Borderlands 4 has "hundreds of feet" in open world verticality, Gearbox head claims

As we inch closer to the launch of Borderlands 4, new exciting details come to light. Gamers Guide spoke to Gearbox Software founder Randy Pitchford during Gamescom 2025, who touched upon how the upcoming open-world looter-shooter's sandbox is a truly evolutionary step forward. While the series has featured closed-off explorable environments before, things are seamless now.

This has enabled the developers to create an open world that channels the spirit of games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild or Elden Ring with a very similar mantra of "go where you see". Here are the details.

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Borderlands 4 will boast open-world verticality like no other series entry

Fnas will have to wait until launch to find out what new discoveries await them on Kairos' open world (Image via 2K)

During the interview, Pitchford was questioned about the biggest change coming to the series with this new entry: the world itself. After years of being shackled by the limitations of past systems, they can finally create a truly seamless open-world planet. In fact, Borderlands 4 promises to be one that players can explore from the lowest depths to the highest points.

Here's how Randy explained it:

"Borderlands 4 is actually the biggest game we've ever made and by building the planet (Kairos) - its as wide as it's ever been. You can see a vista in the distance, so a huge mountain; a deep valley with a river running through it; the moon of Elpis, up in the sky - everything you can see, you can get to and explore."

He continued, further touching on how truly tangible everything in the world is:

"I see a mountain up there, and I'm gonna jump off the cliff and use a sniper rifle - I could never really do that before. Honestly, in every area of (past) Borderlands (games), the highest point in combat, its about 15 feet max; in Borderlands 4, its hundreds of feet depending on combat in the space or environment you're in."

He also noted that the "flexibility of the environment" was a significant aspect of this game's design. In other words, players have many more avenues of combat now, so they can, for example, perch on a vantage point to cover teammates as they fight an overworld mini-boss in Borderlands 4.

To ensure this newfound verticality, a host of new abilities have been added for every Vault Hunter to use. From standard sprinting and sliding, to grapple hook jumps and wall climbing, and even gliding through the air to get to unique points of interest. That isn't all, however.

This level of freedom also affects how story and mission progression play out, with players now able to tackle missions in the order they desire instead of having to follow a linear formula, where they have to go from point A to B. While there is a robust selection of key story missions to beat, Pitchford promises that players can ignore all of that and engage with the world and its side content for hours.

The seamless drop-in/drop-out four-player co-op is, of course, the cherry on top of this open-world cake, so we can't wait to see how it all falls together in place.

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Borderlands 4 launches on September 12, 2025, for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, while the Nintendo Switch 2 version drops on October 3, 2025.