Shortly incomes a status as the face of the looter shooter style in the years since its launch, Borderlands actually has change into certainly one of gaming’s most recognisable franchises. From its cel-shaded artwork fashion to its masked psycho poster youngster, the foul-mouthed, tongue-in-cheek sci-fi universe is now a staple of contemporary online game tradition. It isn’t stopping there although, with the collection shortly morphing right into a multimedia sensation in its personal proper, spinning off into comics, novels and even a tabletop recreation.
This month, that journey reaches its greatest milestone but, with Borderlands lastly making its long-awaited soar to the huge display screen courtesy of Hostel and Thanksgiving director, Eli Roth. Reimagining Pandora and its vault-obsessed locals for a model new viewers. And whereas the movie didn’t overview particuarly effectively, it is nonetheless a serious step for any franchise.
With the Borderlands film now in theaters, there’s seemingly to be a number of new and returning followers trying to dive again into the video games and reacquaint themselves with the place it began. So, we determined to put collectively a fast timeline of the collection to get you caught up on the way it all suits collectively.
In whole, there are at the moment seven Borderlands video games and spin-offs which are canon to the collection, and two smaller, non-canon titles: Borderlands: Vault Hunter Pinball and Borderlands Legends.
Whereas it is the easiest reply, the greatest place to begin is arguably Borderlands 1, though should you do not care about the story, any of the three mainline video games are a superb introduction.
All three entries in the trilogy are comparatively related in fashion, scope and gameplay, and higher but, they’re all obtainable on fashionable consoles and PC. That being stated, there’s a nice overarching story that runs via the Borderlands saga, and should you’ve simply come off the film and need to observe it as meant, ranging from the starting is the greatest approach to play.
Borderlands: Recreation of the 12 months Version
Each Canon Borderlands Recreation in Chronological Order
These blurbs include delicate spoilers for every recreation, together with characters, settings, and story beats.
1. Borderlands (2009)
The sport that kickstarted all of it. The very first Borderlands launched in 2009, telling the story of Lilith, Brick, Roland and Mordecai: a gaggle of 4 “Vault Hunters” that enterprise out on the treasure hunt of a lifetime. Arriving on the risky planet of Pandora, they search out a legendary bunker referred to as The Vault, which is alleged to home unimaginable treasures.
As anticipated, their expedition shortly turns right into a chaotic maelstrom of carnage, with the group going through off towards a militia referred to as the Crimson Lance, contending with the planet’s savage wildlife and taking down hordes of bloodthirsty bandits. From the second Borderlands hit cabinets, it was an enormous hit, launching the looter shooter style into the stratosphere via its compelling gameplay loop of killing lots of enemies, discovering a near-limitless provide of weapons and constructing your chosen character.
The sport was additionally supported closely after launch, getting an extra four expansions that took the recreation from zombie-themed islands to a tongue-in-cheek riff on Mad Max’s Thunderdome.
2. Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (2014)
Developed by 2K Australia with the help of Gearbox Software program, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel might have launched after Borderlands 2, however it fills in the hole between the first two Borderlands video games. The story follows a gaggle of recent Vault Hunters, Athena, Wilhelm, Nisha and Claptrap, as they head out on a mission to discover a Vault on the moon of Elpis.
The Pre-Sequel was, in a number of methods, a bunch extra of the Borderlands followers knew and liked. Set in a brand new locale with contemporary courses to grasp and study, it provided extra weapons, boss fights, quests and enemy encounters to plough via whereas the world waited for an inevitable Borderlands 3. Nonetheless, its primary promoting level was additional fleshing out the story of Borderlands 2, with the recreation that includes the second recreation’s primary antagonist, Good-looking Jack, in a number one position.
Alongside that includes a lot of the second recreation’s primary bosses and characters years earlier than their roles in the sequel’s story, it additionally provided a full view of Jack’s descent into insanity, establishing the iconic foe’s origins. Very like the different video games, 2K Australia added a number of expansions after the recreation launched, together with the Holodome Onslaught and Claptastic Voyage maps, in addition to two playable characters: the Doppelganger and the Baroness.
3. Borderlands 2 (2012)
The official sequel to Borderlands, Borderlands 2 launched in 2012, bringing gamers again to Pandora with a brand new squad of bold Vault Hunters in tow. The story begins with our heroes, Maya, Axton, Salvador and Zer0, heading to Pandora to seek for a brand new Vault. Nonetheless, it shortly turns into obvious that the planet’s overlord, the sadistic Good-looking Jack, does not take kindly to courageous adventurers looking for fame and fortune by uncovering the newest fabled Vault on Pandora. Whereas driving a prepare throughout the untamed planet, Jack makes an attempt to have them killed, leaving them stranded in an icy wasteland.
Left for useless, the workforce set out on an journey to uncover the reality behind Good-looking Jack’s schemes, making an attempt to cease to him and discover the Vault in the course of. Borderlands 2 was primarily an even bigger, extra expansive tackle the authentic recreation, providing loads of quests, new courses to grasp, a charismatic primary villain to take down and, one way or the other, much more weapons to discover and accumulate.
It is nonetheless regarded by many as the greatest Borderlands to date, providing a enjoyable story, memorable fight encounters and a wholesome dose of the collection’ trademark sense of humour. Very like the first recreation, it additionally got here with a bunch of post-release assist, together with 4 extra campaigns, two bonus playable characters, and several other Headhunter missions.
4. Tales From The Borderlands (2014 – 2015)
The primary full spin-off of the collection, Tales From The Borderlands was Strolling Lifeless developer Telltale’s tackle the Borderlands universe, providing an episodic, story-focused journey set on the floor of Pandora. In contrast to the mainline entries, Tales does not centre on a workforce of super-powered, gun-obsessed Vault Hunters. As an alternative, it follows a criminal and a company lackey who unwittingly stumble right into a grand journey.
Set after the occasions of Borderlands 2, we observe Rhys, a Hyperion worker lobbying for a better place in the firm, and Fiona, a con artist working together with her sister, Sasha. After Rhys makes an attempt to one-up a colleague by intercepting a deal to purchase a vault key, he learns the key was a pretend in a con set-up by Fiona, entangling the two collectively and setting off a sequence response of occasions that put them on the path of a model new Vault.
As with all of Telltale’s video games, Tales From The Borderlands focuses totally on a branching, cinematic story with ethical selections that may change the course of the narrative. In the years following its launch, Tales From The Borderlands has been acknowledged as a key piece of the Borderlands canon, with authentic characters from the recreation even popping up in Borderlands 3.
5. Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands (2022)
Gearbox Software program’s most up-to-date entry in the Borderlands franchise, from the outdoors, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands does not appear to be a Borderlands recreation. Subbing out futuristic desert wastelands for a sprawling fantasy kingdom, whereas Wonderlands might have loads of dragons, goblins and unicorns, it is very a lot nonetheless a Borderlands recreation in the whole lot however the setting.
Appearing as a fully-fledged model of the beloved Borderlands 2 DLC, Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Maintain, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands as soon as once more has you getting into the world of Bunkers and Badasses; the Borderlands equal of Dungeons and Dragons. With Tina as your very enthusiastic dungeon grasp, you may battle towards a variety of fantasy monsters, embark on some heroic quests and battle your approach to the monstrous Dragon Lord.
As with all Borderlands video games, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands boasts a metric ton of weapons to discover, courses to grasp and enemies to kill, whereas additionally incorporating new concepts to complement the shift in setting, similar to an overworld space you traverse between missions and the capacity to use spells. It additionally has its personal serving to of expansions to dig into, with 4 separate DLCs that includes new dungeons, bosses and equipment.
6. Borderlands 3 (2019)
Seven years after the launch of Borderlands 2, Gearbox Software program returned for an official third entry, launching Borderlands 3 in 2019. As at all times, the threequel brings a contemporary new forged of Vault Hunters into the fray, introducing gamers to Amara, FL4K, Zane and Moze, and sending them out on a chaotic new journey.
This time round, gamers are tasked with stopping a pair of murderous siren twins named Troy and Tyreen, who’re venturing throughout the galaxy and harnessing the energy inside the vaults for a mysterious trigger. In a franchise first, gamers are tasked with travelling to a number of planets to take them down, teaming with an array of acquainted faces similar to Lilith, Rhys, Maya, Brick, Zer0 and, after all, Claptrap.
As at all times, you possibly can count on loads of looter shooter chaos to ensue, with a heap of weapons to discover, enemies to eviscerate and new character courses to grasp. There’s additionally loads of DLC content material to soar into whenever you’re performed, with Borderlands 3’s extra content material providing 4 new campaigns, takedown missions and even designer and director cuts that resurrect a bunch of content material left on the slicing room ground.
7. New Tales From The Borderlands (2022)
Gearbox Software program’s official follow-up to Tales From The Borderlands, New Tales From The Borderlands is at the moment the final recreation on the chronological timeline. Bringing in a slate of contemporary characters as a substitute of choosing a continuation of the authentic Tales recreation, New Tales has three protagonists: Anu, Octavio and Fran.
The story follows the group’s adventures after stumbling right into a vault and discovering a treasured artefact, which inadvertently places them in the line of fireplace of the Tediore company and its ruthless CEO, Susan Coldwell. With the relic now of their possession, the trio begins to uncover its true powers, all the whereas making an attempt to evade Coldwell as she hunts them down.
Very like the earlier recreation, New Tales From The Borderlands is targeted virtually fully on weaving a branching story that adapts and warps primarily based in your selections. You possibly can count on loads of dialogue choices, QTE battle sequences and difficult selections that can impression the consequence of the journey.
Each Borderlands Recreation in Launch Order
- Borderlands (2009)
- Borderlands Legends (2012)
- Borderlands 2 (2012)
- Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (2014)
- Tales From The Borderlands (2014 – 2015)
- Borderlands 3 (2019)
- Tiny Tina’s Wonderland (2022)
- New Tales From The Borderlands (2022)
- Borderlands: Vault Hunter Pinball (2023)
What’s Subsequent For Borderlands?
In phrases of video games, Borderlands 4 seems to be the subsequent main launch on the horizon. Gearbox Software program revealed the sequel exists and is at the moment being labored on after the studio introduced it was being acquired by Take-Two earlier this 12 months, with Gearbox head Randy Pitchford telling us in an interview that “It is the best factor [the studio has] ever performed.”
Though that is all now we have to go on for now, It appears as if tasks in the Borderlands universe could possibly be extra frequent going ahead. We realized lately that the franchise shall be a giant focus for Take-Two following the acquisition, with Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick noting in a investor’s name that the firm sees a number of “potential progress alternatives” for the IP. We’ll have to wait to see precisely what Zelnick means by that, however it seems we could possibly be trekking to Pandora much more in the coming years.
Callum Williams is an IGN freelancer overlaying options and guides. When he is away from his desk, you possibly can often discover him obsessing over the lore of the newest obscure indie horror recreation or bashing his head towards a boss in the latest soulslike. You possibly can catch him over on Twitter at @CaIIumWilliams.