Borderlands 3

Borderlands 3 is a role-playing action shooter from the first person perspective with elements of action 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: gathering increasingly high-quality loot and weapons, as well as a quartet of heroes united to fight chaos and defeat a common threat.

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

The action of Borderlands 3 takes place on five fictional planets, scattered throughout 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 massive levels and numerous smaller ones for each planet.

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

The game begins on the familiar planet from previous games in the series Pandora, 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 with skyscrapers, the headquarters of the Atlas corporation, and several districts where life buzzes in urban jungles. It is a harsh world, rivaling Pandora, with its pest animals, numerous security robots, and just a crazy AI.

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

Athena is a peaceful planet reminiscent of Earth with its picturesque plains filled with lush vegetation, dense forests, and deep lakes, high peaks propping up the sky. The population resides in cities, and spiritual guidance is provided by the monks of the "Order of the Gathering 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 appeared out of nowhere. A fight will be necessary to break through.

Necrotofeo — 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 is the capital of the Eridian civilization at the time of the catastrophe, after which all Eridians suddenly disappeared. If so, it is 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 grinding for increasingly cool weapons and ammunition, as well as character leveling. To unlock all possibilities, Borderlands 3 needs to be completed twice.

The new heroes have received a revamped skill tree, allowing for even more interesting and deadly builds, with diverse and unique abilities. As before, experience is gained through 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, SMGs, 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 at a target behind cover, and much more. Several new types of vehicles have been added, and their physics, handling, customization, and sound have been significantly improved. It is now easier to drive a vehicle and shoot from it on the move 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 added, 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 invented for Borderlands 3, such as a giant wheel powered by attached rocket engines.

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

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

In previous games in the series, numerous corporations and adventurers from all over the galaxy rushed to search for the remains of the alien civilization of aliens - the Eridians and their technology, as well as to develop the eridium resource. All this was securely sealed in the Vaults, which the game's heroes eventually plundered. And this time everything revolves around the Eridian Vaults with their incredibly dangerous technologies.

There are four characters in Borderlands 3 at launch, but you can expect a couple more in the expansions - as has been the case with all other parts. Here's what you need to know about the new heroes:

You can play through Borderlands 3 either alone or in co-op with friends (squads of up to four players). Progress and collected loot are saved for each player separately, but, unlike previous Borderlands, you can customize the loot drop parameters - for all players from one box or generated for each player separately (loot is issued according to the level and class of each character in the squad).

The usual way of passing Borderlands 3 has not changed - we appear in a new place, get a set of quests, clear the location to zero and move on. All squad members contribute according to their skills and watch common story videos and cut-scenes. The balancer also takes into account differences in character levels, so that players with large differences in level feel almost on an equal footing.

During the battle, players need to give their all and help each other - the opponents in the third part are noticeably more dangerous than the enemies from the previous games and in some modes they become “thicker” depending on the number of players. In addition to the main quest, you can complete small secondary tasks, participate in trials, and activate the “Mayhem” mode.