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Borderlands 4 isn't a "cynical" sequel, and Gearbox wants to prove it by providing a movement overhaul akin to Borderlands 3's improved gunplay.
Speaking to GamesRadar+ as part of our Borderlands 4 preview, lead writer Taylor Clark says that "Borderlands is almost old enough to drive. It would be strange if it weren't constantly growing and adapting. And that's not because we're trying to meet the market in some cynical way."
In other words, Gearbox isn't only making another sequel for the sake of making a sequel. "We are a creative team and there are ideas that we want to express through Borderlands 4," Clark explains. There are "ways that we want to make it feel like we're breaking fresh ground again."
For Borderlands 4, that fresh ground is to be found in a particular focus on how you get around. A more open-world entry than any of its predecessors, Borderlands 4 offers the ability to conjure its Digirunner vehicles wherever you are, but an emphasis of movement is said to pervade the whole game. According to executive producer Chris Brock, that's because Gearbox "wanted to take that same focused approach" that the studio had on Borderlands 3's combat overhaul, "but this time for movement and exploration."
According to Clark, that means "less borders, more lands," as well as "virtually no loading times" and a non-linear approach to the campaign that lets you deal with main missions "in pretty much any order." Not all of that is directly attached to movement, but it's a free-form approach to Borderlands that hasn't really been a major part of previous entries.
As well as making its own new stamp on movement, Gearbox is listening to fans, announcing an optional combat radar for Borderlands 4 in response to fans who mourned the loss of an in-game map. It's not quite ready yet, but it's been put together extremely quickly, implying that the studio might still have a few things it's yet to reveal ahead of the September release date.
