Generally, I've been a pretty big fan of Borderlands' unique brand of vibrant humor since I picked up that first entry all the way back in 2009. Granted, I was just 11 years old when I first got my hands on Borderlands, so I was bound to find anything with swearing in it funny. But I've revisited that first entry a few times over the years and its humor strikes a stronger chord with me each and every time.
There's something ingenious in the way Borderlands is able to juxtapose dark themes and extreme violence with tongue-in-cheek one-liners and over-the-top characters, and the absurd, unique tone it creates has kept me coming back year after year. That said, loving Borderlands' humor isn't always frictionless, but Borderlands 4 has just made a big change to the series' comedy that already guarantees I'll be playing it for years to come.
Borderlands 4's Lack of Meme-Related Humor Makes It Infinitely More Replayable
Borderlands 3 Had a Meme Problem
One of the biggest criticisms I, and many fans, had of Borderlands 3 was how it approached comedy. Essentially, Borderlands 3 dialed all of the series' usual comedic traits up to 11. Zany characters were made even zanier. Over-the-top violence was made even more extreme. And practically every line of dialogue was intended to be a joke.
I recently replayed Borderlands 3 in preparation for the fourth entry's release, and while a surprising number of the jokes did land for me, the vast majority still didn't. And if anything, Borderlands 3's humor has only gotten worse with age.
A good portion of the jokes in Borderlands 3's main story (the writing is much better in the game's DLCs in my opinion) are focused solely on referencing memes that were popular during the game's development. Given that Borderlands 3 reportedly took around four years to develop, and given how fast the internet moves, many of these references felt dated long before the game even hit store shelves. Naturally, they've aged like milk in the six years since Borderlands 3's launch.
Borderlands 4 Avoids Meme-Related Humor (For The Most Part)
Before launch, Borderlands 4's narrative director Sam Winkler and lead writer Taylor Clark spoke with IGN about the team's desire to move away from the crass and meme-centered humor of Borderlands 3 and deliver a more grounded story that contains more of the dark comedy fans of the first two Borderlands entries would expect to see. I'm about 15 hours into Borderlands 4 and I think I can safely say that the team has done just that.
I've laughed out loud countless times during my first Borderlands 4 playthrough, and I've rolled my eyes maybe once or twice. That's a pretty excellent ratio considering where we were back in 2019. Along with significantly less meme-related humor, Borderlands 4 does an excellent job of juxtaposing its most bizarre moments with some genuinely tender story beats, which makes its humor resonate even further.
Claptrap's 'No Place Like Home' side quest is the perfect example of this, with it juxtaposing the erratic personality of Claptrap with a surprisingly emotional tale of grief and acceptance to produce moments of humor that are uniquely Borderlands. This confidence in putting its own unique brand of humor at the forefront is going to make subsequent playthroughs of Borderlands 4 so much more enjoyable, as not only are the jokes less likely to feel outdated in just a month or two, but they might even reward me for paying more attention to lines of dialogue that initially slipped past me.
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
