Borderlands 4 vs 3: The 7 biggest differences we have noticed

Borderlands 4 promises to be a truly evolutionary step forward for the legendary looter-shooter franchise from developer Gearbox Software. Not just that, but it is also set to correct many of the predecessor game, Borderlands 3's mistakes, to create an experience that will truly appeal to hardcore fans who felt the 2019 entry missed the mark.

Here are seven key changes we have noticed that should make a game-changing difference for returning players while also making the journey more enjoyable for newcomers.

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7 biggest changes from Borderlands 3 that are coming to Borderlands 4

1) The humor is more grounded than before

Borderlands 3 has been widely panned since launch for its lackluster humor and writing (Image via 2K)

One of the biggest complaints about Borderlands 3 was its humor, or more precisely, the writing, that often veered into lame or unfunny territory. While crude humor has been a staple of the series since the original entry, the latest mainline entry was considered the worst offender, with jokes that fell flat and relied on outdated internet memes for jokes.

The upcoming entry appears to be a return to form, with nearly none of the bad humor that fans have complained about in all the demo presentations shown thus far, instead featuring a more serious and grounded narrative tone. In fact, Gearbox Software has gone above and beyond to give the partly-beloved-partly-hated series mascot Claptrap a volume slider so players can shut him up if he gets too annoying.

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2) Far superior mobility across one big seamless planet

Digi-Runners can also be summoned at any point during exploration (Image via 2K)

Unlike the segmented sandboxes of its predecessors, including Borderlands 3, Borderlands 4's setting of Kairos features a seamless open-world space to traverse through. The new planet features virtually no loading times across its several biomes, alongside freeform exploration that extends to even the skies, with the moon Elpis also being explorable.

As if that wasn't enough, all of this is married with a never-before-seen level of freedom in the way of newfound verticality that was absent in Borderlands 3. All Vault Hunters have a new set of mobility abilities to explore this dense open-world and use in combat, including wall-climbing and grappling, which is a stark departure from the on-ground run-and-gun gameplay of Borderlands 3.

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3) A truly dynamic, lived-in world

Borderlands 3's planets often felt quite barren and lacked a lived-in spirit (Image via 2K)

Piggybacking off the topic of the planet of Kairos, Borderlands 4's rendition aims to be the most realistic. Although Borderlands 3 took place across several planets, its levels felt quite inorganic and sparse despite having ample space. This upcoming sequel changes that with not just density but also depth.

For example, the open world will feature a ton of lively NPC AI across its zones, who will interact with one another in interesting ways, if not fill up the world, including towns. This is topped by dynamic events that will keep the journey across two points fresh, from a migrating horde of alien critters to surprise mini-boss spawns.

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4) ECHO-4 is a new, helpful tag-along buddy

A new adorable companion arrives in Borderlands 4 (Image via 2K)

Further augmenting the exploration aspect of this new sandbox world is ECHO-4. The latest mini-robot will follow players around and aid their fight against the antagonistic Timekeeper, the tyrant ruler of Kairos. In a nutshell, ECHO-4 introduces a level of QOL depth that would make going back to Borderlands 3 hard.

This includes hacking terminals to scanning the environment. The small drone will be an indispensable tool for navigating the world, which makes sense as it is a truly seamless affair now, unlike Borderlands 3. Case in point: ECHO-4 can also highlight objects of interest in the world and guide players to objectives.

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5) A LOT more guns and Legendaries will truly be rare this time

Legendaries were far too common to deserve that title in Borderlands 3 (Image via 2K)

Guns are the name of the game here and have been since the start, as this is a looter-shooter RPG. Legendary-tier gear with its unique properties and high rarity is the object of desire of every Vault Hunter; however, Borderlands 3 diluted this mantra with very generous drop rates for orange-tier loot. Borderlands 4 sets out to fix this with much rarer drops that make farming for them satisfying.

Furthermore, Borderlands 4 promises 30 billion gun possibilities that can drop, thanks to a refined loot permutations system; this is a 30 times increase over Borderlands 3's 1 billion number. This ridiculously high count is facilitated by the new Licensed Parts system, which allows loot to have parts from different weapon manufacturers.

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6) No ammo required for heavy weapons

Heavy weapons now occupy their own separate slot in Borderlands 4 (Image via 2K)

Heavy weapons like rocket launchers have been a staple part of the series thanks to their high damage output, which can allow for easy Second Winds to defeat weaker foes in a pinch if players fall in combat. As such, this, alongside high ammo costs, made using them situational in Borderlands 3 and before, so Gearbox Software is changing that with the introduction of the Ordinance mechanic.

This time, heavy weapons are tied to a separate Ordinance slot instead of the standard one, which frees up space for more general-variety weapons to equip. What's more is that Ordinance will not use ammo, and instead are on a Cooldown timer, so players can use them frequently without worrying about ammo.

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7) Bosses and missions are finally truly replayable

Replaying missions in Borderlands 3 was impossible without resetting story progression, while bosses required quitting and reloading the saved game (Image via 2K)

With farming regions and bosses for resources and Legendary gear being an integral part of the Borderlands gameplay loop, Borderlands 4 is refining these, too. Borderlands 3 followed the traditional design of needing to quit to the menu and reloading the save file to replay a defeated boss, with no way to re-run missions.

Borderlands 4, meanwhile, boasts a Moxxi's Encore machine near every boss arena that re-summons a defeated boss without having to quit the game. Additionally, missions are now replayable, so players can rerun specific side missions for its unique loot as many times as required.

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Borderlands heads to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S on September 12, 2025, and Nintendo Switch 2 on October 3, 2025.

Check out more articles:

• Do you need to play Borderlands 3 before Borderlands 4?
• Is the Borderlands 4 Super Deluxe Edition worth buying?
• All voice actors in Borderlands 4