The Borderlands series has its fair share of unique qualities that set it apart from other looter shooters, ranging from its humor to its art style. As fans encounter villains like Handsome Jack and Vault monsters like the Graveward, the one thing that remains fairly consistent across their adventures is the weapon manufacturers. Borderlands 3’s millions of guns were provided by the same handful of companies, and in Borderlands 4, the gimmicks of said companies should be changed up.
While adding new weapon manufacturers to the next Borderlands game is one option, and bringing back old ones is another, expanding on the existing ones could be a lot of fun. There are some lore reasons for the changes to take place, at least for a few of the companies, and gameplay-wise new gimmicks would help give Borderlands 4 a distinct identity. Though Gearbox could certainly keep the same gimmicks around, some fresh ones would be a lot more appealing.
Potential New Weapon Gimmicks for Borderlands 4
Lore-wise, a few Borderlands manufacturers immediately come to mind for potential gimmick changes. CEO Susan Coldwell’s invasion of Promethea and eventual death during New Tales from the Borderlands will surely lead to big changes for Tediore, which could be reflected in everything from its logo to its guns. As Tediore seeks to rebuild its image and disassociate itself from the old regime, something could replace the brand’s throwable weapons. While the reloads were a fun way to reflect the cheapness of Tediore brand items, a new gimmick could do the same. Glitchy weapons that jam and malfunction, but have big upsides alongside their flaws, could return. Functioning like Seraph weapons from Borderlands 2 or Glitch weapons from Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Tediore could provide high risk, high reward loot.
The other company that Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel set up for a big change is Atlas, which leaned into Tracker grenades and smart bullets in Borderlands 3. While this was a good way to make the weapons so that even someone with no combat experience could use them - a fitting approach with someone like Rhys in charge - the new approach could highlight the impact of Anu’s Device. Though it eventually became a healing beam, the original form of the weapon could teleport foes away. This could be a fun feature for Atlas guns, with players possibly able to shoot grenades to teleport themselves to another part of the battlefield. Alternatively, they could hit enemies with the grenades to “send them on a vacation.”
Jakobs is another brand that could undergo some changes as a result of Wainwright and Sir Hammerlock’s marriage. Perhaps the latter will influence the former’s company, giving advice and suggestions based on all the hunts he has gone on over the years. This could result in a tracking mechanic, with players injured by Jakobs guns marked for all Vault Hunters to see. Perhaps marked targets could take extra critical damage from all players, and marking several targets could create a chain where critical damage moves between every marked enemy. This would create a more focused version of Borderlands 3’s Jakobs gimmick.
Assuming that Athena is running Hyperion like fans believe, the weapon shield gimmick could be taken to the next level. While Athena’s iconic shield was able to block projectiles, she also tossed it as a weapon, so making Hyperion’s gun shields an offensive tool would be a good direction to go in. Perhaps players could let out a damaging blast when they absorb enough damage with the shields, similar to the Vibranium gear in the Black Panther films.
Whatever Gearbox comes up with could be completely different from these suggestions, but the fact that they are possible to come up with at all shows how much depth there is to Borderlands’ gun brands. Each manufacturer has a clear style, and reflecting that through special abilities in Borderlands 3 was the right idea. Now, the next step should be to evolve the gimmick system, introducing more brand-specific abilities for gamers to play around with in the next major Borderlands release.