Gearbox says designing Borderlands 4's Siren was "development hell" due to their visual ambitions, but thankfully it's all shaping up to be worth it.
The studio is currently releasing small glimpses into how the latest Borderlands game was made as we near its release date, and the latest sheds some light on how "goth girl" Vex came together visually.
The short answer is, not without a lot of effort. Associate art director Max Davenport says Vex is Gearbox's "darkest take" on the Siren class so far, which is something you have to see immediately.
As such, Vex is largely shrouded in blacks and purples, but will still change depending on what you're doing in-game. Gearbox wanted that dark and smoky demeanor to come through in the gameplay, with her various tattoos reacting to what action skills she was using. However, using a weapon with a poison element can cause her tattoos to glow green in response.
Lead FX artist Ashley Lyons also shares that some of the challenge in designing Vex was that she was the first vault hunter to be put together – as such, the team was still getting to grips with what could be done with the engine at their disposal.
As ever, it's the small details like that which make the difference but feel minute when spoken about in isolation. Regardless, Gearbox sounds excited over what it's pulled off, even if it meant going through "development hell" to get there.
"It was development hell getting stuff to work, but I think in the end it looks so fantastic and so amazing that I'm glad that we were able to get it and make it work the way it did because it's like the chef's kiss to her action skills, and I think it works extremely well," Lyons says.
As ever, we need only wait and see how it all turns out. Borderlands 4 releases September 12.
