Borderlands 4’s ‘Darker Tone’ May Be a Blessing For New Players But a Curse For Existing Fans

12 July 2025

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borderlands-4’s-‘darker-tone’-may-be-a-blessing-for-new-players-but-a-curse-for-existing-fans — Borderlands 4’s ‘Darker Tone’ May Be a Blessing For New Players But a Curse For Existing Fans

There are many good things that could come from Borderlands 4‘s “darker tone,” which Gearbox itself has repeatedly made a big selling point of the game, and rightfully so. Borderlands 3‘s toilet humor was criticized by the community at large, and while there were some players who did enjoy this take, the game arguably suffered from it due to how some story beats were delivered. This doesn’t mean that Borderlands 4 won’t have its share of humor, but rather that it may be toned down a notch in order to make some events stand out. Whatever the goal, this approach may be beneficial for newcomers, and less so for veterans.

This may seem counterintuitive given the premise that many fans didn’t love the over-the-top humor in Borderlands 3, which may be why Gearbox walked it back with the sequel, but there’s a key reason. While humor has always been a core aspect of the series, with stuff like Borderlands 1‘s My Brother is an Italian Plumber achievement requiring players to kill an enemy by jumping on their head, Borderlands games are no strangers to dark moments. Borderlands 4 is likely to follow in this path like past games, at the very least, or double down on it, which may lead to multiple big deaths.

Though it remains to be seen how much screentime Borderlands 3’s Ava will receive in BL4, I’m just glad Gearbox isn’t giving up on her.

Why Borderlands 4’s Dark Tone May Lead to More Returning Characters’ Deaths

Borderlands games usually kill important characters off in sad or gruesome ways, and this has always been the case. From T.K. found hanging in his house near Fyrestone in Borderlands 1 to Bloodwing and Roland dying in Borderlands 2, all the way to one of the most shocking deaths in the series with Maya in Borderlands 3. The returning characters in Borderlands 4 already didn’t feel safe for this reason, and with the game having a darker story and tone, players may have to see more of them dying than they’d like.

New players may have a stronger experience with the series if Borderlands 4 kills off Zane and Amara, because it sets the tone more firmly than just a random death amidst a lot of jokes. On the opposite end of the spectrum, longtime fans may never really enjoy a returning character’s death, especially beloved characters like Maya in Borderlands 3, and having even more moments like those may sting a tad too much. Maya’s death was already sad in its own right, but it was made even more excruciatingly painful with the Psycho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluck DLC, which highlighted the effects of Maya’s passing on the already feeble mind of Krieg.

With Zane having a dedicated section on the official Borderlands 4 website, it seems likely that his role in the story will be decently important, putting him at risk of being killed off.

Borderlands 4’s Dark Story Doesn’t Have to Mean More Characters Are Being Killed

A darker tone doesn’t necessarily mean that Borderlands 4‘s Vault Hunters will have to witness lots of deaths, and it could also be a plot device to tell stories that resonate more with fans. For example, Borderlands 4‘s big bad, the Timekeeper, is already the perfect candidate for this logic because he is the leader of a dystopian society where people are not really free due to the cybernetic implants that the ruler of Kairos uses to control them.

Borderlands 2 also had a similarly dark story tied to Handsome Jack and Angel, who was essentially imprisoned by her father, and while Borderlands 3 tries to partly redeem Jack for this, it’s still a dark plot thread to have. Borderlands 4 may have more of these stories more frequently rather than multiple character deaths to shock fans, but one option doesn’t rule out the other. The death of Maya in Borderlands 3 was probably made worse than it could have under different circumstances by the community at large due to role Ava plays in it, but it’s still a turning point for the game and the series as a whole, so killing off not one but two or more major characters in Borderlands 4 may backfire.