The First ‘Borderlands 3’ Trailer Promises “One Billion” Guns

Despite its noted sense of mayhem, the Borderlands franchise has always been, at its heart, rather simple.

The first two instalments of the series are colourful, exuberant shooters with RPG elements, full of enjoyable gameplay and astoundingly direct stories. In both, you play a vault hunter, so within about five minutes, the game sets you on a path to finding a vault. Simple.

Indeed, unlike other AAA franchises, Borderlands has never been about story, or even particularly innovative gameplay. The unique selling point that the series brings to the table is sheer, off-the-wall exuberance — bonkers, despicable and handsome characters; an array of guns so outlandish and lethal that they’d make Acme corporation blush; and a side mission where a man begs you to shoot him in the face.

Well, if a formula ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and if the newly-dropped Borderlands 3 trailer is anything to go off, Gearbox has leaned into the very strengths that have long made the series great.

To wit: the trailer features barely anything in the way of a story, aside from the brief hint that there are “baddies”. Instead, it’s a showcase for the lunacy that the audience has come to expect, from the promise of “one billion” guns (one of them even has honest-to-God little legs), to an array of Lovecraftian, technicolour beasties; to a cast of characters that look like they fell into a vat of toxic Dangerfield branding.

It’s all very silly of course, down to the trailer’s surprise sax solo and literally formulaic finale, but what else would one feasibly expect the first taste of a Borderlands game to look like? Let’s just hope, after two bizarre and confused false steps — Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel and Tales From The Borderlands — this battered, psychedelic old train is finally back on the right rails.

It’s not clear when the game will drop, but given rumours, it’d be prudent to expect it around October this year.