Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford has been discussing the inspirations behind the original Borderlands, pointing to Wolfenstein 3D and Diablo as particularly influential games.
In a new interview shared on the Epic Games site, Pitchford explains the development of Borderlands 1 by more widely looking at the looter shooter genre, which Gearbox's series helped popularize. "The fundamental thesis that I started with on Borderlands was, 'Let's blend the moment-to-moment fun of a shooter with the long-term, compelling feelings that we get from the growth and progression of role-playing games," he explains.
Later in the interview, Pitchford discusses the games that inspired the original Borderlands and its combination of skill-based action with that satisfying loot grind, explaining: "Before I played Wolfenstein 3D, I was strictly a roleplaying game guy, both in the games I loved to play, but also in the games I was making. When Wolfenstein came out, it really changed something. It made me find a thrill and a joy in action games."
He then mentions Diablo, specifically in relation to how its loot drives players to keep playing in order to continually grow. "These two genres can't be further apart," he says, adding: "The skill to play Diablo is the same skill that is required to launch the application."
Pitchford continues: "What we did [with Borderlands] is we committed to the shooter aspects, our shooter gameplay, and that moment-to-moment fun holds up. All that skilled play works." On top of that, "all that long-term play, the ambition of progression, and the feeling of progression has to work, too."
It's a formula that's served the series well up to this point, and hopefully it'll continue to for Borderlands 4, which is set to release PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on September 12, before arriving on Switch 2 on October 3.
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