Borderlands boss Randy Pitchford hyped up the Borderlands 4 trailer as much as he could, but series fans feel burned by "bland" Vault Hunters: "They look so generic"

The Borderlands 4 trailer that Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford spent most of last week hyping up dropped at The Game Awards last night, but several fans have come away feeling as though its cast leaves something to be desired.

The Borderlands 4 trailer offered weapons, gadgets, and plenty of bad guys in its chaotic runtime during The Game Awards. It also showed off the game's cast of Vault Hunters - a heavy-set brute, a minigun wielding chaos merchant, the series-standard magical Siren character, and a final character who seems from the outset to just be a hot guy along for the ride.

Unfortunately for Pitchford, those Hunters seem to be the least-popular takeaway from the trailer. Multiple posts across the Borderlands subreddit and its Borderlands 4-specific sister community described the hunters as "bland." One player says the designs "might be my least favorite in the franchise," and while several others suggest we probably need to wait to see their skill trees before we can  reach a final verdict, the sentiment is pretty widespread.

One post suggests that the trailer suffered from its pre-reveal hype, claiming that if it had been shadow-dropped (as was likely intended given Pitchford says he wasn't supposed to talk about it in advance, an instruction he roundly ignored) it would have had far more impact than it did. It does also feel as though the Hunters have been somewhat hindered by some rough lighting choices - they do blend into the background a little too much for my liking in their big team-up shot. We've still got no real release date beyond a 2025 window for Borderlands 4, so there's plenty of time to address that, but it'll be interested to see how this particular criticism holds up against an otherwise relatively well-received trailer.

Borderlands 4 is set to be "the most ambitious Borderlands yet."