Do You Need To Play Borderlands 3 Before 4? Answered

The Borderlands franchise began in 2009 and has since sold nearly 90 million copies to date, with Borderlands 4 being the latest entry. It’s a beloved series, and everyone has their favorite numbered title thanks to its wide variety of playable characters and memorable villains.

If you’re new to the series or skipped the third installment, you might be wondering whether you need to catch up before Borderlands 4 launches later this year. Do you need to play Borderlands 3 before jumping into Borderlands 4? Here’s everything you need to know.

Do You Need To Play Borderlands 3 Before 4?

No, you do not need to play Borderlands 3 before Borderlands 4.

Gearbox Software has confirmed that while you’ll see some familiar faces from the massive franchise in Borderlands 4, it’s still a self-contained experience that takes place on a new planet called Kairos, which hasn’t been featured in any entry before. All the playable characters are new, and so are the baddies.

This has been the case for every major numbered entry in the past, with new playable characters and villains for you to play and interact with. For the base roster, you’ll be able to pick from four Vault Hunters and enjoy the entire game in cooperative play if that’s how you want to roll.

From the trailers and the official website, you’ll see familiar faces like Claptrap and Zane from Borderlands 3.

This is similar to how a certain Vault Hunter from Borderlands 2 showed up in Borderlands 3 as well, but not as a playable character. Claptrap is featured in every single mainline Borderlands game, including Tales from the Borderlands and Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands.

Should You Play Previous Borderlands Games Before Borderlands 4?

Now, even though you don’t need to play any game before Borderlands 4, it’s still a while before it officially releases. If I had to recommend just one game to play before Borderlands 4, it would be Borderlands 2.

Yes, Borderlands 3 has much better gameplay, but I think Borderlands 2 still has the best characters, villains, and world in the series. You can buy the game for basically nothing (currently 75% off on Steam), and chances are, you probably have it in your library. It has a wealth of content that can easily take you more than a hundred hours to complete.

If you don’t want to burn out on the shooting ahead of Borderlands 4, I highly recommend checking out Tales from the Borderlands, the excellent narrative-driven game from Telltale.

Fair warning, though, the writing quality in this game is far ahead of anything else in the franchise

So no, you don’t need to play anything before Borderlands 4, but it’s still a fun franchise with no bad entries. To make sure your PC is ready for the new entry, make sure to check out the official system requirements for Borderlands 4.