Borderlands 2 – What I’m taking away from the Game Informer cover

On Tuesday 8/2, the internet exploded with talk about Borderlands 2. Not because any real info, screens or even a release date had finally been released by Gearbox, but because a rumor was circulating around that Borderlands 2 would be coming out sometime in 2012. Now, I guess it was exciting because it was literally the first talk of the breakout series since the last DLC pack that was released (Secret Armory? Robo-lution? I can’t remember). Seeing as how Borderlands was a huge hit for Gearbox, not just critically but financially (for example, Borderlands is one of the top selling ‘Games on Demand’ on Xbox Live), I wasn’t all that surprised that some rumors about the game had finally started circulating.

Today we were finally graced with some real info about the hotly-anticipated sequel – that it would be out sometime in 2012. Wait, that’s not exactly accurate. The press release states it will be out in 2K Games’ 2012 “fiscal year” which spans from April 1, 2012 to March 1, 2013. Pretty big window there, especially when you consider that it might actually more than a year before we get our hands on the sequel to what, I feel, is one of the most addicting, fun and well-made games of the current generation.

I honestly couldn’t tell you how much time I sunk into Borderlands over the past few years. With games started for each character (Roland and Lillith probably being my two strongest, followed by Mordecai with Brick bringing up the rear. Sorry, Brick, but the rocket launchers are pretty weak) and untold hours spent in the standard campaign and the DLC packs, Borderlands easily offered as much playtime as games like Oblivion or Fallout 3. The formula in Borderlands was near perfect – a huge open world with seemingly limitless amounts of loot and action to be found. Often I’ve described Borderlands to friends as a “first person shooter Diablo.” Though the “dungeons” aren’t generated on the fly, like Diablo, the fact that there seems to be an endless amount of loot (weapons, items, armor, etc.) to be had and the ability to tackle these vast environments with friends is a proposition too tempting for anyone fond of grinding to pass on.

While there isn’t much new info to go on right now about Borderlands 2, it is apparently the cover story for the upcoming issue of GI. Unfortunately I don’t have a subscription to GI anymore but I might have to go out and pick up a copy since there will no doubt be a long preview article with plenty more screenshots along with it. Speaking of screenshots, the Borderlands 2 cover of GI is pretty cool looking and currently the background for my laptop.

Why yes, that is a shortcut for the original Fallout

If the above image is too small, you’ll want to search out a larger file because there are a few neat little details strewn about the GI cover. First and foremost, the stocky dude with the kick ass beard and faux hawk. I’d say it’s pretty safe to assume this guy will be one of the treasure hunters featured in the game, since one of the few details I’ve read is that Borderlands 2 will again take place on Pandora. The next detail about him you’ll want to note is the amount of guns he’s holding – does this mean Borderlands 2 will introduce dual-wielding? Perhaps this guy will be the new Berserker and dual-wielding is part of his skill tree. But on top of that, one of the guns he’s holding looks like a standard assault rifle while the other is a three-barreled beast of a minigun. Looks like it could be a heavier class of automatic weapon or possibly a new type of modification you’ll be finding on loot throughout the world.

Next up are the other characters/possible enemies shown. Firstly, Stocky Faux Hawk has his foot on what looks like the standard midget class of enemy from Borderlands and not too far away from him is another, fairly standard looking Bandit (who is most likely also probably dead). But, here is where things start to get more interesting. The enemies in Borderlands were basically just humans and animals (scythids, spiderants, crab worms, even the aliens were basically human enemies) but the GI cover shows off a few new possibilities. To the left of Stocky there are two, bipedal robots with red glowing eyes, which, to me, indicates they’re probably enemies. This is important because robot enemies really only made an appearance in the “Robo-lution” DLC and even then they were just Claptrap versions of regular enemies. These two robots, however tiny they may look, could hint at a new robot class of enemy or maybe even a new antagonist to the series (similar to the Crimson Lance but using sophisticated robots to do their dirty work).

In fact, behind these two is a much larger mechanical looking beast that could either be flying, touching down or walking over that ridge. It’s tough to say what exactly that thing is but if history has proven anything about Borderlands, you’ll either be riding or killing that thing at some point. I should also point out the three jets soaring in the skies above this mechanical walker. Though it’s impossible to tell if they are friend, foe or just an artistic detail, they could indicate that Borderlands 2 will feature a wider array of vehicles to use – rather than just the same one (or two if you played Secret Armory) vehicles all the time.

Next, behind Stocky, we see a giant green monster of some sort hanging off a jutting piece of rubble. This thing looks none too happy and though it’s hard to make out much detail on it, it definitely has some sizeable claws and from the way it is perched on that column, it seems very nimble as well. Hopefully this means more large enemies to fight instead of just varying sizes of bugs to squash over and over.

Finally, perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the image, we can see what appears to be either a huge space station or spaceship in orbit above Pandora. Perhaps indicating we’ll be leaving the planet and continuing our treasure hunting in space? Or at least aboard some sort of space craft.

I’m going to continue ogling this GI cover and if I come up with anything new I’ll make sure to post it here. For instance, why do the space craft, the walker on the ridge and the bipedal walkers all seem to have the same Claptrap-esque monocle vision apparatus? Might be making something out of nothing but they do all seem pretty similar…

Regardless, we’ve got a looong time until Borderlands 2 is released. Gearbox has stated that they will be showing the game off at Gamescom in Germany and PAX Prime later this month which will no doubt provide plenty of fodder for Borderlands enthusiasts/addicts like myself.