The day was April 3, I was sat in sixth period German 1 as a livestream for Gearbox Software started. The screen flashed with a picture of the Iconic Psycho mask, I knew exactly what was coming. 

A few minutes later and the tagline was shown: “Mayhem is coming”. Fast forward to present day, and Mayhem did come, in a big way. 

Borderlands 3 is the fifth game taking place in the Borderlands universe, ramping up much hype for the long awaited third game in the mainline. After the mostly underwhelming launch of the third game, Borderlands: The pre-sequel, taking place after the first game but before the second, the community was hoping for a much better and explosive launch as the games are known for. 

Explosive it was, personally I found myself playing the game into the early morning hours hoping to get that one gun part combination I wanted. Whether you’re into a long grind for the perfect weapon or you enjoy fast paced, explosive gameplay, or the crude humor, this game has you covered. 

The new feature of interplanetary travel provides so much more to explore than the barren wastelands of Pandora. There’s the metropolis of Promethea for those who enjoy a more modern setting for their chaotic walk of destruction; if the hustle and bustle of city life doesn’t fit you why not take a trip to Eden-6 the luscious swamp planet full of huge sprawling trees, and inhabited by many different species of which are all trying to kill you. The game barely lets you catch a breathe from the action, which is both a blessing and a curse keeping the game fun to play but also making it hard to put down. Borderlands 3 hosts both 4 player couch or online co-op ensuring that if you wanna experience the mayhem with a friend you’re covered. The player character choices in this game are great providing a colorful cast of vault hunters to hack and slash through the many many enemies that stand in between you and your goal. You have Fl4k the beastmaster, a mysterious robot that uses a wide array of pandoran beasts to hunt and take down his enemies. Moze, the short but scary pilot of her iron-bear mech suit, a large robot that can be used so set everything on fire, and provide a much needed boost of team power. The Operative Zane, an Irishman with an alcohol problem can call upon drones and a clone of himself to wield another weapon to aid in confusion as well as firepower. The fourth and final vault hunter is Amara, the siren of this game, with a large array of telekinetic powers at her disposal she can fling, smash, and pummel enemies with her large ethereal fist. The two new Villains are the Calypso twins, a brother and sister duo of sirens who both have to ability to suck the life force and powers from anyone to feed their own quest to become gods, while no villain can ever hope to come close to the character and acting performance of the infamous Handsome Jack, the Main Villain of the second installment, the phenomenal performance and delivery of his character left him cemented in legend. Jack would be hard to follow up, he was this horrible guy who would stop at nothing to get his way, we hated him, but we loved to hate him and that’s what made him a legendary villain, the Calypso twins are a nice villainous duo to motivate you through the story. Borderlands three is a wonderful continuation for the franchise, being bigger, more explosive and a great use of $60 if you’ve got the time and money I definitely recommend you pick this up.