Borderlands 4: A First Hour of Mixed Signals and Technical Woes

My initial jump into Borderlands 4 has been a rather bumpy ride, leaving me with a sense of disappointment rather than the excitement I'd hoped for.

Performance: Barely Passing, Even on High-End Hardware
The performance of Borderlands 4 is to put it mildly, underwhelming. Even with a High end PC setup with an RTX 4090, 64GB of DDR4 RAM, lightning-fast SSDs, and an Intel Core i7 13700K the game merely achieves a passable state. This raises serious concerns about how the game will perform on systems that aren't pushing the absolute cutting edge. To add insult to injury my very first experience with the game involved an immediate unceremonious crash upon launch, setting a expectation for what's to come

Visuals: A Tale of Two Textures
Graphically Borderlands 4 presents a rather inconsistent picture. While the character and weapon models boast the series signature charm and detail, the environmental textures particularly the ground beneath your feet are surprisingly low-resolution. At the highest settings. This disconnect can pull you right out.

Narrative & Writing: A Cringe-Worthy Start
The writing in the opening hour was a disaster. I found myself battling waves of cringe and boredom, which is a shame. The narrative felt uninspired and even basic elements like the naming of certain Characters like "Timekeeper" felt disappointingly bland and unmemorable.
What a stupid name.

Gameplay: A Glimpse of Fatigue
Even within the first hour of gameplay a sense of fatigue began to set in. The core gameplay loop while familiar, felt like it offered little new to discover. This is of course a subjective observation based on limited playtime and a potentially harsh personal perspective but it's a feeling that lingered.

Overall Impression: A Sad State
Ultimately my first hour with Borderlands 4 has been sad. I had genuinely hoped for a strong "return to form" as the Journalists like to say but the current state of performance, mixed visuals, and uninspired writing has left me wanting much more. It's a disappointing start for what could have been... just sad.

Borderlands 4: A First Hour of Mixed Signals and Technical Woes My initial jump into Borderlands 4 has been a rather bumpy ride, leaving me with a sense of disappointment rather than the excitement I'd hoped for. Performance: Barely Passing, Even on High-End Hardware The performance of Borderlands 4 is to put it mildly, underwhelming. Even with a High end PC setup with an RTX 4090, 64GB of DDR4 RAM, lightning-fast SSDs, and an Intel Core i7 13700K the game merely achieves a passable state. This raises serious concerns about how the game will perform on systems that aren't pushing the absolute cutting edge. To add insult to injury my very first experience with the game involved an immediate unceremonious crash upon launch, setting a expectation for what's to come Visuals: A Tale of Two Textures Graphically Borderlands 4 presents a rather inconsistent picture. While the character and weapon models boast the series signature charm and detail, the environmental textures particularly the ground beneath your feet are surprisingly low-resolution. At the highest settings. This disconnect can pull you right out. Narrative & Writing: A Cringe-Worthy Start The writing in the opening hour was a disaster. I found myself battling waves of cringe and boredom, which is a shame. The narrative felt uninspired and even basic elements like the naming of certain Characters like "Timekeeper" felt disappointingly bland and unmemorable. What a stupid name. Gameplay: A Glimpse of Fatigue Even within the first hour of gameplay a sense of fatigue began to set in. The core gameplay loop while familiar, felt like it offered little new to discover. This is of course a subjective observation based on limited playtime and a potentially harsh personal perspective but it's a feeling that lingered. Overall Impression: A Sad State Ultimately my first hour with Borderlands 4 has been sad. I had genuinely hoped for a strong "return to form" as the Journalists like to say but the current state of performance, mixed visuals, and uninspired writing has left me wanting much more. It's a disappointing start for what could have been... just sad.