The story has never been the franchise’s strongest point, so under new owner Take-Two, Gearbox is trying to change that.

With Borderlands 4, Gearbox promised to tone down the toilet humor and irreverent meme culture. Judging by the latest story explainer for Beyond the Borderlands #2, it looks like they’re keeping that promise. Not every idea lands perfectly, though. Plenty of stories have brilliant concepts but poor execution—ideas still matter, and these are far from half-baked.

Borderlands 4 is set on a prison planet called Kairos after Elpis appears in its atmosphere. This moon was teleported away in the bizarre ending of Borderlands 3, where Lilith sacrifices herself just as Alicia Keys’s Girl on Fire kicks in. Kairos was already a mess, and now it’s even worse—ruled by the Timekeeper, who’s implanted a remote kill switch called a “bolt” in everyone’s neck that lets him see through their eyes.

The video goes on to introduce several factions: the crashed Outbounder, the miner Augur, and the temporarily deranged billionaires known as the Electi. Every zone has a faction like this, plus a Timekeeper boss. The dull streamer villain duo from Borderlands 3 set the bar low, but if a dungeon master came to us with this as a campaign setting, we’d still be intrigued.

Lin Joyce, head of creative, said that when they approached writing the Timekeeper, they naturally revisited all their previous villains and considered taking a new approach. Sam Winkler, narrative director, added that they wanted to recapture the sense of dread around the villain… someone always present but not overplayed. It’s a subtle nod to Handsome Jack, who was a decent villain the franchise has never truly replicated.

Borderlands 4 launches September 12 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC. A Nintendo Switch 2 version will come later.

Source: PCGamer