(please note that, whie it says i have <10 hours in the game, ive played far more on PS4. i only got it on pc recently)

BL3 is a really weird case of a game. its simultaneously the best and worst in the series at the same time for very different reasons. first off, barring a few minor nitpicks, this is the best gameplay in the series no question. the guns typically all feel amazing to use and the extra movement options in sliding, mantling, and ground pounding add a small bit of extra depth that doesnt go unappreciated. while ive only had extended experiences with moze and especially (my boy) zane, and not really any with amara, all of the vault hunters here are interesting as well. nothing feels like a retread of anything in the past games, the closest really only being zane's digi clone being an axton turret on crack. the added depth to the action skills across the board is a total breath of fresh air as well, each class having 3 (4 with designer's cut) action skills (or in the case of moze 6+2(?) mods for the one skill) with a handful of modifiers each. the one part about the gameplay i dont love is the enemies. the variety is nice enough, though i do wish there wasnt such a *massive* abundance of COV units. though in some cases i prefer them cause then theres the maliwan soldiers which can sometimes be an absolute pain to fight, especially the heavies. apart from that, the gunplay feels incredible, especially with the manufacturer revamps. dahl guns now switch between firing modes like a traditional fps as opposed to only when ADS, jakobs weapons are much more varied overall with different types of guns (lever action rifles my beloved), tediore just gets ♥♥♥♥♥♥ wild with whatever happens when you throw spent guns, atlas makes a return from BL1 with an interesting lock on mechanic (though, imo, they arent my favorite to use), maliwan now focuses on always having 2 elements instead of just 1, torgue has sticky rockets on top of the traditional gyrojets, vladof is typically 2 guns in 1 with its swap system, and hyperion guns can spawn with shields that deploy on ADS. it really is the final form of borderlands' gameplay and apart from D&D-ifying it for tiny tina's wonderlands, idk how theyd really go further than this in a sequel


but now for the ugly, opposite side of this same coin: the story. (btw, spoilers, im not gonna bother tagging, but also you are not missing much) now, im not the kinda person to disect much about why things dont work in games narratively, but theres plenty of videos online that could do that leagues better, but i'll say what i can. first off, these villains are ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ atrocious especially following the absolute legend of handsome jack. they did troy absolutely dirty and he would've been a far better villain than tyreen. hell, they had plenty of room to actually build him up as a twist villain to overthrow tyreen. there were practically hints of that from any point after promethea. but instead, we had one of the most obnoxious characters ive experienced in ages as our BBEG. but tyreen is far, far from the worst character in this game. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥... ava. now, in the directors cut dlc, there was a cut scene where it actually gave ava some level of depth and reasoning for her actions after maya's death. but of course that was scrapped and we're left with one of the most blatant mary sues ive seen in ages. and thats not me trying to imitate some star wars sequel loathing neckbeard, no, she's actually a mary sure unlike rey who just happens to be too good at things. she's given no flaws, no weaknesses, nothing. again, im not qualified to give a deep analysis on her cause idk how to do something like that, but believe me when i say she's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ horrible. as for maya, she has bay far one of the most unearned character deaths ive seen in a while. moving on to the new characters, theyre enjoyable but forgettable at best and obnoxious at worst (ava being a far outlier to the latter side). the exceptions to this id say are wainwright jakobs (who is an absolute ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ treat and the best newcomer in this game) pain and terror (which would've been much better arena commentators than torgue again) and the vault hunters themselves. apart from amara (who isnt bad just kinda flat and bland) all of the new vault hunters are easily the best new characters here, especially zane and fl4k. the returning cast is also pretty hit or miss. ive already mentioned how dirty they did maya, but othr than that, all of the returning hunters were treated fine enough. sure, axton and salvador were relegated to announcers for the faux battle royale mode in the designer's cut dlc, but theyre entertaining enough there that it's not that bad i guess. zero's good enough, he has a role in the story but not a big one. pretty short and sweet overall, not much to hate or love. arelia is brought back from the pre-sequel in a fine enough way as a boss for winny/hammerlock's section of the story. not much but she didnt really need it. vaughn and rhys are brought back from tales and apart from rhys' recasting, both are pretty entertaining in their own right. neither have a massive presence in the story, with rhys only being prominent during the atlas v maliwan arc and vaughn being a side character for the intro on pandora, but they're still enjoyable gaige is in a similar boat to zero, only she was relegated to DLC 2. and krieg is actually pretty well explored as a character in his own dlc. which actually brings me to the dlcs themselves. while none of them really hit the highs of BL2, they're still leaps and bounds more enjoyable than the base game's plot. hell the only one id consider weak is bounty of blood and thats really only just forgettable. handsome jackpot is also where we see the return of jack's doppelganger, timothy. unlike most of the other returning PCs, timothy is actually a key part of the handsome jackpot dlc. i wont spoil it as much since thats actually good (even if the new characters there are wildly forgettable apart from digby vermouth) but he's certainly enjoyable. as for the other, general aspects of the writing, its fine if not as good as 2 in places. some of the side missions can be pretty charming and funny, the unique weapons are full of fun references, its just more of the same just not quite as up to par. if you loved bl2's writing youll... really like 3's


to summarize this absolute bloody rant of a "review": BL3 is a great game if you're already a fan of borderlands. i would not at all recommend this as someone's first exposure to the franchise. if you're new, start with 2, maybe give pre sequel a shot, and *then* play 3.

(please note that, whie it says i have <10 hours in the game, ive played far more on PS4. i only got it on pc recently) BL3 is a really weird case of a game. its simultaneously the best and worst in the series at the same time for very different reasons. first off, barring a few minor nitpicks, this is the best gameplay in the series no question. the guns typically all feel amazing to use and the extra movement options in sliding, mantling, and ground pounding add a small bit of extra depth that doesnt go unappreciated. while ive only had extended experiences with moze and especially (my boy) zane, and not really any with amara, all of the vault hunters here are interesting as well. nothing feels like a retread of anything in the past games, the closest really only being zane's digi clone being an axton turret on crack. the added depth to the action skills across the board is a total breath of fresh air as well, each class having 3 (4 with designer's cut) action skills (or in the case of moze 6+2(?) mods for the one skill) with a handful of modifiers each. the one part about the gameplay i dont love is the enemies. the variety is nice enough, though i do wish there wasnt such a *massive* abundance of COV units. though in some cases i prefer them cause then theres the maliwan soldiers which can sometimes be an absolute pain to fight, especially the heavies. apart from that, the gunplay feels incredible, especially with the manufacturer revamps. dahl guns now switch between firing modes like a traditional fps as opposed to only when ADS, jakobs weapons are much more varied overall with different types of guns (lever action rifles my beloved), tediore just gets fuckin wild with whatever happens when you throw spent guns, atlas makes a return from BL1 with an interesting lock on mechanic (though, imo, they arent my favorite to use), maliwan now focuses on always having 2 elements instead of just 1, torgue has sticky rockets on top of the traditional gyrojets, vladof is typically 2 guns in 1 with its swap system, and hyperion guns can spawn with shields that deploy on ADS. it really is the final form of borderlands' gameplay and apart from D&D-ifying it for tiny tina's wonderlands, idk how theyd really go further than this in a sequel but now for the ugly, opposite side of this same coin: the story. (btw, spoilers, im not gonna bother tagging, but also you are not missing much) now, im not the kinda person to disect much about why things dont work in games narratively, but theres plenty of videos online that could do that leagues better, but i'll say what i can. first off, these villains are fucking atrocious especially following the absolute legend of handsome jack. they did troy absolutely dirty and he would've been a far better villain than tyreen. hell, they had plenty of room to actually build him up as a twist villain to overthrow tyreen. there were practically hints of that from any point after promethea. but instead, we had one of the most obnoxious characters ive experienced in ages as our BBEG. but tyreen is far, far from the worst character in this game. fucking... ava. now, in the directors cut dlc, there was a cut scene where it actually gave ava some level of depth and reasoning for her actions after maya's death. but of course that was scrapped and we're left with one of the most blatant mary sues ive seen in ages. and thats not me trying to imitate some star wars sequel loathing neckbeard, no, she's actually a mary sure unlike rey who just happens to be too good at things. she's given no flaws, no weaknesses, nothing. again, im not qualified to give a deep analysis on her cause idk how to do something like that, but believe me when i say she's fucking horrible. as for maya, she has bay far one of the most unearned character deaths ive seen in a while. moving on to the new characters, theyre enjoyable but forgettable at best and obnoxious at worst (ava being a far outlier to the latter side). the exceptions to this id say are wainwright jakobs (who is an absolute fucking treat and the best newcomer in this game) pain and terror (which would've been much better arena commentators than torgue again) and the vault hunters themselves. apart from amara (who isnt bad just kinda flat and bland) all of the new vault hunters are easily the best new characters here, especially zane and fl4k. the returning cast is also pretty hit or miss. ive already mentioned how dirty they did maya, but othr than that, all of the returning hunters were treated fine enough. sure, axton and salvador were relegated to announcers for the faux battle royale mode in the designer's cut dlc, but theyre entertaining enough there that it's not that bad i guess. zero's good enough, he has a role in the story but not a big one. pretty short and sweet overall, not much to hate or love. arelia is brought back from the pre-sequel in a fine enough way as a boss for winny/hammerlock's section of the story. not much but she didnt really need it. vaughn and rhys are brought back from tales and apart from rhys' recasting, both are pretty entertaining in their own right. neither have a massive presence in the story, with rhys only being prominent during the atlas v maliwan arc and vaughn being a side character for the intro on pandora, but they're still enjoyable gaige is in a similar boat to zero, only she was relegated to DLC 2. and krieg is actually pretty well explored as a character in his own dlc. which actually brings me to the dlcs themselves. while none of them really hit the highs of BL2, they're still leaps and bounds more enjoyable than the base game's plot. hell the only one id consider weak is bounty of blood and thats really only just forgettable. handsome jackpot is also where we see the return of jack's doppelganger, timothy. unlike most of the other returning PCs, timothy is actually a key part of the handsome jackpot dlc. i wont spoil it as much since thats actually good (even if the new characters there are wildly forgettable apart from digby vermouth) but he's certainly enjoyable. as for the other, general aspects of the writing, its fine if not as good as 2 in places. some of the side missions can be pretty charming and funny, the unique weapons are full of fun references, its just more of the same just not quite as up to par. if you loved bl2's writing youll... really like 3's to summarize this absolute bloody rant of a "review": BL3 is a great game if you're already a fan of borderlands. i would not at all recommend this as someone's first exposure to the franchise. if you're new, start with 2, maybe give pre sequel a shot, and *then* play 3.