Borderlands 4 is in a tricky place relating to tone. The over-reliance on literal bathroom humor in Borderlands 3 was so universally disliked {that a} follow-up was at all times going to pare it again a bit. Which Borderlands 3 does, although generally an excessive amount of. The villains specifically find yourself feeling like personality-free zones, a few of them not even having sufficient happening to fill the empty house on their introductory title playing cards. They’re simply names and hit factors.
The sidequests squeeze in a number of the persona the principle questline leaves out, and even (whisper it) reference the occasional meme. My favourite thus far is Forgive Me, a quest based mostly on a viral joke in regards to the storytelling in Soulsborne video games—a joke tweeted by Borderlands 4 head author Sam Winkler again in 2022.
As a result of the web is the best way it’s, Winkler ended up having to elucidate within the replies that he really likes FromSoftware video games, saying, “I’m begging anybody who thinks I am dunking on fromsoft to learn to make enjoyable of the belongings you love”. And if you happen to wanted additional proof, the Forgive Me quest in Borderlands 4 is an prolonged gag about Soulsborne storytelling that clearly comes from a spot of deep data and appreciation.
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Forgive Me is not marked in your map. It begins in a cave within the Cuspid Climb space of the Terminus Ranges, with a waterfall pouring out of a large cranium on the entrance. Close to a sword embedded in a hearth a badass psycho assaults you, dropping a Desecrated Bolt as he dies. If you choose it up you hear the phrases “Zanzibart… forgive me” and start an unmarked quest that instructs you to “Discover Zanzibart’s resting place”, although it would not add a marker for it.
You will want to seek out one other cave within the Terminus Ranges, this one in Stoneblood Forest to the north and accessible by grappling level. There you may face the Cursed Myrmidon of the Merciless Daybreak in fight and be left questioning if you happen to can probably have a crumb of context.
At which level Vycarias, the Lore-Singer, a personality who’s a cross between a fantasy sage and a YouTuber who reads out taste textual content will emerge from out of nowhere to monologue at you for 9 minutes straight in regards to the Shatterglass Plain, the Nevergreen, the Purple Requiem, and a bunch of different correct nouns you have by no means heard earlier than. It is like studying a dense wiki entry for a recreation you have not performed, and I applaud the voice actor who performs Vycarias for nailing the tone. It is the form of dedication to the bit that I take pleasure in about Borderlands, and I hope I hold discovering it in Borderlands 4’s sidequests and inevitable DLC.
