While new weapons and buildcrafting tools for the next generation of Vault Hunters, as well as fresh endgame content, are all but guaranteed for Borderlands 4, one thing that would be wise to explore is new and refined movement mechanics. Throughout the franchise, the Borderlands games arguably haven’t quite managed to nail down their movement mechanics, though Borderlands 4 could change this.
Improved movement mechanics could have positive effects on Borderlands 4’s combat and exploration, as it feels like a natural progression for the franchise since it’s an area that has been long overdue some improvement. With modern shooters taking a special interest in refined movement mechanics over the years, Borderlands 4 should follow suit, and it certainly sounds like it’s going to.
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Borderlands 4 Should Take Its Vault Hunters’ Movement Mechanics to the Next Level
According to an interview with GameStar Talk involving Gearbox’s CEO Randy Pitchford, Borderlands 4 may already be well on track to making notable improvements to players’ movement. Apparently, players will be able to double jump and dash in Borderlands 4. Pairing this with the fact that the latest Borderlands 4 gameplay trailer also showed off a Vault Hunter using a grappling hook, these new movement mechanics already seem like a natural progression for the franchise.
Double jumps and midair dashes are a core part of Borderlands the Pre-Sequel’s low-gravity movement mechanics, though these mechanics are absent in Borderlands 3.
Hopefully, the jumping and dashing movement mechanics will be available for every playable Vault Hunter in Borderlands 4, instead of limiting them to a specific character class. Whether there will be more unique movement mechanics in Borderlands 4 like the grappling hooks remains to be seen, but the double jumps and dashes alone could still be major improvements.
In a franchise where the pace of combat is generally becoming faster and faster with each new Borderlands game, refining players’ movement is long overdue by this point in the franchise. Especially when playing on their higher difficulties, Borderlands games’ endgame content often turns into a bullet hell of countless on-screen effects for players to dodge, though the common solution to this is typically to invest in shields and health recovery to tank the damage and keep fighting. With improved movement mechanics, being able to reliably dodge incoming attacks could ideally mean that players have new freedom to invest in more diverse builds as opposed to turning every character into a pseudo-tank.
Borderlands 4 Hopping on the Shooter-Movement Bandwagon is For the Best
Improved movement mechanics could also be useful outside of combat, considering the prospect of Borderlands 4 being closer to an open-world game. While vehicles will presumably play a more important role in Borderlands 4’s larger environments, naturally having access to an expanded moveset will be handy for the moments when players aren’t able to rely on their vehicles to navigate the map.
With Black Ops 6’s signature Omnimovement and Helldivers 2’s fluid-yet-realistic movement physics, Borderlands 4 following suit just feels right, as it can leverage its sci-fi DNA to distinguish itself from other shooters in this regard. Considering how this has arguably been a long-overdue change for the franchise by this point – and given that players briefly got to experience smoother movement in The Pre-Sequel – it’s high time that the Borderlands franchise took its movement mechanics to the next level.
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