As we noted in our preview, Borderlands 3 looks like more and better Borderlands. Some changes are big —Handsome Jack is gone! The villains are cult leaders! The story seems interesting!—but some tweaks are much smaller.
Plenty of the elements I enjoyed during my hands-on time with Borderlands 3 are the results of small, iterative changes; design choices you might not even notice if it’s been a while since you played the older games.
Below, we’ve listed 15 of these quality-of-life tweaks that make Borderlands 3 (at least from what we’ve seen so far) the smoothest trip to Pandora yet.
1. The Mini-Map Shows Changes in Elevation
This is a great example of one of those iterative changes I mentioned above. Previous games have flirted with something like this; in 2, for example, waypoint symbols included an up or down arrow to indicate the position of the destination relative to your location. Borderlands 3 takes this idea a step further, rendering the mini-map in pseudo-3D so that, at a glance, you can see the shape and position of the floors above and below you.
2. You Can Replace All Ammo With The Push of a Button
Instead of scrolling through one of Marcus Kincaid’s ammunition vending machines and purchasing each ammo pack individually, Borderlands 3 allows you to buy it all in one go.
If you have the cash, of course.
3. Fast Travel From Anywhere
Whereas in previous Borderlands games, fast travel was only available at select stations sparsely distributed around the map (rendering this option not that fast, actually), Borderlands 3 has updated the system to 2019 standards. Fast travel is now available from the menu, with the option to teleport to any checkpoint you’ve previously unlocked.
4. Mantling!
Remember how you had to bunny hop to get past cover or crates in previous Borderlands games? In Borderlands 3, you can quickly clamber over or onto any elevated surface.
5. Sliding!
It feels really good to move around in Borderlands 3, mostly thanks to the mantling ability mentioned above and the addition of a really good, weighty slide. I plan to slide and mantle everywhere.
6. NPCs Can Revive You (And Vice Versa)
At one point in the gameplay reveal, Claptrap fell a couple hundred feet after a massive electromagnet was deactivated. The player was, fortunately, there to help, reviving the overdramatic, foul-mouthed WALL-E and moving on with the demo.
“We can revive NPCs,” Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford said. “And in Borderlands 3, they can actually revive us.”
7. More Variety in Loot Crates (the Actual Containers, Not the Loot)
Previous Borderlands games relied heavily on yellow crates, lockers and “dook huts,” as containers for storing loot. Borderlands 3 stashes loot in a much wider variety of containers, including the trunk of a classic car. Additionally, each corporation’s loot chests are visually distinct.
8. Loot Instancing!
Speaking of loot, a new optional feature allows for loot instancing while playing with co-op buddies. In the live demonstration, a low leveled Amara and a level 25 Zane each collected loot from the same locker, with each gun individually tailored for the player’s experience.
9. Trophies You’ve Collected Show Up in Hammerlock’s Apartment
This tweak is part of a bigger addition: the inclusion of a spaceship hub area called “Sanctuary III” where fan favorites like Tannis, Moxxi, Marcus, Maya, Ellie and more hang out.
Hammerlock’s sumptuously decorated den will apparently serve as a trophy room for players as they advance through the campaign. In the demo, none of the trophies had been collected yet, so, it’s unclear at this point if these trophies will correspond to actual Xbox Achievements or PS4 Trophies or, instead, will memorialize separate in-game accomplishments.
[Interview] Randy Varnell on Moving on from Handsome Jack
10. New Vehicles (and More Ways to Customize Them)
I’m still not a huge fan of how Borderlands’ vehicles handle—left stick to move forward and backward, right stick to turn—but the series’ newest entry gives players more customization options than ever before. There are new vehicles, including hovercrafts and a one-wheeler. And, before digistructing your lift at a Catch-a-Ride station, you’ll have the option to tweak its color, build material, wheels, guns, mods, and armor.
11. “Double the Guns”
Many guns now have alternate firing abilities, giving players the ability to swap between different ammo types on the fly. For example, some pistols will pack both standard bullets and mini-rockets.
“The players who maximize this feature will be able to have, like, double the guns of before,” said Borderlands 3 Creative Director Paul Sage.
12. Multiple Action Abilities
Where previous games have had multiple skill trees, Borderlands 3 builds on the RPG mechanics by including three action abilities for each character, from which each skill tree grows. So, while in Borderlands 2, each protagonist had one action ability that they unlocked at the beginning of the game, this time around there are three abilities and a massive number of ways to customize them.
13. More Physics-y
Cover now degrades over time and I saw Amara kill a mini-boss by force pushing a fiery barrel into him. The world of Borderlands 3 seems significantly more reactive than ever before.
14. More Than Pandora
In Borderlands 3, players will finally leave the Pandoran system (for some of the game anyway). In addition to the familiar Mad Max-ish sand, the trailers have highlighted a jungle area, a rocky landscape and the cyberpunk planet, Promethea.
The hands-on demo at this week’s gameplay reveal dropped players on the outskirts of Meridian, a massive Promethean city. Given that Borderlands has mostly stuck to deserts (albeit, sometimes snowy or low-gravity deserts) it’s exciting to see the series transplant its exciting loop to new and different locations.
15. Faster Move Speed While Downed
It’s a Borderlands staple: when your shields and HP reach zero, you sink into a crouched position. If you can get a kill while downed, you’re rewarded with a “Second Wind,” with partially replenished health and shields. Borderlands 3 brings this back, but now with a quicker movement speed while downed. In previous games, moving during these moments felt like crawling through molasses (and in the first Borderlands, you actually couldn’t move at all). Now, downed speed is roughly equivalent to your speed while crouched.
BONUS: The Thing You Noticed!
Borderlands 3 promises to be a massive game, and there’s plenty to comb through in the footage that’s already been revealed. So, what new features are you excited for? Is there anything that’s new and cool this time around that I didn’t mention here? Let us know in the comments below!