Happy Friday the 13th Gearbox, the long-awaited shooter-looter sequel Borderlands 3 has finally arrived. Does it smash the doors to smithereens, etching its name into the hallowed halls of gaming history, or does it fall victim to a Jason Vorhees-esque machete evisceration?  

The Quick

In the interest of getting to the point you are looking for, this game is definitely worth getting with two minor stipulations. One being you get some friends to play with, and two you understand what you are getting when you buy a borderlands game. It’s crude, bloody, full of guns, and a blast to play with your buddies. This game doesn’t try to reinvent itself, and it doesn’t have to. It’s formula works on such a visceral level that people are just sucked into the mayhem and pretty colors. Borderlands 3 sticks to its guns and it works though I do have some cautionary points for you.  

The Rest

Having sunk a fair amount of time into Borderlands 3, both solo and with friends, I can tell you this with absolute certainty, do not buy this game for the story. If you’re hoping new villains the Calypso Twins are Handsome Jack reborn, you will be disappointed. That said they definitely do not detract from the story. Their means of communication and bandit enslavement feel very topical with Twitch, and YouTube streaming being as large as they are. Some of the things you’ll experience from the Twins are intense and evil, while others will fall flat. That being said, nobody buys a Borderlands game for the story. 

The gun play, and billions of guns offered to players feels strong and improves upon previous iterations. I found myself buying out entire shops of guns just to experience the randomness and downright wackiness of some weapons. A particular favorite of mine was a legendary pistol I found pretty early on. After emptying your clip the weapon will overheat and the player will pull out a secondary water gun and fire away to cool it off thus completing the reload. It’s little things like this that make the guns and finding new ones so compelling. They even offer weapons that take on a new trait if your action skill is active. Adding more and more to what makes the Borderlands serious so good, is never a bad thing. 

I will say that on PC, I have been experiencing some performance issues. I far and away exceed the minimum requirements but I still experienced frame drops and screen tearing, and all matters of slowing down. In the menu options, you can run a benchmark for your computer and mine aced it pretty easily, yet during gameplay I still experienced choppiness. I tried capping my frame rate and reducing graphics quality but nothing seemed to work. Hopefully, a patch will come out soon as I’ve spoken to others, with better computers than mine, experiencing the same issues. 

All in all Borderlands 3 is a safe, welcomed addition to the Borderlands franchise. They know their formula and they execute it perfectly here while adding some extra flash and circumstance. The villains are evil but sometimes come across as hollow but the gameplay is where Borderlands 3 really shines. Get some friends, and dedicate a weekend to traversing the world and upping your arsenal. This game doesn’t reinvent the wheel, because it doesn’t have to. It’s fun, and that’s what matters.