STACK #179 Sept 2019

GAMES

FEATURE

the Calypso Twins prove themselves a threat worth respecting

Planetary tease Despite how close we are to release, Gearbox still only wants to tease what’s happening on other non-Pandora planets. “[Other planets have] more variety in the environments for sure,” says Higgins. “There are some gameplay elements in there as well. [It’s] exploring more of what makes the Borderlands universe the Borderlands universe, not just this deserted Mad Max kind of wasteland.”

Borderlands 2 ,” explains Higgins. “We want to make it just as memorable but go in a slightly different direction just so they stand out from what you’ve faced before. “The Calypso twins are like new media streamers that have gathered together this cult following. This time all the bandit clans have joined together, whereas in previous games, they’ve all been small little groups of bandits.” Early on, the Calypso Twins prove themselves a threat worth respecting, but you’ll have to tackle some equally memorable peons on the way to dishing out their inevitable just desserts in the Pandoran deserts. Or potentially beyond: Borderlands 3 is an interstellar affair. Shiv is the first boss you’ll tackle: a one-armed goon who quite literally brings a knife to a gunfight. Later on, appropriately

downed. Depending on which Vault Hunter you’re using and which skills you’ve selected, this task can be easier. FL4K, for instance, is a robotic Beastmaster who can make use of tamed critters to put the hurt on enemies. Equally handy for holding enemies in place or giving you an automatic second wind if they kill at the right time, these creature companions add a new gameplay style that helps to set Borderlands 3 apart from its predecessors. You can spec FL4K in such a way to facilitate better co-op play, too. “FL4K’s pets have the ability to resurrect players while they’re down,” says Higgins. By the way, that includes the player who owns the pets as well as other players in the co-op session. “One of Moze's abilities is

have been built with these kinds of player synergies in mind. There’s an impressive depth in each respective skill tree, too, which means that even players using the same Vault Hunter can be rewarded for playing together. Players will feel the tug to create multiple characters, whether it’s for solo vs co-op play, or just to have new gameplay experiences across characters. Either way, despite the necessary level restart, there are, mercifully, ways to make the process feel less like a grind. “We have a storage bank where, if you find a good weapon on one character or a class mod that would work well with a different character, you can save that and play with another character and they’ll come and pick it up,” says Higgins. “You can share

attaching a turret to the back of her mech and a second player can jump on the back of that and use it as a target,” says Higgins. “We’ve got a lot of ways that players can use the Vault Hunters together to tackle the combat.” This turret add-on is purely a co-op upgrade as it takes another player to control it. Similarly, Zane has the upgrade option of dropping a shield for other players to huddle behind. Given the diversity of abilities, it makes sense that these four new Vault Hunters in a game that supports four-player co-op

Slippery dips On the surface, sliding is an easy way to get around faster. Dig a little to dispatch foes. “The sliding is a lot of fun,” says Higgins. “You can slide under things. You can slide into enemies. Some get stunned. Some might get knocked over. You can slide into barrels deeper and it offers hilarious new ways

armed Mouthpiece offers a tougher battle, blocking frontal attacks with a shield as minions swarm and high- powered speakers sporadically knock you flat. When downed, the ‘fight for your life’ mechanic returns, giving you a chance to avoid a nearby New-U respawn station by killing an enemy to score a second wind. This adds a level of fun strategy and nervy health management where you might be incentivised to harm but not finish foes in case you’re

loot between your characters. You can also mail loot to your friends as well.” Alternatively, you can just hoard everything. This is Borderlands after all. Whether you want to play solo, cooperatively or co-petitively, Borderlands 3 has you covered. There’s no judgement. But there is a star system stuffed with loot and armies larger than PewDiePie’s followers to spend countless hours reaping.

• Borderlands 3 is out Sept 13

and send the barrels flying into enemies.”

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