Borderlands 4 launches Sept 12 and Switch 2 delayed to Oct 3

Borderlands 4, the next main entry in Gearbox Software's looter shooter series, will launch on September 12 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series XS and PC, with a Nintendo Switch 2 release delayed until October 3, the developer confirmed this week. Gearbox has published global unlock times and a raft of technical and design details ahead of the release, and the sequel promises a darker tone, a new planet called Kairos, four playable Vault Hunters and extensive gameplay overhauls intended to address criticisms of Borderlands 3.

Set on the prison world Kairos, Borderlands 4 pits four new Vault Hunters against the Timekeeper, a dictator who rules the planet, and his synthetic Order forces. The cast includes Vex the Siren, Rafa the Eco Soldier, Harlowe the Gravitar and Amon the Forgeknight, each with distinct action skills. Lead character designer Nick Thurston said each Vault Hunter will have roughly 80 passive abilities, with some characters slightly exceeding that total, underscoring a much deeper progression system than in previous entries.

Gameplay changes are broad. Movement and traversal have been expanded to include double jump, gliding, grappling, mantling and swimming, and...