The followup features jetpacks and oxygen tanks, but won’t be developed by Gearbox.
So, Borderlands 2 was a pretty damn good game. It also was the biggest selling game in the history of its publisher, 2K Games, so you bet your pearlescent weapons there’s going to be a followup. While Gearbox already confirmed that they’re not working on a sequel, someone else is. Sort of. Everyone’s favorite gun-collecting sim will continue in the form of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel courtesy of 2K Australia.
Set between the first two games, the The Pre-Sequel follows the story of how Handsome Jack became the murdering psychopath that he is. Instead of the anarchic wastes of Pandora, the game is instead set on Pandora’s low-gravity moon. There will be four new characters, including Nisha the gun-slinging Lawbringer, Athena, the Gladiator (who showed up in General Knoxx), and Wihelm the Enforcer (who later becomes a boss in Borderlands 2). There’s also Claptrap the Fragtrap because why not. And of course, they’ll be an armory of new weapons, including new laser and cryo guns. This news basically confirms all the rumors that Andrea reported earlier.
Perhaps one of the more interesting additions comes from the lack of gravity and atmosphere on Pandora’s moon. While players will have to do deal with limited air supplies, they can also use that air as a jetpack, propelling themselves long distances and crashing down into enemies. In the overview video, Gearbox’s Randy Pichford and 2K Australia boss Tony Lawrence talk about how they made oxygen not just a resource, but a gameplay mechanic. It should be interesting to see how it plays out.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel will launch on the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 in fall 2014.
