Considering the fact that Borderlands 4 is a big mainline new entry in the franchise, it should come as no surprise that the title will see improvements over its predecessor when it comes to gameplay. One such improvement has seemingly been made to the progression system, with character designer Nick Thurston revealing that Baldur’s Gate 3 and the two Path of Exile titles both served as inspirations for Borderlands 4.
In an interview with Polygon, Thurston spoke about one of the new playable characters in Borderlands 4, Amon, and his skillset and his personality. Comparing him to a Barbarian out of Dungeons & Dragons, Thurston noted that, while Amon might feel like a bit one-note, more dimensions are added to his character thanks to his backstory of surviving a cult and having “that kernel of rage inside of him that fuels him.” This aspect was likely directly inspired by the deeper characters of Baldur’s Gate 3.
When it comes to being inspired by Path of Exile, it all comes down to gameplay, the variety of build options that players will have, and the endgame in Borderlands 4. Thurston spoke about how each character now has several more ways to be built out when it comes to their various skill trees.
“I’m a min-maxer. When I play an action RPG, I want to hit the end game and be doing billions of damage, but I want to do it in the way I want to do,” he explained. “In a lot of cases, there have been times where previous characters in our franchise have been very focused on one thing. But it was always really important to me that if you have this really cool character, you’re going to want to use him in a bunch of different ways.”
Thurston also brings up the idea that a team going through a mission in Borderlands 4 might just consist of four Amons. However, the variety of build options means that there’s a good chance that all four Amons will have their own unique gameplay styles.
“For me, whenever I’m playing an RPG and my friend picks a class, I don’t want to pick the same class. It’s like you’re already doing this function, why do I need to do it?” Thurston noted. “In previous Borderlands titles, you could be like ‘If you’re going to be Zero and I’m going to be Zero then we’re both going to do the same thing.’ Maybe that’s fine and fun for you, but I really want to be like, we have four Amons in this group and every single one of them has a different build.”
As the month rolls on, Borderlands 4 is getting closer and closer to its September 12 release date on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and October 3 release for the Nintendo Switch 2. Art director for the game, Adam May, had confirmed earlier this week that the upcoming looter shooter will have more than 30 billion guns. The title also got a cinematic short that showcased some of Amon’s capabilities in combat.
