When Borderlands took the gaming world by storm, the developers at Gearbox showed that blending the tried and true FPS genre with the progression and growth of an RPG was a winning formula. Rather than be satisfied with the mega franchise that it’s become, the team is hoping to push the envelope even further with their latest title, Battleborn. As big fans of their previous work, we made sure to get some hands on time with it on the show floor and see if they could recreate the magic.
One of the first things that we noticed with Battleborn is how much character variety the title will offer. Promising up to about 50 characters to choose from with five player co-op, each character is so wildly different from each other that it’s likely to ensure that no two playthroughs will be the same. Sure, if you want to take the more traditional road, there are characters that specialize in automatic weapons, heavy artillery or sniper rifles. If you’re like me and want something with a little more class, maybe the rapier wielding Phoebe is more your style, who joins characters such as a dwarf in specializing in up close melee strikes. If swinging blades in a shooter sounds strange to you, that has nothing on the ninja mushroom that uses its head as a healing spore when he’s not throwing his deadly blades, or the four armed magic user who can speed in and out of the battlefield and away from danger.
If you were able to follow along with all of that, it’s clear that Battleborn is insane. To think that these are just a sample of the characters that will be available when the game launches at the end of the year makes it hard to imagine what else will be waiting for us. Either way, it’s fortunate that there are so many options, because as you and up to four other friends fight to extend the life of the last star in the universe, you’re going to want to have multiple ways to achieve such a task. Just because the galaxy is about to come to an end doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it, right?
The brief time we spend in the campaign mode felt instantly familiar for anyone who played Borderlands. Each character has their own skill trees, that can be expanded on as each character levels up. Every team member gets equal EXP when anyone defeats an enemy, so even terrible team members will get stronger and hopefully improve… Right? As we fought through hordes of enemies in between abusing special abilities and hacking away at the huge foes, it became clear that the bright, cartoony art style hid a deceptively challenging game, with large areas that get full quick. If Borderlands felt like an RPG, then Battleborn feels like a hack and slash in the same vein as games past, with a more stage focused setup as opposed to the big, open world from before. It feels similar enough to know you’ll love it while being different enough to stand out on its own. What more can you ask for in a new IP?
Battleborn is one of my biggest surprises coming out of E3 so far. What are your thoughts on what could be the next big co-op shooter? Let us know in the comments, and take a guess as to who your character is going to be!