Borderlands 4 arrives six years after the events of Borderlands 3, and it arrives loud. Gearbox Software’s Borderlands 4 lands on PlayStation 5, Windows and Xbox Series X/S after a September 12, 2025 release, with a Nintendo Switch 2 version announced but now on an indefinite pause. It is the fifth mainline entry in the series, and it opens on a planet that was never supposed to be found.
Trailer, via thegameawards.
Kairos, and the Moonfall That Exposed It
The setup is the series’ cleanest hook in years. Pandora’s moon Elpis was teleported across space by Lilith using her Siren powers, an event called Moonfall. That jump stripped the protective barrier off Kairos, revealing the planet’s location to the wider galaxy. Six years later, a new generation of Vault Hunters shows up chasing the fabled Vault and the secret alien treasures inside it.
Standing between them and the loot is the Timekeeper, a dictator who runs Kairos with an army of synthetic followers called the Order. The Timekeeper does not wait to be fought. He captures the Vault Hunters early and implants bolt control devices in them. Arjay of the Crimson Resistance sacrifices himself by jamming the Timekeeper’s control, but leaves his own bolt vulnerable, and the Timekeeper forces him to kill himself while the Vault Hunters escape.
They make it to the headquarters of the Crimson Resistance, where they find its leader and sole survivor, Claptrap.
Rafa, Harlowe, Amon and Vex
The playable roster is Rafa the Exo-Soldier, Harlowe the Gravitar, Amon the Forgeknight and Vex the Siren. Gearbox has built the world as what it calls “seamless,” with no loading screens between areas, and added new vehicles plus traversal tools including a grappling hook. Solo play works, and so does co-op with up to three other players.
The returning cast is thick. Miss Mad Moxxi and Marcus Kincaid are back as NPCs, along with previous playable Vault Hunters Zane Flynt, Claptrap, Lilith and Amara. The first story expansion, “Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned,” adds C4$H the Rogue as a fifth playable Vault Hunter and brings back Ellie, Crazy Earl, Mancubus Bloodtooth and Davis Pickle. The second, “FL4K and the Last Resort,” adds Loveless the Hacker as a sixth and features Borderlands 3’s FL4K as a returning NPC.
The Bolt Hunt That Structures the Campaign
The middle of the story runs on a clean mechanical spine. Zadra, a former Order scientist who defects to the resistance, explains that the Timekeeper has sealed himself inside the Vault. The only way in is to collect the command bolts of his three top lieutenants.
- Idolator Sol, who was developing a bioweapon meant to wipe out the Outbounders.
- Vile Lictor.
- Callis the Ripper Queen.
That structure gives Borderlands 4 something the series has sometimes lacked: a reason for each detour. Recruiting Rush and his stranded off-world Outbounders, then Zadra, then hunting Sol, each step feeds the same goal rather than padding a map.
Where the Shooting Lands
This is still a first-person looter shooter with action role-playing bones, and the genre label matters. The loot loop is the point. The question a Borderlands game has to answer is whether the shooting and the drops hold up past the first dozen hours, and the seamless world and grappling hook are the two changes most likely to decide that.
The Switch 2 situation is the sour note. A release was announced, and it is now on indefinite pause with no future plans. That is a real audience left waiting.
What Kairos Gets Right
What matters most here is the resistance structure. Claptrap as the last survivor running a rebellion is a better use of the character than another cameo, and the bolt hunt gives the campaign a shape. What matters least is the returning-name checklist, which risks turning Kairos into a reunion tour instead of a new planet.
Borderlands 4 is a confident sequel that knows what its players came for and mostly refuses to waste their time. The shelved Switch 2 version is the part worth regretting.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.
