar to pod racers and speed bikes from the Star Wars universe.

Gearbox also overhauled the game lobby, making it easier to connect with friends, whether in two-player split-screen co-op or online co-op mode, and multiplayer sessions will now be free of loot ninjas, with loot now being instanced for every player. There is also full support for cross-play at launch, meaning players will be able to join co-op sessions from PS5, Xbox, and PC, all at once.

Part of the new loot game includes a system that will randomly mix and match weapon parts, blending the characteristics of different gun manufacturers. According to the presenters, the variation in weapons parts and characteristics increases with rarity, so a legendary class gun will likely have more exotic effects than a regular white or green gun. Also new are weapon enhancements, which replace artifacts and grant manufacturer-specific bonuses, like reload speed or kill bonuses. There will likely be running themes when it comes to weapon enhancements, given that they each enhancement will be manufacturer-specific. Gearbox has also reworked the weapon drop rates, with the presenters claiming that “rarity matters again,” and that legendaries with special effects will be rarer than they were in Borderlands 3. This change was brought about by community feedback, and weapon RNG was highly criticized by Borderlands 3 players. For Borderlands 4, the developers focused on making the loot chase on Kairos more satisfying. Borderlands 4 will also introduce new so-called “ordinance slots” for heavy weapons, like grenades and rocket launchers. The new ordinance system is designed to make ammo scarcity for these heavy weapons less of a concern, allowing players to use them more freely outside of boss battles.

In Borderlands 4, the vault hunters have three action skills each. Vex, for example has a version of phase blasts from prior Borderlands games, while Phase Phamiliar summons a minion that can be teleported to on command, and a third action skill with buffs was mentioned—perhaps a defensive skill rather than the aforementioned offensive skills. Each action skill also has its own skill tree to augment and develop the skill for more build and play style freedom. Vault hunters have unique passive skills, along with their action skills, much like Borderlands 3’s passive skills. The Siren’s skill, for example, attunes the damage output of her minion to the weapon she has equipped, so equipping a Maliwan fire elemental weapon will imbue her minion’s attacks with fire damage.

Judging from what was shown in the game, Echo screens have received a massive overhaul, with a more modern UI and what appears to be a UI that’s easier to read. Action skills have sockets for augments and capstones, which can change the action skill behaviors and functions. One example shown in the deep dive made it possible for Vex to trigger her minion to explode, dealing Ordinance (area of effect) damage to nearby enemies and restoring as much as 75% of Vex’s maximum health.

BL4 introduces a new mechanic called Rev Kits, which restore player health and provide temporary buffs, seemingly in an attempt to boost survivability in conjunction with the Fight For Your Life mode—this will likely be a welcome addition for those playing on more challenging difficulties. Battles, especially boss battles, seem just as chaotic as before, if not even more so. In one a boss fight shown off during the State of Play deep dive, bullet hell mechanics seem to be making a return, although the presenters didn’t dwell on that fight for long enough to get a feel for what the fight was. The color scheme and surroundings definitely gave strong hints that the fight may have been with a vault guardian.