Borderlands 3 Additions We Absolutely Love
It’s no secret the Borderlands franchise is the granddaddy of looter shooters. Those addictive loot chests, hilarious characters, butter smooth controls, the endless exploration and glorious combat keeps players coming back. All of those wonderful things we love about the series returns in Borderlands 3. At E3 2019, we watched a 20-minute or so presentation then proceeded to get our hands on the game, albeit very briefly. Yet even though our time was short, it was easily one of our best experiences from the show. Not so much because all those great things are back but rather the development team at Gearbox has introduced enough new things to get us pretty jazzed up. Without further delay, here are 10 things we love about Borderlands 3 based on everything we’ve seen and played so far:
Incredibly Detailed & Hilarious New Characters
The new characters truly shine in Borderlands 3. There are four new playable characters this time around. Amara who is a “Siren” summons ethereal fists; Moze is a young “Gunner” and rides the mecha Iron Bear; Zane is an “Operative” with who is a wizard with a variety of gadgets; and FL4K is a robot “Beastmaster” who summons creatures to aid in battles. We spent most of our time with Moze and could not stop grinning throughout the entire demo. Commanding the Mech results in some satisfying kills and unforgettable moments.
Wait, What!?!? Over a Billion Guns!
I know, that sounds absolutely bananas but apparently, there will be an insane amount of guns. How will they do this? Well, Borderlands 3 will share the same core loop with previous games as you take on missions and slay enemies but chests will have procedurally generated weapons that vary in damage, range, ammo capacity, and other special perks, resulting in over a billion guns. That is nuts, and I don’t believe it but for now, I’ll take it.
Deeper Skill Trees
This time around we can expect more skills and deeper skill trees. In previous Borderlands games, your characters only had one unique skill that operates on a cooldown. This time around we can unlock three unique skills. This now expands the number of potential character builds a player can make. What is not to like about this?
Your Hub is Now on a Spaceship
Granted, you’ll still start out on planet Pandora, but early in the game, you’ll get access to Sanctuary III, which serves as a central hub between missions. It is also used to set destinations for new planets. While onboard you can manage your inventory, purchase guns, upgrades and more. Also, there is this cool lost and found area where you can retrieve guns you might have missed. Obviously another great little addition.
Twitch Friendly
Borderlands 3 will also apparently have integration with Twitch streams. Your viewers will be able to check out your inventory and skill tree. Some special chests in the game will offer the opportunity for viewers to get some loot. They may be able to receive the same gun or item that the stream finds via way of a Shift Code they can enter into their own game, scaled appropriately for their character’s level. How cool is that?
Sliding and Mantling
Sliding seems to be a pretty basic mechanic we’ve seen in tons of games lately. Call of Duty, Apex, and Titanfall 2 to name a few. But the addition in Borderlands 3 is new and pretty neat. Also, you can now use mantling to climb to places you’ve never reached before. These new combat maneuver makes the game feel fresh and sliding down a hill accelerates your speed. It’s a slick new mechanic and one that ramps up the speed in the game.
More things we love on PAGE 2…