Borderlands 4’s Vault Hunter Backlash Explained

Borderlands 4 recently released a new trailer at The Game Awards 2024 after Gearbox’s own Randy Pitchford hyped it up in the days leading to the event, stating it would include some gameplay too. After a long radio silence from Gearbox about its new game, Borderlands 4 first showed itself at Gamescom 2024, revealing very little about the title if not that Lilith is returning and that she is crashing Elpis into another planet. The latest trailer for Borderlands 4 had a much larger scope, as it revealed who is supposedly the big bad of the game in the form of The Timekeeper, the conflict between the Order and the Rippers, some gameplay, and even a first look at the four playable Vault Hunters.

While Borderlands 4‘s Timekeeper has a lot riding on its shoulders after BL2‘s Handsome Jack as a villain, the gameplay and the Vault Hunters can arguably be the bigger draw for the audience. Not much was seen from the gameplay in the TGA trailer, though fans will be quick to notice that there seems to be a new vehicle players can use, and at least one of the Vault Hunters will have a grappling hook ability. Despite all this, a lot of fans took to social media to express their frustration at the design of the playable Vault Hunters.

Related

Borderlands 4 Shouldn’t Miss The Chance to Revive a Neat Borderlands 3 Strategy

Reviving one discontinued feature from Borderlands past games could be advantageous for Borderlands 4, as well as the franchise as a whole.

Why Fans Are Not Happy About Borderlands 4’s Vault Hunters

Borderlands 4‘s Vault Hunters had a high bar to clear after the overall positive reception of the playable characters from Borderlands 3, but so far very little is known about what they will bring to the table in terms of stories, voicelines, and even abilities. For example, the tall, bulky Vault Hunter seems capable of grappling around the map and summoning elemental axes to throw at enemies, whereas another character can wield energy blades. Still, the appearance of these Vault Hunters is what went under scrutiny from the community at large.

How BL4’s Vault Hunters Compare to Past Games’

The main criticism posed by fans is that the new BL4 Vault Hunters look bland, which is not necessarily to say that they are poorly designed, but more that past entries in the series had more cartoony, over-the-top, sometimes otherworldly or simply sci-fi looks for their characters. This can be seen with the techno-ninja aesthetic of Zer0, the animal-tamer robot that is Fl4k, the fiery Siren Lilith, and more. In Borderlands 4‘s new Kairos world, filled with breathtaking vistas, the new Vault Hunters can seem a little too on the “basic human” side.

This remains to be seen, as the backstory of each of the Vault Hunters could also change the perception of them as a whole, and the same can be said about their abilities and their stakes in the conflict between The Order and The Rippers. One of the Vault Hunters is a Siren, as the tattoos on the character model show, but it’s unclear what the various powers will be. Given that the glow of the tattoos is pink, this seems like an entirely new power never seen in Borderlands‘ Vault Hunters, but that too is currently unconfirmed.

Why There Could Be More Than Meets The Eye With Borderlands 4’s Vault Hunters

As such, the appearance of the Vault Hunters doesn’t tell the whole story, even if they can seem dull compared to previous playable characters. Furthermore, it’s worth noting that Vault Hunters in past games had some kind of customization, like with the head skins for Borderlands 2 characters or the more complex personalization introduced with Borderlands 3. On top of that, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands introduced a full-fledged character creator system and even more options, so even with pre-made characters it’s likely that Borderlands 4 will have customization for Vault Hunters to some degree.

Looter Shooter

Action

Adventure

RPG

Franchise

Borderlands

Released

2025