Borderlands 3 release date. Gearbox has now confirmed a release date of September 13, 2019.
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Where Borderlands 3's announcement fell short, its first gameplay reveal succeeded. Not only did we recognize everything we love about Borderlands in the 90-minute demo that we played at a press event, the gameplay wowed us with a bunch of new mechanics and features. Combat is a lot faster now, thanks in large part to the addition of Titanfall 2-inspired mechanics, and there's more strategic potential in how you build and outfit your chosen Vault Hunter with the game's new features. You can watch our full impressions in the video below.
Like previous Borderlands games, Borderlands 3 gives you the choice of four playable Vault Hunters right at the start. Pictured below--and going from left to right--they are Amara the Siren, FL4K the Beastmaster, Moze the Gunner, and Zane the Operative.
This time around, Borderlands 3 is changing things up by giving all four Vault Hunters three unique active skills for each of their three different skill trees. This vastly increases the amount of builds you can create for each character, and makes it far easier to make a more balanced Vault Hunter suitable for solo play.
So far, Gearbox has only revealed the skill trees for Amara and Zane, as well as what's special about each one that differentiates them from their fellow Vault Hunters. In Amara's case, her skill trees allow her to change the elemental effect of her active skills, meaning she can dish out whichever elemental damage you like using the most. Zane, on the other hand, can sacrifice his use of grenades to equip two of his three active skills at the same time, allowing you to create builds that take advantage of the operative's vast array of high-tech gear and hologram technology.
Borderlands 3's combat is a lot faster than its predecessors, thanks in large part to the addition of sliding and vaulting. Enemies strategically move around the map more often instead of just charging you, and the environment can regularly be used to your advantage. This creates combat scenarios where you hunt down enemies, as opposed to engaging in stationary battles.
To help, many of Borderlands 3's guns have alternate fire modes. With this minor addition, your arsenal in Borderlands 3 is basically twice as large as it was in Borderlands 2. It's easier to take advantage of elemental effects as well, since the addition of alternate fire modes allows you to more easily utilize a wide range of elemental damage. Borderlands 3 also doubles down on the differences established by gun brands, making unique effects for each one. All of these differences can be viewed in the video below.
To help you keep track of where you're looted, Borderlands 3's new 3D map tracks both your position and elevation, as well as where you haven't been before. If you don't want to miss out on any loot, and you're playing with other people, you can enable a new option that makes sure every piece of loot drops for every player present--and every gun will scale to your respective levels too.
It wouldn't be a Borderlands game without some memorable new allies to befriend and enemies to kill. On one of the new planets you visit, Promethea, you meet a resistance fighter named Lorelei, who's penchant for murder is only quelled once you've delivered her a cup of coffee and a burger. Throughout the game, you'll be going up against the Children of the Vault, a cult devoted to its leaders, the Calypso twins, who are inspired by 'really annoying' streamers.
Unfortunately, Handsome Jack is gone for good, but his presence will still be felt in Borderlands 3. His daughter, Angel, will most likely as well--despite being dead--as she's one of the Sirens, all of whom are 'very important' to Borderlands 3's story.
Many of the series' characters are returning in Borderlands 3, which includes folks from Borderlands, Borderlands 2, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, and Telltale's episodic spin-off Tales from the Borderlands. Below you'll find the confirmed returning characters so far.
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The Borderlands 3 announcement trailer above is pretty dense: a whirlwind tour of the game's new and returning characters, new planets and a tiny slice of the billion guns that can potentially be conjured up. There's a lot to break down, especially after this year's E3, so lets get to it.
Below, we've summarized all the details we gathered from that time playing Borderlands 3 at a preview event, everything we found out during the PC Gaming Show, as well as interviews and trailers, in one place.
The Borderlands 3 release date is September 13, and the game will release on the Epic Store exclusively until April 2020.