It should come as no surprise that, in Borderlands 3, Sanctuary III will serve as a safe space.
That’s true for a few reasons. Most obviously, it’s true because the dictionary definition of “sanctuary” is “a place of refuge or safety.” Second most obviously, it’s true because, since its introduction in Borderlands 2, Sanctuary—in its earthbound and airborne incarnations—has served as a refuge from the dangers of Pandoran life; a place where Vault Hunters can drink up at Moxxi’s Bar, grab ammunition and health packs at various vending machines and take on quests.
For game developers crafting dangerous worlds, a safe place like this — a place where players can rest and recharge after getting their asses kicked — is a necessity.
Let me give you a well-loved example: After a few hand-holdy entries, Nintendo made major design shifts for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, upping the number and strength of enemies and dropping players into a hostile world where the heat and chill were as lethal as any boss from Twilight Princess. But, they were also careful to add stables—glowing, warm havens where weary players could cook up meals, craft potions and chat with the gentle denizens of Hyrule.
This year, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, likewise, gave players an enclave as they made war against a notoriously steep difficulty curve, offering the Dilapidated Temple, a safe area where players could stock up on paper dolls and whoop on a living punching bag. In the fiction of the game, the shinobi, Wolf, is taken here to recuperate after a near-fatal fight in the game’s opening moments. And, mechanically, the Temple serves a similarly convalescent purpose; it’s a refuge where players can chat, shop and practice their parries.
This rhythm of moving from danger to safety is most pronounced in the survival horror genre, where the beasties have the run of the place, except in a few select areas. As I played this year’s Resident Evil 2, I often felt like I was sprinting through a horrifying game of tag, plotting out my course from one safe area to the next, making mental notes of where the gooey red Lickers laid in wait. After Mr. X was introduced, these mad dashes were laced with a panicky mania. I was driven by a need, deep in my gut, like a child playing tag approaching a designated jungle gym, to get to “safe.”
In all of these games — Breath of the Wild, Sekiro, Resident Evil 2 —the safe spaces are clearly delineated from the rest of the game. But, remember the moment in Resident Evil 2 (the original) when the closed door that appeared on every loading screen suddenly opened to reveal a zombie shuffling at the player? Or, remember when Prosperity, the camp in Far Cry New Dawn, became the setting for one of that game’s most memorable battles as the Highwaymen staged an all-out assault on its survivors? Or, in Sekiro, how the Dragonrot infected the characters in the Dilapidated Temple despite the fact that they never left its grounds as a result of your failures? The best safe spaces aren’t completely safe. Sometimes, the danger of the outside world breaks in, and these spaces become more compelling as we realize how precarious the peace they provide actually is.
Borderlands 3’s Sanctuary III isn’t just this literal kind of safe space; it’s also a refuge from the ravages of time. During Gearbox Software’s gameplay reveal event, the developers showed off a hub area that functioned as a living museum to the series’ history. Remember Tannis? She’s here. Remember Marcus? He’s here! Remember Maya? She’s here!!! All the characters you know and love are together in one place (in a hub area reminiscent of the delightful Eva’s Hammer from Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus).
This emphasis on fan service in Sanctuary III fits in nicely with the general vibe of the marketing surrounding Borderlands 3. Onstage at the Tuesday dress rehearsal for the gameplay reveal, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford promised a game with “no microtransactions… no free-to-play, pay-to-win type of junk” (a claim which is roughly half true, but that’s not what this article is about). Gearbox is promising that the game won’t require an online connection. Generally, the studio is pitching Borderlands 3 not as the MMO-ish Destiny-like that many had suspected it would be, but instead, as more Borderlands.
That is, more Borderlands, but with the rough edges sanded off. Like any number of studios making a retro-inspired throwback, Gearbox is promising a game that captures the essence of the old games you remember, but without the frustrations inherent to revisiting an artifact from another time. In September, Borderlands will be back and better than ever, a gaming oasis in a culture that has largely moved on.
And I’m sure I will enjoy it. I like this series and I had a good time with the hour-and-a-half I played.
But, Borderlands 3 doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and the most interesting aspects of its story, design and very existence as a consumer product testify to that. Its villains, the Calypso Twins, are streamers—a word that was primarily associated with long strands of crepe paper when the first game launched— and Randy Varnell, Gearbox’s narrative lead, has said that he hopes to explore questions of how influencers *ahem* influence their followers. Additionally, Borderlands 3’s release will be one pawn in an ongoing battle between Valve’s established Steam storefront and the nascent Epic Games Store, where Borderlands 3 is a PC exclusive. This game is inseparable from our current moment, and that’s part of what makes it worth talking about.
There’s a moment in that live gameplay reveal where the player, ensconced in the fan-service-y safety of Sanctuary III, pulls the lever on the Cash Trap slot machine in Moxxi’s Bar. The reels spin for a moment, before landing on an icon of Claptrap in a captain’s hat and a pair of robot eyes — a combination that, on this one-armed bandit, apparently spells death. The machine dispenses a live grenade. The player quickly ducks out of the way and the grenade explodes.
I hope Borderlands 3 feels like that. Safe, but not too safe.