Borderlands 4‘s release is now less than 3 months away. After some initially lukewarm reactions to its first reveal followed by a few recent controversial comments made by Gearbox Software CEO Randy Pitchford regarding its price tag, the buzz around Borderlands 4 has mostly skewed towards the positive end of the scale. In the latest showcase, fans got a better look at what the developer has cooked up for the fourth entry, and it seems to be shaping up to be an experience that improves on the best of its prior elements while introducing other all-new ones into the mix.
Borderlands 4‘s shifts in tone and established gameplay mechanics promise some intriguing new directions for the looter-shooter series, and many are eagerly awaiting to see how these will move the franchise forward. Fans may recall that ahead of Borderlands 3‘s release, Gearbox surprised them by putting out the Commander Lilith and the Fight for Sanctuary DLC for BL2. The expansion served as a kind of narrative bridge, tying the aftermath of the events of the second mainline title into the start of the third. It was a successful move that helped heighten excitement for the next game. Now that BL4 is nearly here, it would be excellent if the studio did something like this again. However, there are a couple of reasons why this might not end up being the case.
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Borderlands 4 May Be Missing a Chance to Repeat BL2’s Commander Lilith & the Fight for Sanctuary DLC
Borderlands 2’s Commander Lilith and the Fight for Sanctuary DLC Was the Perfect Opener to BL3
Though it leaked a few days before its official announcement and release on June 9, 2019, the Commander Lilith and the Fight for Sanctuary DLC proved popular, especially since it was a bit of an outside-the-box decision in terms of standard industry practice. The DLC was free for users who owned the base versions of Borderlands 2, and was a pleasant surprise, since most assumed that Gearbox had completely moved on from BL2 to focus on the launch of the third entry at the time. By connecting the two games, Commander Lilith provided a great piece of extra content and layers of context ahead of BL3, showing that the studio had some neat tricks up its sleeve to give fans a treat.
Borderlands 4 Could’ve Imitated BL2’s Commander Lilith DLC, But it Probably Won’t Now
Borderlands 3 launched on September 13, 2019, roughly three months after Commander Lilith. Borderlands 4 will be dropping this September 12, nearly six years to the day. With so many unanswered questions, particularly regarding Lilith herself, along with the story setup of the previously unknown and mysterious planet of Kairos, it would seem like Gearbox is teed up to double down on repeating what it accomplished with the DLC.
A new siren, Vex, is set to take over the playable Vault Hunter role, and Borderlands 4 is also bringing back Ava. While this may yet prove contentious, it’s still an intriguing angle to the latest chapter of the story. Gearbox thus has a chance to touch on some of the burning questions regarding these and other details through a DLC similar to Commander Lilith that provides a narrative throughline while perhaps giving players a taste of what BL4 will feel and play like. But going by the previous timing, the window for this has already passed, and it appears less likely by the day.
Though it’s still possible that Gearbox is planning to do something similar to Commander Lilith, at this point it doesn’t look like it actually will. This is unfortunate and disappointing to say the least, as the DLC garnered goodwill, and another one like it could’ve brought players back while giving them an excellent mini-story ahead of Borderlands 4 to generate even more hype for the highly-anticipated next installment.
Borderlands 4
- Released
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September 12, 2025
- ESRB
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Rating Pending
- Engine
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Unreal Engine 5
- Multiplayer
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Online Co-Op, Online Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
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Yes – all