Borderlands 3 Mayhem Starts Early (Opinion and News)

What, no finger guns?

The term "mayhem" seems to be central to the chaos and story of the upcoming Borderlands 3--it notably appears in the first trailers and fits perfectly with the general tone of the series.  This week, a ton of Borderlands related things happened.  On April 3rd, remasters of the three games in the original series were released (if you already owned those games you received the remasters for free!) with updated graphics and a bevy of updates to the original Borderlands.  What's not to love about that?  Weeeeelllll, things got a tad heated when it was officially announced that Borderlands 3 would release on September 13th, 2019...and it would be an Epic Store exclusive for the first six months.  Immediately, some PC gamers began taking out their frustration at another game opting not to release on Steam by review bombing the Borderlands series (it does appear that Steam's new review bombing safeguards are kicking in and keeping the overall rating for the series from dropping).

Personally, I am excited for Borderlands 3.  Period.  I would prefer for it to release on Steam because that's where all my other games live, but if I had to download the Epic launcher, it's not the end of the world.  Heck, I've got so many other game launchers...what's one more?  If Steam is that important to me, I can wait six months and buy it there (which, I might, depending on the reviews).

It's hard for me to understand the outrage over games opting to go to Epic.  Sure, there was something very janky and unfair about Metro:  Exodus because of the way the pre-orders were available on Steam and then at the last minute it was yanked.  I get that, but I can't understand the craziness about other games opting to make the move.  If I was a game developer and could put my game on a storefront that was taking 12% vs. the 30% that Steam takes (which drops lower with higher sales, but I don't think it gets anywhere near 12%)...why wouldn't I choose to do that?  I would do it in a heartbeat.

I think we're going to see more and more developers opt to put their products on Epic.  Steam has enjoyed almost monopolistic status as a digital delivery system for years and finally has some competition.  In order to continue enjoying that top billing they might need to re-think that 30% charge (I don't see that happening for quite awhile).  However, I also think that if Epic is hoping to convert the PC masses that they have a long way to go to offer an experience that is on-par with Steam.  They need to add the features that people have enjoyed on Steam like game specific forums, achievements, friends lists, reviews, and all the other goodies.

Moze, Amara, FL4K, and Zane are our new vault hunters.

Now that we're done freaking out about the Epic Store exclusivity, let's talk about some other exciting Borderlands 3 news--the new set of playable vault hunters!

Moze--is a soldier-like character who can summon a mech-suit that actually forms around her.  It also appears that the suit has a turret that can be used by another player.  She would be a great choice for players wanting to team up.

Amara--is the de facto siren.  Unlike previous sirens who had a mix of different abilities--Lillith's melee-ish shadow walk ability or Maya's more crowd-control oriented singularity--Amara seems to be melee focused with her ability that summons six large arms.  It's very possibly that she could fulfill the role of tank.

FL4K--is the hunter/beastmaster.  He (I think...who knows with aliens though?) can summon a number of different beasts (I'm guessing that we will be able to choose through the talent trees).  He's the new Mordecai, I suppose.

Zane--he seems to be a blend of Zer0/Axton with abilities to summon decoy holograms or summon turrets that can assist.  I'm curious to see what else he has to offer.

Knowing how popular Borderlands 2 was I'm betting that more playable characters are rolled out as DLC.   It will be interesting to see if those new characters offer brand new abilities or stick to the tried and true (as the four vault hunters appear to).