Over the last 16 years, Borderlands has managed to craft a very distinct identity for itself. While it's far from the only looter shooter franchise out there, Borderlands is one of the few to blend addictive loot-swapping mechanics with over-the-top humor and an absurdly vibrant art style. Borderlands 4 keeps this uniquely flavored cocktail at its center.
Though its menu UI has been drained of color and the zany characters and tone of Borderlands 3 has been dialed back, Borderlands 4 is still very much a Borderlands game. Its looter shooter systems are more engaging than ever, humor still runs through every facet of the game's story, and Borderlands 4 still boasts heavily stylized art direction. And right now, that distinct art style is papering over some sizable cracks in Borderlands 4, just as it did 16 years ago.
A Brief History of Borderlands' Distinct Art Style
When the first Borderlands was revealed to the public all the way back in 2007, it was met with a generally positive reception. Its multiple playable characters and focus on randomized loot intrigued would-be players, but the game's art style did leave something to be desired.
This initial version of Borderlands didn't have the comic book-like aesthetic that's become a core component of the series' identity. Instead, it featured a much more 'realistic' art direction, with character models and environments aiming to appear more lifelike. Just a year before launch, internal review teams at Gearbox expressed concerns over Borderlands' art style, claiming the muted browns of the game's environments made it look far too similar to contemporary titles like Fallout 3.
Despite being 75% finished with development, Gearbox made the decision to drastically change Borderlands' art style. Gearbox's co-founder and chief creative officer Brian Martel produced a secret prototype of Borderlands with its now-iconic line-drawn aesthetic and presented it to the rest of the team. Most of the team embraced the new direction, Martel paired a comic book artist with Borderlands' lead character designer, and they all got to work overhauling the game's assets.
Borderlands' original art director was reportedly so disappointed that all of her work was being discarded that she left Gearbox and the video game industry altogether.
Of course, this incredibly risky last-minute decision would turn out to be an ingenious one, as Borderlands' vibrant art style quickly became one of its defining traits, and went hand in hand with the game's more exaggerated tone and humor. This art style has also allowed Borderlands to paper over some cracks when it needs to.
Generally speaking, Borderlands has never been at the forefront of video game graphics. While each entry has kept up with the technical limits of the time, no Borderlands title could be considered the best-looking game of its generation, but nor has it needed to be. Borderlands' heavily stylized art direction has let each entry focus on delivering the smooth, high-octane action that the series has become best known for, without needing to sacrifice any processing power on delivering photorealistic graphics.
Borderlands 4's Art Style Is Doing Some Heavy Lifting Right Now
It's no secret that Borderlands 4 is suffering from some rather severe technical issues right now, particularly on PC. These technical issues are forcing many players to use lower graphical settings than they're used to just so the game can run at a semi-stable framerate.
Thankfully, Borderlands 4's art style is helping to paper over the cracks a bit. Borderlands 4's environmental textures can look blurry, but the shaded edges of scenery objects lets the player's brain fill in the gaps of what should be there. Draw distance and pop-in issues are also common in Borderlands 4's launch build, but the use of vibrant colors and shading helps to make these issues appear less severe.
Of course, this is far from ideal, and hopefully Borderlands 4 will continue to receive stability patches that help to fix the game's performance issues. But it does show the power of a strong art style, and it proves that Gearbox made the right decision all those years ago.
Borderlands 4
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 82 /100 Critics Rec: 88%
- Released
- September 12, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Gearbox Software
- Publisher(s)
- 2K
