Borderlands 3

The game is set, like all the Borderlands games, in the fictional world of Pandora, where the player must gather valuable resources – including loot which largely comprises of guns: many, many guns! A tag line for the game claims there are ‘over one billion guns’ because of all the variants in the procedurally generated weapons.

This means that when you find a new gun, you will never really know what you have in your hands until you have tried out all its gadgets and attachments, developed it to the top of its skill tree, so to speak, and otherwise thoroughly put it through its paces.

As a sneak peek: here are some of the things that guns are known to have done: turned into a bouncing bomb when thrown, fired hamburgers from a grenade-launcher size barrel, and needed to be started like a lawn mower (and not one of the civilised mowers with a key ignition like road vehicles!)

New Villainy, Double Trouble This Time!

Previous Borderlands games featured the corporation Hyperion and its villainous leader Jack Handsome, but in this game he is long gone and the company has crumbled without his leadership. The antagonists are twins, Troy and Tyreen Calypso, who have heard of the existence of vaults just off the planet of Pandora.

The nefarious twins want to seize possession of any other vaults, and prevent other groups from finding out about them and accessing them. To this end, they found the vicious Children of the Vault cult to interfere with, battle and otherwise annoy the player.

The player’s character is recruited by a familiar face: Lilith, who has been with the franchise from the beginning, starting off as a playable character and then changing into non-playing character (NPC) for later editions, returns to recruit and train up our player. Keep your eyes peeled for other familiar faces from the franchise as there are many of them popping up as NPCs in unexpected places!

As implied, parts of this game take place off Pandora. You get to pilot a spaceship to the nearby planet of Promethea, and further afield, discovering new cultures and civilisations and, as always, vaults!

Four New Playable Characters

• Amara, a Siren. Sirens are females with supernatural/ magical powers. These manifest as tattoos down one side of the Siren’s body, and, we find, these powers can be stolen. Amara is new to the series, and has three power trees that can be developed and expanded

• Amara: Fist. She can summon The Fist of the Elements, which is a massive ethereal fist that bursts out of the ground near her and lays waste to all her enemies

• Amara: Projection. She can also send out a projection of herself, dealing damage to the enemy while her real self remains at a safe(ish) distance

• Amara: PhaseSlam. Her final power is a Phaseslam in which she leaps in the air, and then slams down, sending a shockwave through nearby enemies, blasting them away

• Moze, a Gunner. Moze rides the mecha Iron Bear which is involved with all three of her special powers. Demolition Woman, Shield of Retribution, and Bottomless Mags give Moze temporary super-strength, offer cover to her allies, and allow her to shoot endlessly. Well, almost – the mini gun will overheat occasionally, but it does not run out of ammo

• Zane, an Operative. He has a range of gadgets at his disposal and can use two of his three special powers simultaneously, being the only protagonist to be able to do this

• Zane: Hitman. His powers are Hitman, in which he sends out a lethal drone to mow down the enemy – these attacks give him speed and strength boosts in his on-ground activities

• Zane: Doubled Agent. This produces a Zane clone to distract enemies while the real Zane gets away or springs his trap (the clone actively shoots down enemies, and Zane can swap places with his clone with a simple button press)

• Zane: Under Cover. He can produce cover to deflect enemy fire and shelter him from harm for enough time to reach safety or reload

• FL4K, a Beastmaster. Not only is FL4K a Beastmaster, he happens to be a robot too. His three powers all revolve around him unleashing the strength of one of his animals, giving him strength and cunning to defeat rivals

Borderlands 3 for PC is available for purchase on Instant Gaming for a fraction of its retail price. You will receive an official key and be able to play the game in seconds. Play smart. Pay less.