Borderlands: A Story of Loot, Lunacy and Legends

Borderlands (2009): The Birth of the Looter-Shooter

The original Borderlands arrived with an aesthetic punch: a gritty, hand-drawn comic book style that set it apart immediately. We were introduced to the desolate, lawless planet of Pandora and the very first set of Vault Hunters: Lilith, Roland, Mordecai, and Brick.

The plot was simple: find the mythical Vault filled with alien treasure. But the true hook was the procedural loot system. Every gun, shield, and grenade mod was potentially unique, creating a powerful gameplay loop where you were always chasing that next Legendary drop. While its narrative was light, it laid the essential foundation: four-player co-op, deep skill trees, and a world where every bandit was a potential gold mine.

Borderlands 2 (2012): The Franchise Defined

Borderlands 2 is often hailed as the best of the series, primarily due to the introduction of its iconic villain: Handsome Jack. This megalomaniacal, fourth-wall-breaking CEO of the Hyperion Corporation single-handedly elevated the narrative, providing a constant, hilarious, and genuinely menacing presence.

The game refined everything from the original. Skill trees became deeper, gun manufacturers felt more distinct, and the world expanded beyond Pandora's desert to include frozen wastes and sprawling cities. We followed a new group of Vault Hunters, but the game excelled at weaving in the original cast as key supporting characters, turning the hunt for the Vault into a desperate fight for the soul of Pandora.

Borderlands 3 (2019): Taking the Mayhem Interstellar

After a detour with The Pre-Sequel (which explored Handsome Jack's origin), Borderlands 3 ripped the borders off the franchise entirely. The core loop remained, but the action went interstellar. For the first time, players could journey to multiple new planets, each with its own unique environments, enemies, and cultures.

The scale of the game grew exponentially, and the gameplay received a significant overhaul, introducing sliding and mantling for faster, more dynamic movement. Though its villains, the Calypso Twins, proved divisive, the sheer quality of the gunplay and the depth of the Vault Hunter builds cemented the game as a modern co-op masterpiece. It was a massive, bombastic culmination of everything the series had built.

Borderlands 4 (2025): A Seamless New Frontier

The newest chapter, Borderlands 4, is poised to continue the tradition of evolution. Leaving the familiar chaos of Pandora behind once more, the game takes players to the brand-new planet of Kairos, ruled by the tyrannical Timekeeper.

Borderlands 4 doubles down on player movement, introducing mechanics like gliding and grappling to make the traversal and combat faster and more fluid than ever before. Critically, it features a seamless world structure, eliminating loading screens between major zones, making Kairos feel like the most open and connected Borderlands environment yet. With four new Vault Hunters and an improved loot system that even mixes manufacturer parts, Borderlands 4 promises to carry the torch, proving that the chase for the next perfect gun will never truly end.

Claim Your Loot: The Borderlands Collection

Whether you're revisiting the classic Handsome Jack saga in Borderlands 2, exploring the planetary chaos of Borderlands 3, or preparing to face the Timekeeper on Kairos in the brand new Borderlands 4, the mayhem never stops. Don't let a lack of legendary loot slow your Vault Hunter down! Find everything you need—from pre-orders for the latest adventure to the base games and DLCs that started it all—by checking out our complete selection of Borderlands products today