Borderlands 4 is coming out in 2025 but still holding most of its cards close to the vest. Following the release of its gameplay reveal trailer at The Game Awards 2024, we do know a bit more about the upcoming loot shooter though, in part due to new comments from a member of the narrative team who’s promising fewer cringe jokes after some of Borderlands 3‘s writing didn’t quite land with people.
“Borderlands 4 is our most ambitious game yet. In service of that, I’m happy to say I’ve gotten to work with some of the funniest people I know as contract writers,” narrative director Sam Winkler posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) this week. Those writers include designer Xalavier Nelson Jr. of Strange Scaffold, the studio behind I Am Your Beast and other recent indie hits, as well as many others.
So far, the sequel has struck a more serious tone than its predecessor in early trailers, teasing dangerous mysteries and a large-scale war rather than plugging one-liners and viral memes. “Not at liberty to talk much about the content of BL4, but I remain firm in my criticism of BL3‘s overabundance of toilet humor,” Winkler wrote in response to fans asking if that tone would carry through to the full game.
What exactly does that mean? “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,” the writer added. “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.”
Bad jokes and gross toilets are a staple of the popular cel-shaded shooter series, though there’s a difference between funny bad and nails-on-a-chalkboard bad. And if you’re worried about Borderlands 4 going all grimdark on you, don’t worry; cum jokes are still on the menu.
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