Considering it was first announced rather recently, Borderlands 4’s release date is fast approaching. Borderlands 4 is currently slated to release later this year on September 23, 2025, and until then, players can expect several more trailers and official reveals ahead of the game’s release. Among these upcoming previews, it’s already been announced that Borderlands 4 will be getting a dedicated State of Play showcase sometime in Spring 2025.
While it remains to be seen what exactly this dedicated State of Play showcase will reveal about Borderlands 4, this could arguably be a perfect opportunity to address the criticisms surrounding Borderlands 4’s recent previews and trailers. After the latest trailers for Borderlands 4 were criticized for their underwhelming portrayals of the new Vault Hunters, the upcoming State of Play showcase should give these characters their much-deserved turn in the spotlight.
Borderlands 4 Can't Walk Back One Tiny Tina's Wonderlands Feature
If Borderlands 4 is looking to improve upon its predecessor, an easy leg-up could be pulled from a Borderlands spin-off game.
Why Borderlands 4’s Vault Hunters Deserve the Spotlight at the Dedicated Borderlands 4 State Of Play
Borderlands 4’s New Vault Hunters Didn’t Leave Good First Impressions
The initial previews of Borderlands 4’s Vault Hunters were generally criticized because of what many fans considered underwhelming first impressions of the upcoming playable characters. One of the biggest points of criticism was that, unlike Vault Hunters from past Borderlands games, Borderlands 4’s Vault Hunters arguably lacked the franchise’s over-the-top style, and as a consequence, their class archetypes aren’t very distinguishable based on their physical appearances alone.
As a first-person game, and assuming character customization in Borderlands 4 will offer a similar approach as Borderlands 3’s, players likely won’t be seeing their characters much in natural gameplay, especially in their default outfits. In the long run, the new Vault Hunters’ origin stories and their unique Action Skills will likely matter more than their appearances.
Revealing Borderlands 4’s Vault Hunters’ Origins Could Leave a Better Impression
One of the factors that might be the cause for the disconnect from fans is the mystery of the new Vault Hunters’ origins, especially what each of the new Vault Hunters was doing during the events of the past Borderlands games, and why they are showing up at this point in the franchise. While this could be a slippery slope to potentially spoiling Borderlands 4’s plot ahead of its release, a deep dive into each Vault Hunter’s origins could still go a long way toward creating a better impression of the new Vault Hunters. Considering that even their names are still a mystery at this point, Gearbox could arguably stand to reveal much more about the new Vault Hunters before reaching the point of being considered spoilers anyway.
As is typical for the playable characters in the mainline games of the Borderlands franchise, the new Vault Hunters in Borderlands 4 are entirely new characters that even longtime fans of the franchise haven’t met yet.
Borderlands 4’s Vault Hunters’ Unique Skills Are Still Unclear
Another mystery surrounding the next generation of playable Vault Hunters in the Borderlands franchise is what kinds of Action Skills and overall skill-builds they will have access to, leaving fans to wonder how the new generation of Vault Hunters will compare to Vault Hunters from past games. Despite brief glimpses being shown off in the latest gameplay trailer, the new Vault Hunters’ abilities remain unclear. This is especially true for Borderlands 4’s new Siren character, since Sirens have a particular significance in the Borderlands franchise’s universe, though all of the new playable characters still deserve their turn in the spotlight.
As the sole focus of the showcase event, expectations for Borderlands 4’s dedicated State of Play are naturally high. Considering how the recent previews for the game so far have been criticized for not giving the new Vault Hunters a proper reveal, the upcoming State of Play can arguably address these criticisms head-on and simultaneously live up to the hype by finally showcasing what the new Vault Hunters are capable of.
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
