Borderlands 4's Mature Tone Will Extend to Its Humor and Writing — Toilet Humor Will Still Make a Comeback

[Cpt.Jank]

The Borderlands 4 trailer recently hinted at some sweeping tone shifts for the upcoming looter shooter RPG, and Gearbox Studio's creative and narrative director for Borderlands 4, Sam Winkler, recently confirmed that the shift in tone will extend to the game's character writing and humor. In a series of posts on X, Winkler said "I remain firm in my criticism of BL3's overabundance of toiler humor," going on to explain that there will still be toilet humor, and the idea of a Hawk Tuah reference in-game was being thrown around. "Paul Tassi joked that we were gonna have a gun called Hawk 2A and a fellow dev asked me if it was real and I wanted to put my hand down the sink grinder."

While the Borderlands 4 trailer has generated plenty of hype around the upcoming instalment to the franchise, it hasn't gone without its criticisms. However, the apparent changes to the game's visuals and tone—specifically away from the over-the-top nature of Borderlands 3—have been almost universally positively received, with many fans now expecting a return to the glory days of Borderlands 2. Writing has never been the highlight of the Borderlands franchise, but most seem to agree that Borderlands 3 often went too far with the jokes, to the detriment of the overall experience.

I'm not gonna say there's no toilets but if the word skibidi ships in the game under my watch I'm gonna cry real tears. Paul Tassi joked that we were gonna have a gun called Hawk 2A and a fellow dev asked me if it was real and I wanted to put my hand down the sink grinder

Winkler declined to provide more information about the game, though, so it remains to be seen how the new tone and approach to writing play out. Borderlands 4 is yet to receive a firm launch date, but it is slated to launch to PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5 in 2025.

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[FiRe]

100%

 

[csendesmark]

specifically away from the over-the-top nature of Borderlands 3—have been almost universally positively received

I hope they go for the Borderlands 2 way, which became Game of the Year!

It just got better everything!
Borderlands 3 were quite stale compared to the Borderlands 2 IMHO
Especially the writing and Humor!

But you can see the plain ratings.
Handsome Jack as a villain was one of the best baddy in gaming history!

 

[Apocalypsee]

Borderlands 3 were quite stale compared to the Borderlands 2 IMHO
Especially the writing and Humor!

But you can see the plain ratings.
Handsome Jack as a villain was one of the best baddy in gaming history!

Yep, with Handsome Jack they raised the bar very high. BL3 pales in comparison and made me regret pre-ordering it, never pre-order any games after that since.

As good as BL2 was, I still think it was way too long (though I been in like 3 playthrough with different character) it was THAT good. Not counting playthrough and speedrunning with my mates.

 

[Vayra86]

Toilet humor has a place, we all need to go a few times a day, right. A few times. If you're on there all the time, it ain't going well.

I do hope that blurfest in the trailer and screens doesn't extend to the game. It'll be hilariously broken if they manage to vaseline-TAA a cell-shaded engine.

 

[TheDeeGee]

Shame they never made a character like Gaige anymore, really loved that playstyle with a companion on your side.

 

[Caring1]

So toilet humour is "mature" now, alrighty then.

 

[silentbogo]

I sure hope that it's at least a complete 180 from whatever they did in BL3 and less boring than Wonderlands.
I do own every BL title, but BL3 was so bad, that I only bought it this year when it cost almost nothing, and I still haven't finished it.

 

[b1k3rdude]

Lets hope there is NO more or significantly less claptrap, if ever there was an more hated and completely unnecessary NPC its that annoying little turd tin box.

that I only bought it this year when it cost almost nothing, and I still haven't finished it.

Same, I got all the games on the cheap and then just played them in offline mode.

 

[AGlezB]

So toilet humour is "mature" now, alrighty then.

Sure is. When we mature we transition from poop humor to toilet humor, which is more refined.

 

[ymdhis]

Incredible how this article contradicts itself just in the title already.