Borderlands 4’s State of Play presentation gave viewers an action-packed look at its gameplay.
Gearbox Software and 2K Games showed off their upcoming looter-shooter Borderlands 4 in a 20-minute State of Play presentation this week (1 May, 2025). The game looks to deliver more of the frenzied loot-and-shoot action that fans of the franchise love, with a few new gameplay twists involving weapon types, traversal, and more.
Here’s the State of Play presentation:
Borderlands 4 unveils State of Play gameplay deep dive
Borderlands 4’s previously-announced State of Play presentation went live on PlayStation’s social media channels this week, showing off more of what its developers call “hands-down our best Borderlands ever.” The presentation was 20 minutes long, showing off the game’s new traversal mechanics, new weapon types, and vault hunters.
Borderlands 3 was criticised at launch for being cartoonish and–I can only speak for myself here–tediously unfunny. Fortunately, Gearbox claims that its sequel harkens back to an era when Borderlands was more “grounded,” perhaps in reference to its new setting: the planet Kairos, which is in the midst of a violent power struggle.
Here, players will take on the roles of four Vault Hunters fighting in a rebellion against the villainous Timekeeper. Like past games, these Vault Hunters come armed with unique sets of abilities. Vex is this game’s Siren with telekinetic powers and summonable minions, and Rafa has an Iron Man-like exo-suit. We also noticed two more Vault Hunters during this State of Play, but their powers were not made clear.
These Vault Hunters will be able to get around Kairos in a variety of ways, including grappling, double-jumping, and gliding. Other characters like Claptrap, Moxxi, Amara, and Zane return from previous games in this campaign. Interestingly, the game also features all-new weapon manufacturers, from whom come weapons with different combat effects. In addition to the returning Tediore, Maliwan, Jakobs, Vladof, and Torgue guns, the game also has new Order, Ripper, and Daedalus guns.
There is yet another layer to this bullet-ridden cake: a new Licensed Parts system, which allows players to find weapons modded out by various manufacturers, and thus come equipped with multiple effects.
Borderlands 4 launches on 12 September, 2025, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
