Summary
- Borderlands 4 takes place on Kairos, a new location with diverse regions and verticality.
- The Timekeeper, with a synthetic army called The Order, has oppressed citizens with Bolts in their spines.
- New additions include a dynamic weather system, Digirunners for mobility, and abandoned Silos to explore.
It’s hard to believe that Borderlands 3 was released all the way back in 2019. It just seems like such a long time ago, but the series is finally back with Borderlands 4 and a bounty of new additions. There are four new Vault Hunters, vehicles, a grappling hook, and, best of all, a new location to give old fans something different to explore.
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Borderlands 4 takes place on Kairos. This location remained hidden up until events from the last game, which may be a bit of a spoiler for those who haven’t yet finished Borderlands 3. Without going into too much detail, the artificial walls that surrounded Kairos have been broken, and players can now explore what waited behind them to their heart’s content.
All news and details were taken from Borderlands 4’s 2025 PAX Panel and State of Play.
6 The Timekeeper And His Minions
Beware Of The Order
The Timekeeper has been responsible for locking down the citizens of Kairos for over a thousand years. While his name implies that he can manipulate time, it’s not known what his exact powers are. What is known is that he commands a synthetic group of soldiers called The Order, which players will presumably have to fight a lot in the game.
To subjugate the citizens of Kairos, the Timekeeper put out a city-wide curfew and injected their spines with a thing called a Bolt. It controlled and tracked them for years, but after the moon incident kicking off the events of Borderlands 4, some citizens have started taking these Bolts out. In doing so, some have died or lost their minds. This may be how the typical Psycho-based enemies will return in Borderlands 4.
5 The Planet’s Architecture
Four Big Areas To Explore
The footage so far has shown a diverse set of areas on Kairos for players to visit. There are icy mountains, dry deserts, forests, tropical beaches, an oppressive-looking city, and more. While what each region is made of hasn’t been exactly detailed, it is known that the planet is divided into four regions: Fadefields, Terminus Range, Carcadia Burn, and Dominion.
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These regions can be explored freely with next to no load times. Dominion is the aforementioned oppressive city that The Timekeeper rules out of, and Terminus Range is the icy region and the place where the most time was spent during the State of Play. New to the series is the idea of verticality, meaning that these four regions can be climbed and aren’t just flat terrains.
4 The Weather System
Bring An Umbrella
New to Borderlands 4 is a dynamic weather system that will pop up from time to time. Players don’t have to worry about these things affecting gameplay, though, unlike other games that have changing weather. For example, acid rain is not going to force players to run to cover, similar to the time-infused rain of Death Stranding.
Snow, normal rain, and dusty wind clouds could impair vision. It could become problematic to find enemies during times of extreme weather, possibly resulting in death. That’s about the only clues the developers have divulged about Kairos’ weather system, but this could all change once players start the game.
3 How Citizens Can Get Around
From Digirunners To Grappling Hooks
While the citizens of Kairos are oppressed, the technology is not completely in the dark ages. There are plenty of ways for them to get around, although this could be just for the Vault Hunters. For example, there are machines called Digirunners that people can hop onto and scoot around that look a lot like Ghosts from the Halo franchise.
This is a bit like the Catch-a-Ride vehicle systems of past games, but Digirunners are a lot more sleek and versatile for mobility. The people of Kairos hypothetically have access to grappling hooks, too, as there are plenty of grapple points in the environment. This lends to the verticality prospects that were mentioned previously.
2 There Are Abandoned Silos
Reactivate For The Crimson Resistance
One interesting detail mentioned during the State of Play is that players will find abandoned sites called Silos all over these four regions. Players can hack into these stations using their Echo-4 robot guide. Doing so will create an access point that players can then grapple onto and get some quick height to glide down from.
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How these Silos tie into the history of Kairos is still a mystery. Are they like the challenge Shrines of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild? Will they be more than hackable nodes, or will some be more involved, like dungeons in typical RPGs? Fans are just going to have to wait until September to find out.
1 The Weapon Manufacturers
Scraps Of The Past
Lastly, because Kairos was hidden from existence for a thousand years, it didn’t have complete access to the main gun manufacturers. That said, ships have crashed into the planet, giving citizens access to familiar brands like Jakobs, Maliwan, Vladof, Tediore, and Torgue, all of which are returning companies. Kairos has three distinct gun manufacturers of their own in Borderlands 4.
The aforementioned supremacist cult, The Order, makes guns that can charge up. Ripper is a brand dedicated to making fully automatic guns, and Daedalus weapons can use different ammo types. More returning companies include Hyperion, Atlas, and COV, but they only exist as parts and not full weapon shells. The people of Kairos have learned to piece weapons together from scraps, so it’s possible to find a core gun from The Order spliced with a barrel from Hyperion or a scope from Maliwan, which is an interesting gameplay mechanic and a cool bit of lore.
Borderlands 4
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 82 /100 Critics Rec: 88%
- Released
- September 12, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Gearbox Software
- Publisher(s)
- 2K
