My passion for looter shooters has burned quite brightly for over 15 years and Borderlands is the flame that lit the fuse. With Borderlands 4, Gearbox proves it still knows how to bring the boom. After fizzling somewhat with Borderlands 3, it felt like this series had begun to fall behind in the genre it pioneered, but breaking away from segmented levels and embracing an honest-to-goodness open world allows 2025’s Borderlands to surprise us again. Drastically improved movement makes it one of the best-feeling first-person shooters out there, the story takes a refreshingly grounded approach that pays off, and the expanded buildcrafting options like healing items, throwing knives, and weapon enhancements are all fantastic ideas. But taking these swings also comes with some unfortunate downsides, like how exploration is quite literally held back by invisible walls and awkward surfaces that refuse to be trod upon, not to mention fairly rocky technical performance (at least on the PC version provided for review) and numerous bugs. But those rough edges borders did little to keep me from once again falling head over heels for my first looter-shooter love, and blasting through hordes of psychos with a friend or three feels as awesome as it ever has.