Following the occasions of Borderlands 3, Pandora’s moon, Elpis, smashed right into a beforehand veiled planet referred to as Kairos. There, the inhabitants exists beneath the oppressive rule of a dictator often called the Timekeeper, who assumes the position of the first antagonist in Borderlands 4. Throughout my time at Gearbox’s Frisco, Texas headquarters for our Borderlands 4 cowl story, my time interacting with the Timekeeper was extraordinarily restricted, solely listening to his voice occasionally, however his menacing demeanor and obsession with preserving order in any respect prices led me to hunt extra data from a number of members of the Borderlands 4 improvement group.
For the reason that launch of Borderlands 2 in 2012, Good-looking Jack has been the high-water mark for villains within the Borderlands franchise. Within the eyes of many, the franchise has struggled to discover a villain as charismatic and hateable as Jack. No one – gamers nor builders – desires to have an inexpensive imitation of Good-looking Jack because the protagonist in a Borderlands recreation, so the group took a unique method with the likes of the Calypso Twins in Borderlands 3.
When Elpis crashed into Kairos, it shattered the order the Timekeeper craves and set the occasions of Borderlands 4 in movement
“We’re very happy with all of the tales and the entire antagonists that we have had earlier than,” senior challenge producer Anthony Nicholson says. “We attempt to enhance and diversify the way in which that they’re, so after we go maniacal loopy, perhaps we do not do this for the subsequent one, as a result of there are quite a lot of tales that we will inform.”
Nonetheless, whereas Borderlands 3 featured twin cult leaders bent on the destruction of Pandora, Borderlands 4 appears to be revisiting the dictator antagonist idea with the Timekeeper, a person who has been on Kairos, the brand new planet on which Borderlands 4 takes place, for hundreds of years. The group at Gearbox arrived on the Timekeeper as the primary antagonist very early within the improvement of Borderlands 4, as they wished to discover themes surrounding a personality like him.
Taking part in with themes of order and chaos as opposing concepts, and discovering what occurs if you happen to go too far in a single course or the opposite, served as a tenet for the group as they started work on Borderlands 4. “We knew very early on that we wished this to be a narrative about order and chaos and the spots in between the place the gamers would function,” narrative director Sam Winkler says. “It began as form of a logical endpoint of, ‘Whenever you take order too far, what sort of particular person does that create? What sort of particular person has to thrive in that area? After which, how does that particular person react when the system begins to break down and the chaos begins to be injected?’ And quite a lot of the railroad tracks simply form of fell into place at that time by way of the dialogue.”
Constructing off that preliminary concept, the narrative group set to work on a villain that would exemplify a type of excessive edge circumstances. The end result was a dictator who craved management and order a lot that he would cease at nothing to protect it. “If you happen to take both of them to their excessive, it will probably get bizarre and darkish,” Gearbox president and co-founder Randy Pitchford says. “If you happen to take the organized, skilled, mature aspect of issues… the buttoned-up aspect of issues, and take that to its excessive, you find yourself with this sort of inflexible, nearly totalitarian, form of fascist, like, ‘That is the way in which,’ measured to the micron. All the pieces’s exact, and there is no room for creativity or deviation. You’re taking the opposite aspect to the intense, and it is anarchy and chaos, and quite a lot of dangerous s— occurs as a result of we’re not taking care of issues. That is an attention-grabbing spectrum.”
The Timekeeper’s stronghold metropolis, Dominion
In his efforts to protect his good imaginative and prescient of order, the Timekeeper cloaked the planet to stop the surface universe from discovering them and put in Command Bolts to manage the inhabitants. “His demeanor could be very calm,” Nicholson says. “He likes issues very neat, he likes issues very orderly. He is unrattled. You will not get him flying off the deal with as a result of he is very assured in why he is doing what he is doing. As Vault Hunters, we have to uncover what that’s and, in the end, push again in opposition to it as a result of we will see the chaos that this order is bringing in each area on the planet.”
The narrative group labored to make sure the Timekeeper’s mission had a level of believability and understanding for why he would need the objective he is hoping to attain. Nonetheless, on the finish of the day, gamers ought to simply conclude that his method is much too excessive. “He is a management freak,” Winkler says. “He’s actually and metaphorically getting his arms soiled on this planet of Kairos in a means that has made everybody unsettled and is stopping all of them from having peace. And I feel he is aware of it. He is aware of that he has this impact. He indicators off quite a lot of conversations with ‘I will be watching,’ and other people world wide are wanting over their shoulder. I wished this character to be somebody who is aware of the impact that he has on folks. However he is additionally, on the identical time, a bit sufferer to his personal system. The bounds on him are very inflexible, as a result of he desires it that means; he desires all the things to be inflexible. And as we begin chipping away at these boundaries, I actually appreciated exhibiting off how he responds to that and the way it turns into a really private factor for him.”
Although he is clearly unhinged in his method to reaching order, he is removed from the form of over-the-top character that previous villains within the collection have offered. Throughout my hands-on expertise, I had the chance to listen to him a number of instances, and he remained true to how Nicholson describes him: cool, calm, and calculated. “Borderlands has positively turn into recognized for the character that calls you up and tells you you are an assh—, and we wished to attempt a personality that was just a little bit extra reactive and just a little bit extra ominous,” Winkler says. “He is very current, however quite a lot of his presence is mushy contact. And he reaches out and screws with you very instantly. We wished to make it possible for he wasn’t simply speaking the speak, he was strolling the stroll, so the participant is annoyed at this man and desires to kick his ass.”
And although Good-looking Jack evoked related emotions, he did so in a very completely different method. “We actually wished to have somebody actually be a nasty man and embrace the vibe of a nasty man differently,” artistic director Graeme Timmins says. “Whereas Good-looking Jack was a little bit of a smartass and he had a humorousness, we wished to method this man with just a little extra like, ‘No, he is only a badass.’ He is actually about management. He does not have that form of heat character that you possibly can form of buddy as much as. He is only a dangerous man. And it feels good to kill dangerous guys, in order that was an enormous deal. So, we simply wished to verify it was like, proper to the purpose, it is a dangerous man. Whenever you begin the sport, you will see why he is a nasty man, and you will be on the trip for the remainder of the sport.”
Although the Timekeeper has saved his thumb on Kairos and its inhabitants for an prolonged stretch, the phantasm began to fade following the occasions of Borderlands 3 when Lilith teleported Pandora’s moon, Elpis, into the area occupied by Kairos whereas the Timekeeper cloaked it. This resulted within the cloak being destroyed and Psycho masks raining down, giving delivery to a brand new faction of Kairos denizens who ripped out their Command Bolts to regain their free will at the price of mutilating their our bodies and minds.
Although the Timekeeper has clearly misplaced any form of ethical standing with the folks of Kairos, we’ll be taught extra about his backstory by way of gameplay. “We’re getting into in media res for the Timekeeper’s story,” managing director of narrative Lin Joyce says. “He is been round on this place, so eager about, ‘Who’s he proper now for the participant?’ but additionally for us, ‘How did he get there? What was his journey as much as that time? Why is he this manner? Why does he maintain onto order so tightly?’ Then, solely in answering these questions can we problem and assist crack this good façade that he is constructed. However that is all spoilers, so I am not going to inform you!”
I did not have too many interactions with the Timekeeper, however I did tackle considered one of his followers, whom Winkler calls the Timekeeper’s “number-one fanboy” in Idolator Sol. That battle was extended and frantic, and it set a excessive bar for the escalation that’s positive to happen with the Timekeeper’s different followers and, finally, the Timekeeper himself. I’m already wanting ahead to smashing by way of the Timekeeper’s order and injecting greater than just a little chaos when Borderlands 4 arrives on September 12.
