While there are no raid-style encounters (at least yet), thereвЂ™s plenty more to see, do, shoot and loot once you roll credits on the main campaign. Where Borderlands 3 packs its most welcome surprise is in its endgame content. ItвЂ™s often more fun to use the gameвЂ™s litany of junkyard scrappers to cover large stretches before hopping out to deal damage on foot. Unfortunately, both vehicular traversal and combat feel too imprecise to be anything more than a novelty that wears thin quickly, despite the ability to customize vehicles and summon them often. In fact, Borderlands 3 arguably offers better RPG systems than any shared-world shooter, despite that genreвЂ™s focus on constructing a character that fits a playstyle. Loot can be instanced or fought over, while each class has four skill trees to pour experience into which can result in vastly different character builds. When combining all four charactersвЂ™ active skills, attributes and varied weaponry in co-op, Borderlands 3 is the perfect way to spend an evening with friends. For our money, Amara offers the most badassery for your buck, able to summon phantom limbs from the ground to smash and slam enemies. Meanwhile, MozeвЂ™s ability to summon a mech is a perfect last resort manoeuvre, and FL4KвЂ™s various monster minions can quickly thin a horde. ZaneвЂ™s ability to throw out a clone of himself that can deal damage is great, but being able to switch places with said clone (essentially teleporting) is a game-changer. These weapons can be wielded by one of the franchiseвЂ™s trademark four classes, and each offers a surprisingly diverse play-style. Your character can now vault and slide, and while these feel long overdue and seemingly minor at first, trying to return to (the admittedly excellent) Borderlands 2 without being able to hop over small pieces of level geometry or baseball slide with a shotgun blast shows just how big a difference these small tweaks can make. Gunplay feels great, but movement is where Borderlands 3 has taken baby steps to offer a more modern experience. Many weapons now have alternate firing modes, so the most unassuming pistol can fire rockets or become a taser with a click of a button. One early submachine gun offered dual sights but no real other perks, but flicking between both optics was so satisfying that we kept using it long after its utility wore off. While youвЂ™ll be constantly cycling out weapons again and again to test out new ones, the design of each feels lovingly handcrafted. The much-publicized вЂguns on legsвЂ™ are fun, as are guns that double as throwable explosives when reloading, guns that send enemies flying sky high, or guns that eat through currency when used.Дespite the variety, each feels given its chance to shine. Weaponry is once again the star of the show, and guns in Borderlands 3 are impressively varied. Thankfully the reason youвЂ™re probably here, the gunplay, feels just as good as it ever has. Each of the new environments stand apart from each other, from PrometheaвЂ™s huge structures and urban streets to the swampy depths of Eden-6 that widen the franchiseвЂ™s color palette tenfold.Д«orderlands 3вЂ™s commitment to its aesthetic is inspiring, and once again the cel-shaded design, complete with thick outlines combines with excellent use of color and the aforementioned new intergalactic beauty spots to form a kind of mayhem-laden comic-book fever dream. While Pandora has its own charm, itвЂ™s exciting to leave the wasteland behind in search of more exciting climates. Thankfully, in its jump to the current generation, Borderlands 3 offers more exciting locales too. Returning to Pandora feels like a homecoming - if the home youвЂ™re returning to is a Mad Max-inspired desert planet where the only thing more dangerous than the bandits wreaking havoc in its arid spaces is the local wildlife. I suppose you could say itвЂ™s sticking to its seemingly endless number of guns. Borderlands 3 doubles down on everything that makes the franchise great, but also maintains some of the seriesвЂ™ less enjoyable idiosyncrasies. Players earn loot at an almost obscene rate, constantly unlocking new weapons and abilities with which to battle through stylized environments. For the uninitiated, the Borderlands franchise is built upon the pursuit of gear.

Borderlands pc review