Think of it as Borderlands 1.2.5

So, guess what? There’s another Borderlands game coming. No, it’s not Borderlands 3. Taking time out to work on new technologies and, more importantly, new IP, Gearbox have enlisted the help of 2K Australia (formerly Irrational Games) to help them make a new, stand-alone Borderland experience. For the moment, the project is called the ‘Pre-sequel’, as it takes place between Borderlands 1 and Borderlands 2, and tries to tie those two stories together by charting the rise of Handsome Jack to power, and tying up some loose ends. Here’s the interesting thing – it’s NOT coming to next-gen. Like, at all.

I’ll admit I have a little bit of respect for the deliberate avoidance of new-generation platforms here. Sure, it probably sucks for Xbox One or PlayStation 4 owners, because there’s really not a lot for them right now, but I personally also feel sorry for all of these cross-generation projects as well. I may not be a game developer, but there’s no escaping the fact that catering for a lower hardware spec will cost a project overall in terms of scope.


The fact that Gearbox/2K Australia are just focusing on what they know and trying to make a really fun new experience for Borderlands fans is ok in my books. I think the best way to think about this is like a Halo 3: ODST, or Dead Island: Riptide, or something like that – a standalone ‘spin-off’ experience, with the only difference being its made by someone else. 2K Australia consider themselves to be massive fans of the franchise, and consider the pre-sequel as a “fan’s take” on things. The only thing I’ll say about that is that Halo 4 highlighted the pitfalls of “fans” working on a franchise they love.

We saw some footage of the game in action – it looks pretty fun. I think the harsh reality here is that it’s going to be little more than a Borderlands 2 set on the moon (and other places?), but there seems to be enough new game-concepts to keep things interesting and fresh, and there’s still a lot we haven’t seen. Here’s a run-down of everything we know about the game so far:

• Platforms will be Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC. Reasons for this are the usual ‘we’d rather cater to a proven market/install base’ business-driven thinking, however in a rather wonderful turn of phrase Randy Pitchford mentioned that there are less ‘new-generation’ consoles in the hands of consumers then there were copies sold of Borderlands 2. Ouch.

 

• No official release window, although a leak yesterday posited late 2014.

 

• Game is being “co-developed” by 2K Australia, formerly Irrational Games. We’re guessing most of the work is being done by the team down-under, but we’re not 100% of how the workload is split. On an unrelated note, many of the voices in the gameplay demo we saw had Australian accents. (Editor's Note: We've recently learned that the voices at the moment are placeholders, so expect this to change for the final release. We do know that Bruce Spence is doing some voice work for the gyrocopter scavenging in Borderlands Pre-sequel, who you'll know from Mad Max with the gyrocopter. I think he appears in the third film at the end too.)

 

• It is a standalone product – it does not require the ownership of any of the previous games, and there will be no data transference between this and B1 or B2.

 

• There will be four brand-new playable characters:

 

• Athena – from the General Knox DLC from Borderlands 1, she is the ‘Gladiator’ class, which is basically a tank. Her ability is this cool shield thing that can be thrown Captain America-style.
• Wilhelm – The first big boss from Borderlands 2. You meet him in his pre-robot phase, although a theme for his level-up tree is that you can slowly but surely make him more cybernetic, so that one day he can go on to have his ass kicked by nerds in Borderlands 2. The official name for his class is unknown, but it could be the ‘Enforcer’.
• Nisha, the Sherriff of Lynchwood – an optional boss from Borderlands 2, and the ladyfriend of Handsome Jack. The Official name for her class is ‘Lawbringer’.
• ClapTrap – that lovable skamp from Borderlands 2 and Borderlands 1. He will be a playable character in the ‘Pre-Sequel’, but they’re being very closed lip about what he will be like. The official name of his class is unknown, but I can confirm I saw him wearing a Green Beret.

 

• New Elemental Effects – There will be several new types of elemental effects and weapon types. The ones that were confirmed to us were ‘Cryo’, and Laser-based weapons. These can range from “pew-pew guns like from Star Wars”, or more sustained, lightning like laser weapons.

 

• Oxygen is a thing. A major setting for the Pre-Sequel is the Moon of Elpis. It is a low gravity environment, so you can run further, jump further etc... and there is also no oxygen, so a new gameplay feature called ‘Ox-Kits’ are involved. Their basic function is to supply your character with Oxygen when outside, but they can also add other bonus effects. Oxygen is also used to power your jetpack, and can either be replenished from an Oxygen Generator or looted.

 

• Butt-Stomp. You can stomp down on the ground with your butt. This is a thing. Ox-kits can modified the damage and effects of Butt-stomping. We like using the word butt-stomping.

 

• We saw a new hover-vehicle called the Stingray. We don’t know what it does, but it looked cool.

 

• We know the game has several gameplay sections on the Moon and the Moonbase, but we don’t know if these are the ONLY locations.

And that’s everything we found out from our hour-long presentation, which was really a video of another presentation made to people who weren’t us, but we won’t hold it against them. There might have been the odd tid-bit I missed, but this is most of the available information so far. We’ll keep you posted if we hear anything of anything else.