[PAX East 14] Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel Preview: Days of Future Past

2K Games was presenting a hands-off demo of their newly announced Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel at PAX East. The latest entry in the series, which is being co-developed by 2K Australia, takes place between the first two games and on the moon orbiting Pandora. 

The moon was a central focus of what Gearbox showed off during the demo. More than just a setting, the moon is going to affect nearly every aspect of The Pre-Sequel. Even the famous Psycho enemy types are now referred to as Lunatics, get it?

The two biggest changes were the low level of gravity and a new oxygen resource. The oxygen will deplenish over time and needs to be refilled on occassion. More than just a time bar, the oxygen can also be used to power a double-jump enabling jetpack and an aerial stomp ability dubbed the “butt slam.”

One of the other toted new features was the inclusion of ice-guns and lasers. The lasers were different based on manufacturer. Tediore lasers fired short bursts of “pew pew lasers,” while the Maliwan fired a continous beam of “Ghostbusters laser.” There were also the cryo guns, which Gearbox said was a feature they’d wanted for a long time. These guns freeze enemies into blocks of ice, the demoer made sure to frequently butt slam them into tiny, floating shards.

The playable characters this time aren’t the same ones from the first two games, but they should be familiar to fans of the series. The big reveal at the end of the demo was that one of the playable characters was franchise mascot Claptrap, himself, complete with tiny guns.

The character that was being controlled directly throughout the demo was Athena the Gladiatrix. Athena previously appeared as a quest-giver and NPC in The Secret Army of General Knoxx DLC for the first game. Athena’s unique action skill is to block enemy shots with a shield. The shield charges up as it takes damage, and can be thrown Captain-America style into enemies before boomeranging back to Athena. The Gearbox employee controlling the demo was at one point able to take out five enemies with one throw as it bounced between them like a pinball.

I found Wilhelm, the Equalizer, the most interesting. Wilhelm appeared in Borderlands 2 as an engineer who nearly completely replaced his body with robotic parts. This time, initially at least, he’s just a heavily armed man with a few augments. What was really interesting about Wilhelm was the fact that his body will actually change in response to choices you make when levelling up and choosing abilities on the talent tree. Choose a skill that gives you double jump and Wilhelm will get a flashy new pair of robotic legs. Presumably, this eventually leads to Wilhelm turning into a full-on robot by the time of the second game’s story.

One playable character, Nisha, the Lawbringer, was not shown. Judging from the pictures of her shown in the demo, she’ll be a dual-wielding, gunslinger-type character. Nisha was actually the Sherriff boss character in Borderlands 2, and Handsome’s Jack girlfriend. Presumably, the relationship these two have in the second game will be developed as the Pre-Sequel progresses. This idea of seeing old and new characters progress, like Wilhelm and Nisha, was what Gearbox Chief Creative Champion Mikey Neumann described as a “playable backstory.”

Handsome Jack is actually your boss of sorts in this game. At this point, he’s been kicked out of Hyperion Corporation, which is now being controlled by even worse people. To be honest, Handsome Jack was my least favorite part of Borderlands 2. I found his humor to be completely unfunny and generally just frustrating. Your mileage may vary, but if you’re like me and didn’t like Jack, you might want to keep that in mind.

I’m excited for the new characters and abilities that The Pre-Sequel has to offer. At the same time, I’m worried this is the Gears of War: Judgement of the Borderlands franchise. A sort of stop-gap to keep fans enthusiastic while a next-gen game is developed. Showing off an aerial stomp attack as a major feature for a new game was concerning to me, the say the least. We’ll have to wait and see, but put simply, if you love Borderlands, more of the same certainly isn’t a bad thing.