Developer Gearbox has released a new video for Borderlands 4. Part of a new series dubbed Beyond the Borderlands, the first video revolves around the subject of “Making a Vault Hunter”, and focuses on the four playable characters in the upcoming co-op looter shooter. Check video, which you can check out below, also features members of the game’s development team.
“Vault Hunters at their core are like treasure hunters, bounty seekers.” explains creative director Graeme Timmins. “They kind of live on the edge. They’re fine taking matters into their own hands. Kind of play in that gray space between what’s right and what’s wrong. Ultimately, they’re after a buck, or riches, power, glory, you name it. And they’re willing to do what they want to get to it.”
Managing director of narrative, Lin Joyce, also helps further expand details on the motivation that Vault Hunters have behind setting off on their quest. Joyce notes that, while Vault Hunters might be looking for treasure, they also have a tendency to embrace the chaos that the game’s main settings typically entail.
“It starts with pitches from within the company,” explains Joyce about the studio’s process for creating a Vault Hunter. “Anyone in the company can pitch a Vault Hunter. We play the game so much that we start to think about what we would want to see in it next. We collect pitches at the company level. We review those pitches and narrow it down. Often we’ll take elements of multiple pitches and put them together to make something even more badass. And then it really goes to design.”
Art director Adam May explains that the design of a Vault Hunter often ends up taking different aspects of the character into account. While the character needs to be appealing and relatable for players, the character also has to indicate what their play style and even personality might be through just their design. This also means that the design of a character is often a collaborative process between the game’s design and concept teams, according to Timmins.
Lead game designer Nick Thurston explains that “the guiding principles of Borderlands is just in general to be badass.” He goes on to explain that “the abilities, the gear, everything, it all has to be the things that our community expects. They can be from any walk of life, they can bring anything to the table, but ultimately, they have to be cool, and they have to be fun to play.”
Borderlands 4 is slated for release on September 12, and will be coming to PC, PS5, Xbox series X/S and Nintendo Switch 2. In keeping with the franchise’s tradition, the upcoming title will allow players to take on its campaign in single-player, as well as in multiplayer co-op with up to three partners.
Recently, studio head Randy Pitchford spoke about Borderlands 4 being an improvement over its predecessors in just about every way possible, including in terms of subjective metrics. In the meantime, Pitchford has also noted that the studio and publisher 2K Games will be announcing the price of Borderlands 4 “soon”.
