Borderlands 4

Borderlands
Borderlands	2009
Borderlands 2	2012
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel	2014
Tales from the Borderlands (series)
Borderlands: Game of the Year Enhanced	2019
Borderlands 3	2019
Borderlands 2 VR	2019
Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep: A Wonderlands One-Shot Adventure	2021
Tiny Tina's Wonderlands	2022
Borderlands 4	2025

Borderlands 4 is a action shooter game developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K. It is the fourth main installment in the Borderlands series and serves as a sequel to Borderlands 3.

Borderlands 4 was first confirmed to be in development in March 2024 through Take-Two Interactive's acquisition of Gearbox Software.^[2]. It was officially announced in August 2024^[3] with the first gameplay footage being shown at The Game Awards 2024. While originally planned to launch on September 23, 2025^[4], in April 2025 Gearbox announced that the release date has been moved forwards to September 12^[5]. On that date, Borderlands 4 released on the Steam and Epic Games Store storefronts.

The game released to positive reception from critics and mixed reception from players. Heavy criticism has been pointed towards the performance and stability issues with even high-end PCs struggling to reach stable framerate.

General information

Official franchise Discord server

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Epic Games Store		Deluxe and Super Deluxe editions also available.
GamersGate		Deluxe and Super Deluxe editions also available.
Green Man Gaming		Deluxe and Super Deluxe editions also available.
Humble Store		Choice between Epic Games Store activation and a Steam key. Deluxe and Super Deluxe editions also available.
Steam		Deluxe and Super Deluxe editions also available.
(unavailable)		Deluxe and Super Deluxe editions also available.

All versions require Denuvo Anti-Tamper and Symbiote DRM.

Version differences

Deluxe Edition

Includes the base game, the Bounty Pack Bundle and the Firehawk's Fury weapon skin.

Super Deluxe Edition

Includes the contents of the Deluxe Edition, the Vault Hunter Pack and the Ornate Order Pack.

Monetization

Type	Notes
Cross-game bonus	Purchases of the Epic Games Store version include the Mad Moxxi Bundle Pack for Fortnite until September 12, 2026.
DLC	DLCs will include new characters and cosmetics to use.
Expansion pack	Story Packs will include new areas and characters to play with.
One-time game purchase	The game requires an upfront purchase to access.

Microtransactions

Type	Notes
No microtransactions	The game does not contain microtransactions.

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
Bounty Pack Bundle	Included with the Deluxe and Super Deluxe editions.^[6] ^{[Note 2]}
Bounty Pack 2	Included with the Bounty Pack Bundle.
Bounty Pack 3	Included with the Bounty Pack Bundle.
Bounty Pack 4	Included with the Bounty Pack Bundle.
Bounty Pack 5	Included with the Bounty Pack Bundle.
Vault Hunter Pack	Included with the Super Deluxe Edition.
Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned	Included with the Vault Hunter Pack. Release is scheduled for Q1 2026.^[6]
Story Pack 2	Included with the Vault Hunter Pack.
Ornate Order Pack	Included with the Vault Hunter Pack and the Super Deluxe Edition.
Gilded Glory Pack	Included with pre-orders.

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos and splash screen

Use the `-nostartupmovies -nosplash` command line arguments to skip the intro videos and splash screen

Remove the intro video files
Go to `<path-to-game>\OakGame\Content\Movies`. Delete or rename `2KLOGO.bk2` and `GBXLOGO.bk2`.

Remove the splash screen image file
Go to `<path-to-game>\OakGame\Content\Splash`. Delete or rename `Splash.bmp`.

A game update may restore the files.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Borderlands 4\Saved\Config\Windows\
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1285190/pfx/^{[Note 3]}

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Borderlands 4\Saved\SaveGames\<user-id>\
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1285190/pfx/^{[Note 3]}

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Epic Games Launcher
OneDrive		Requires enabling backup of the Documents* folder in OneDrive on all computers.*
Steam Cloud

Video

Basic video settings

Advanced video settings

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor		See Ultra-widescreen.
Ultra-widescreen		Hor+ gameplay with spanned HUD. FMVs are pillarboxed.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		Separate sliders for Field of View and Vehicle Field of View, both adjustable 50°-90°.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Referred to as Windowed Fullscreen.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Up to 16x.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		FXAA, TSRAA, FSRAA, DLAA, XeSSAA
High-fidelity upscaling		DLSS 4, FSR 3.1, XeSS 2, TSR Upscaling Quality presets available for all upscalers. Separate Spatial Upscaling Quality presets available for TSR. RX 9000 series users can use driver-level FSR 4 upgrade via Adrenalin 25.9.1 or later.
Frame generation		DLSS Frame Generation, DLSS Multi-Frame Generation, FSR Frame Generation, XeSS Frame Generation Requires respective upscaler to be active.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		Cinematics were locked to 30 FPS until an update in December, which allowed uncapped frame rates on cinematics. Optional FPS caps up to 170 FPS also available.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		HDR experience can be improved using: RenoDX HDR Brightness, slider 0 - 1000.
Ray tracing (RT)		Software Lumen Lighting.^[8]
Color blind mode		Referred to as Color Preset. Protanopia, Deuteranopia and Tritanopia options available.

The game engine may allow for manual configuration of the game via its variables. See the Unreal Engine 5 page for more details.

Audio/video accessibility settings

Input

Basic controls settings

Advanced controls settings

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse sensitivity		Horizontal Look, Vertical Look, Horizontal Aim and Vertical Aim sliders available.
Mouse acceleration		No option in-game. See Mouse acceleration to disable.
Mouse input in menus
Keyboard and mouse prompts
Mouse Y-axis inversion		Both axes can be inverted for movement and camera.
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping		4 presets for movement and driving each also available (Default, Southpaw, Old School, Old School Southpaw).
Controller sensitivity		Sensitivity settings are shared between controllers and keyboard/mouse.
Controller Y-axis inversion		Both axes can be inverted for movement and camera.

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger support

DirectInput-compatible controllers

PlayStation controllers
PlayStation button prompts
Motion sensors support
Light bar support
Adaptive trigger support		Wired
DualSense haptic feedback support
Connection modes

Nintendo controllers

Other controller(s)

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Input prompt override
Haptic feedback		Referred to as Enable Vibration.
Digital movement support
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Gameplay accessibility settings

Mouse acceleration

Edit the config file.

Go to %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Borderlands 4\Saved\Config\Windows\
Open GameUserSettings.ini
Add the following to the end of the file:

[/Script/Engine.InputSettings]
LookAcceleration=False

Black Outlines Removal

Edit the config file.

Go to %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Borderlands 4\Saved\Config\Windows\
Open or Create Engine.ini
Add the following to the end of the file:

[/Script/Engine.RendererSettings]
r.EdgeDetection.Enabled=0

May have to set Engine.ini to read only

Audio

Basic audio settings

Advanced audio settings

Basic accessibility settings

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Main Volume Controls: Music, Sound Effects, Dialogue. Music: Menu Music, Game Music, Cinematic Music, Boss Music Trim. Sound Effects: Player Weapons Trim, Explosions Trim, User Interface Trim, Outgoing Damage Trim, Incoming Damage Trim. Dialog: Player Voice, Player Efforts Trim, Player Callouts Trim, Player Idle Lines Trim, Combat Voice, Claptrap?.
Surround sound		Up to 7.1.^[9] Supports Spatial Audio API.
Subtitles		Text Size, Force Bold Text, Color, Background, Background Opacity, Toggle Speaker Identify and Speaker Identify Color options also available.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost		Referred to as Play in Background.
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Polish
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Latin American Spanish
Thai

Network

Network settings

Multiplayer types

Type	Players	Notes
Local play
LAN play
Online play	4	Co-op
Asynchronous multiplayer
Crossplay	Supported platforms: Xbox Series, PlayStation 5 ^[10]

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Ports

No port information; you can edit this page to add it.

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	12

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	Havok Physics, SpeedTree
Audio	Wwise, Vivox
Interface	Coherent Gameface
Cutscenes	Bink Video 2

Reducing file size

Remove unneeded languages

In <path-to-game>\OakGame\Content\Paks, look for files starting with these strings before an asterisk. These can be deleted as desired:

pakchunk10-Windows* = Chinese Language
pakchunk11-Windows* = French Language
pakchunk12-Windows* = German Language
pakchunk13-Windows* = Italian Language
pakchunk14-Windows* = Japanese Language
pakchunk15-Windows* = Korean Language
pakchunk16-Windows* = Spanish Language

Potentially reclaims up to 30 GB.

System requirements

System Requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Target	1080p, Low @ 30 FPS	1440p, Medium @ 60 FPS
Operating system (OS)	10	11
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core i7 9700 AMD Ryzen 7 2700X	Intel Core i7 12700 AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
System memory (RAM)	16 GB	32 GB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	100 GB (SSD)
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT Intel Arc A580 8 GB of VRAM	Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT Intel Arc B580 12 GB of VRAM

A 64-bit operating system is required.

Notes

↑ Unreal Engine 5 engine build: 5.5.4^[1]
↑ The Bounty Pack 1 - How Rush Saved Mercenary Day, while originally planned as part of the Bundle, was later made available free to all players as a game update on November 20th, 2025. As such, a fifth Bounty Pack will release to compensate for it.^[7]
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1
Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
- File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.
- Games with Steam Cloud support may also store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/1285190/.
- Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.
- The app ID (1285190) may differ in some cases.
- Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
- See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

References

↑ Verified by User:SargeCassidy on 2025-09-13
↑ Take-Two Buys Gearbox From Embracer, Confirms Development on New Borderlands Game - last accessed on 2025-09-13
↑ Borderlands 4 Launches in 2025 - last accessed on 2025-09-13
↑ Borderlands 4 Launches September 23 - last accessed on 2025-09-13
↑ Borderlands 4 is releasing over a week earlier than expected because 'the game is awesome, the team is cooking,' and its own dedicated State of Play is coming up 'imminently' - last accessed on 2025-09-13
↑ ^6.0 ^6.1 New Borderlands 4 roadmap details story DLC, free updates, and yes, Pearlescents - last accessed on 2025-09-13
↑ Bounty Pack 1 is out today and free for all Borderlands 4 players! - last accessed on 2025-11-25
↑ Verified by User:SargeCassidy on 2025-09-13
Could not verify whether it's more than lighting as the game itself does not mention it. Couldn't use UE4SS or UUEU either as those tools fail, likely due to anti-tamper solutions. There is a HWRayTracingEnabled entry in the GameUserSettings.ini, but changing it and testing did not have any impact on the visuals or the framerate.
↑ Verified by User:SargeCassidy on 2025-09-12
Tested using Voicemeeter and confirmed wih Special K.
↑ Borderlands 4: Crossplay Connections - last accessed on 2025-09-12

[2] Unreal Engine 5 engine build: 5.5.4^[1]

[Note-9] The Bounty Pack 1 - How Rush Saved Mercenary Day, while originally planned as part of the Bundle, was later made available free to all players as a game update on November 20th, 2025. As such, a fifth Bounty Pack will release to compensate for it.^[7]

[Proton_path_note-10] 3.0 ^3.1 Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.
Games with Steam Cloud support may also store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/1285190/.
Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.
The app ID (1285190) may differ in some cases.
Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

[4] File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.

[5] Games with Steam Cloud support may also store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/1285190/.

[6] Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.

[7] The app ID (1285190) may differ in some cases.

[8] Treat backslashes as forward slashes.

[9] See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.

[1] Verified by User:SargeCassidy on 2025-09-13

[3] Take-Two Buys Gearbox From Embracer, Confirms Development on New Borderlands Game - last accessed on 2025-09-13

[4] Borderlands 4 Launches in 2025 - last accessed on 2025-09-13

[5] Borderlands 4 Launches September 23 - last accessed on 2025-09-13

[6] Borderlands 4 is releasing over a week earlier than expected because 'the game is awesome, the team is cooking,' and its own dedicated State of Play is coming up 'imminently' - last accessed on 2025-09-13

[roadmap-7] 6.0 ^6.1 New Borderlands 4 roadmap details story DLC, free updates, and yes, Pearlescents - last accessed on 2025-09-13

[8] Bounty Pack 1 is out today and free for all Borderlands 4 players! - last accessed on 2025-11-25

[11] Verified by User:SargeCassidy on 2025-09-13
Could not verify whether it's more than lighting as the game itself does not mention it. Couldn't use UE4SS or UUEU either as those tools fail, likely due to anti-tamper solutions. There is a HWRayTracingEnabled entry in the GameUserSettings.ini, but changing it and testing did not have any impact on the visuals or the framerate.

[12] Verified by User:SargeCassidy on 2025-09-12
Tested using Voicemeeter and confirmed wih Special K.

[13] Borderlands 4: Crossplay Connections - last accessed on 2025-09-12

[Note 1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[Note 2]

[Note 3]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[1]

[7]

Developers

	Gearbox Software
Publishers
	2K Games
Engines
	Unreal Engine 5^{[Note 1]}
Release dates
Windows	September 11, 2025
Reception
Metacritic	81
OpenCritic	82
IGDB	87
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, Cross-game bonus, DLC, Expansion pack
Microtransactions	None
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	First-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action, RPG, Shooter
Art styles	Stylized
Themes	Sci-fi
Series	Borderlands