While the recently-released Borderlands 4 might have avoided the harshest criticisms that Borderlands 3 faced, which largely had to do with the 2019 looter shooter’s overall story and characters, it looks like this was a narrowly-avoided fate. Borderlands series modder and dataminer EpicNNG has taken to social media to reveal that the files for Borderlands 4 contain references to Borderlands 3 character Ava. However, the character was seemingly cut out of the title before its release. Spoilers for Borderlands 3 and 4 below.
In their post, EpicNNG noted that there were quite a few files related to Ava all over Borderlands 4. However, the dataminer also mentioned that the character was seemingly replaced with the player Siren from 3 – Amara – instead. This means that Ava would have been involved with plans to rescue Lilith by teaming up with another Borderlands 3 player character, Zane, in a previous incarnation of Borderlands 4.
“There are numerous files related to her in the game, more specifically outlining that she was completely replaced by Amara late in development,” wrote EpicNNG on social media platform X. “This means yes, she was originally going to team up with Zane to help save Lilith.”
This also would have meant that Ava would have been hanging out in the game’s world where Sanctuary 3 crash landed. This, the modder noted, was why Amara’s abilities in Borderlands 4 were so close to those of Ava’s, including a protective bubble that Amara uses at a certain point in the campaign of Borderlands 4. Despite this, however, EpicNNG also mentioned that, aside from references in some of the internal files of Borderlands 4, all mentions of Ava have essentially been purged from the game. This includes character models, textures, and even audio files. It is worth noting, however, that we might get to see Ava make an appearance further down the line through a DLC released for Borderlands 4.
However, developer Gearbox Entertainment has been silent on the issue, which should come as no surprise since Ava was a highly divisive character throughout the story of Borderlands 3. Many Borderlands fans have been vocal about their dislike for the character, who first showed up in Borderlands 3 as part of Maya’s stretch of the story. While some may note that Ava makes irrational decisions that lead to more trouble throughout the story, Gearbox did try to correct course a little bit with some character development she gets courtesy of post-launch missions that were added to the game.
Borderlands 4 was released on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S back in September. Since its release, however, plenty of players have complained about quite a few performance hiccups. Due to this, Gearbox has decided to push back a planned Nintendo Switch 2 version to a later date. For more details, check out our review.
In the meantime, also check out what’s in store for Borderlands 4 through its DLC, specifically in the form of new playable character C4SH, who was teased with a short trailer last week. The character will be released as part of the Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned story pack.
