Despite Tonal Shifts, Borderlands 4 Has Proven It’s Still Committed to the Bit

Every Borderlands game has featured a certain irreverent humor about it, seemingly focusing more and more on internet cultures of the times. Toilet humor, meme culture, and even streamer culture have defined several Borderlands games, but that’s something that Borderlands 4 is moving away from. That doesn’t mean it won’t have its own irreverent humor, just that it is its own irreverent humor.

Every Borderlands 4 trailer thus far has taken a more serious tone than many may have expected. They’ve had their humorous moments, but nothing to the levels seen in past Borderlands games. That fits the bill. Earlier this year, a GamesRadar+ interview with senior project producer Anthony Nicholson revealed that its tone was “evolving” alongside audience expectations, saying that Kairos was “a world where the outlook is bleak, the stakes are real, and the characters treat them as such” but also adding that it isn’t “without the zaniness, oddity, and mayhem that makes a Borderlands game a Borderlands game.”

Commitment to the Bit

What that exactly looks like and how it is received remains to be seen, but that’s definitely a hard tonal balance. A mistimed joke could ruin a serious story beat, and something too dark can hang over the jokes, undermining their impact. Speaking of a mistimed joke, Claptrap has been around since the first game and has forcefully endeared himself to most fans. Many still hate him, as much as one can hate pixels anyway, and many characters in Borderlands 4 no doubt hate hearing him talk, too. Except they don’t have to, and neither do you.

As shared on social media, Borderlands 4 has an audio slider specifically for Claptrap’s voice. This would suggest that players could shut him up for their entire playthrough, which is funny in and of itself. Of course, Claptrap is something of an important character, so that means important dialogue could go ignored. Perhaps the subtitles are still there, or perhaps the audio slider doesn’t work as first believed. It would be funny if it just adjusted the overall tone of his voice into something unrecognizable; if not that, it just simply not working would also be pretty funny. Maybe it does work, but it creates a fourth wall break where Claptrap speaks directly to the player or otherwise “breaks” the game. That is a commitment to the bit tracking all the way back to the first Borderlands game.

Borderlands 4 also has a very Borderlands-oriented fishing feature.

Nicholson also said that the tone would be “closer to between what players felt tonally in the first Borderlands and the humor and comedic opportunities we explored in Borderlands 2.” In that way, honoring the oldest and noblest of Borderlands jokes—Claptrap—seems like a hopeful indicator that the tone will land. Ultimately, it remains to be seen, but checking out this setting is going to be on top of several to-do lists once Borderlands 4‘s release date comes around (September 12).