When you think of the Borderlands franchise, what comes to mind? If you have been a fan since the beginning of the series, you will predominantly think about the game’s looter shooter mechanics and some of the massive beasts or psychos you’ve had to take down.
If you are a newer Vault Hunter to the franchise, you will most likely think of the corny comedy and the yo-yoing in the game’s story. In Borderlands 3, the looter shooter mechanics were still there, but the story fell a bit flat compared to its predecessors. Most of the jokes felt like punchlines that were written without knowing who they were for. How does Borderlands 4 compare to its predecessors? At PAX West 2025, we had the chance to find out.
At PAX West 2025, we met with Gearbox and 2k to preview the next installment in the Borderlands franchise, Borderlands 4. During the event, we had the chance to play Borderlands 4 in two different and unique ways. In our first meeting with 2K & Gearbox, we got to try out Borderlands 4 on the Nintendo Switch 2. The second meeting took place on the showfloor and gave us the chance to try out co-op.
At first, I was a bit hesitant to try out Borderlands 4 on Nintendo Switch 2 after Gamescom rumors and past issues that Switch 1 had with larger 3rd party titles. Although the visuals on Nintendo Switch 2 were not perfect, you could still experience the game almost fully as the developers intended. Yes, there was a little bit of stutter in the gameplay, but otherwise, the gameplay remained similar to other Borderlands titles and held up fairly well compared to the PC showfloor counterpart.
Now, when you go in blind to any game, there is always a bit of a learning curve, especially when it is further into the game. For the demo, we were level 20, going into a vault by ourselves to face off against a Vault predator. Although the demo gave you the chance to get to the Vault Predator, we were only able to fight against the first horde.
The enemies had a wide variety of attacks, but without knowing more about them, it did take a bit of time and a few deaths to wipe them all out. Healing in the game did feel a bit off with how you have to activate your healing. In the demo, it felt like there were fewer health stims than there were in prior games.
The first meeting sadly only lasted about 15 minutes, but it did give us a look at how the game would feel on the Nintendo Switch 2. If we were not playing the game on Nintendo Switch 2, our initial experience would have been better/died less. It ran well, despite a few noticeable stutters, and was better than we expected for sure.
During the gameplay demo, I kept switching the X+Y button and the A+B button when it would show button input commands. Despite the mix-up, it was still a fun experience that gave us a good idea of what we can expect from the game. With how the build played on the Switch 2, I could see it being a valid platform option if you are going for portability over perfect graphics.
At the end of PAX West 2025, we were determined to try even more of Borderlands 4, with the goal of getting to the boss fight within the demo. On the show floor, guests could play the Borderlands 4 demo in a 4-player co-op session.
At initial setup, each of us could select which character we wanted to play as. Shockingly, for being paired up with two random people, we were all able to select a different character. Coming from this, we felt like a well-oiled machine versus a group of ragtag vault hunters trying to just get through the vault.
The show floor demo had us using an Xbox Controller and a Razer headset to hear the game’s sound effects. Since voice chat wasn’t enabled, we weren’t able to communicate with one another with our headsets. So, three out of four of us removed one ear from the headset in order to be able to hear one another. This made calling out enemies and figuring out what weapon worked on each one a lot easier.
What originally took me 15 minutes to complete in the first attempt of the demo took only 3 with our seasoned group. While there were some communication issues at first, we were able to quickly pick up what the other was going for.
Just before the boss fight, our tank (Nichegamer staff member) had to leave for another appointment, so we were down a man before the fight. Despite this handicap, we were able to take on this APEX Vault Predator by juggling aggro, calling out weak spots, and reviving one another. In order to cause significant damage to the creature, we had to pull spores out of its body with our grappling hook.
Once we had dealt a significant amount of damage to the predator, it climbed to the ceiling and spew bile onto the cavern floor. At first, it seemed like there was no way to avoid it, and you just had to outlast it/revive one another through it. Instead, you could pull spores down to the ground and stand on them to avoid taking damage while shooting the boss. After a bit of damage, the boss came back down.
During this whole fight, there were very few additional enemies to kill, so getting a second wind was fairly difficult. Once we defeated the predator, we able to explore the area a bit.
After getting to experience Borderlands 4 on both the Nintendo Switch 2 and a top-of-the-line PC, I can safely say that it feels like Borderlands is returning to its beloved looter shooter form. Yes, it was nice to see it in all of its graphical glory on the PC, but the thing that I appreciated most was getting to experience it with others rather than playing it solo.
After playing it on the Switch 2, I felt like it was something I would get down the line, but after playing it on PC, it felt like a game I needed to have in order to play with my friends and get all the looter shooter goodness.
During the demo, I would have liked to hear some jokes during the downtime areas, but I believe the developers wanted to show that the game can be a serious, action-packed adventure when it’s called for.
Honestly, we can’t wait until Borderlands 4 releases on September 12, 2025, for PC (Windows), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. The Nintendo Switch 2 version is scheduled to be released on October 3, 2025.
