Prior to leaving for E3 I played though Commander Lilith & The Fight For Sanctuary, which I’ll likely review sometime next week, which was a good lead into Borderlands 3. Despite some disliking Borderlands The Pre-Sequel, the expansion was everything I recall loving about Borderlands, something that holds true for the Borderlands 3 demo.
Before going into it, a couple key things were mentioned. Costumes and cosmetics are there, you can edit colors and there is a big focus on multiplayer. One of the most interesting features, besides the ability to mail people gear that will supposedly adjust to their level (this seems broken if there isn’t a restriction), is seeing gear a friend sold in their game, appearing for sale in yours. It gives the world a more lived in feeling, not that I think anyone will want all the worthless junk that typically gets sold, but still nice.
This, along with quests based off other people’s accomplishments, the highlighted example was someone killing a “rare” spawn named enemy, which prompted you to get a bounty asking for you to kill the same enemy. It’s neat and is a good reminder how much our standards have changed in the past five years, but it’s pointless if it doesn’t amount to a better experience.
Based off what I saw, I can’t say I’m worried about it. Regardless of which of the three characters I selected, it was a fluid experience. The world looked great, enemies reacted in a way that matches what is expected and the included boss, Mouthpiece, felt like the Borderlands I love.
Unfortunately, not a whole lot was shown, mostly a largely linear level, a couple jokes, whatever drops happened from start to finish and a boss battle. Likely an intended choice, the most amusing and exciting joke came from the sub-quest that appears the second you load the file. From what was listed, it seems you need to make a soul mate for Claptrap, which will no doubt result in this backfiring in one way or another.
Despite only getting a taste, the demo was good enough to at least have faith in the future of the franchise. They haven’t forgot what made the game great, with at least one more of the gun makers appearing in some capacity in this adventure, along with improvements that will be sure to delight fans.
