BEYOND PANDORA

I’m in LA, in a ‘secret location’—it’s a warehouse—to experience the grand unveiling of Borderlands 3. It’s early in the day, and I’m still slightly jetlagged. On stage, projected onto a giant screen, Claptrap is doing a dance. His shrieks echo throughout the building. Having established that the series’ mascot is back, and—depending on your perspective—as funny or as too-irritating-for-this-time-of-the-morning as usual, the demo continues. There’s banter, there’s wasteland combat, and there’s a miniboss. “Shiv,” introduces the title card. “Brought a knife to a gun fight.” Borderlands is back.

I’m initially underwhelmed. The early demo introduces some new movement options—sliding and mantling—but nothing that feels like a bold new direction for the series. An iterative sequel is all fine and well, but I’ve been fighting through Borderlands’ wastelands for tens—maybe hundreds—of hours. Is more of the same really enough?

Then, about 40 minutes into the demo, it happens. The demo skips ahead, and we’re introduced to Sanctuary III. It’s ’s new hub—a safe zone where players can chat with NPCs, shop, pick up quests, and test weapons. It’s also a spaceship. From the bridge, we can see the place that has defined the series up to this point: The planet of