Borderlands 3

Borderlands 3 continued the series of cartoonishly stylized looter shooters set across several planets of the galaxy, where a new quartet of Vault Hunters travels to stop the fanatical Calypso siblings from seizing ancient alien treasures and the power they conceal. The game expanded the game world beyond the home planet of Pandora to several other visually distinct moons and planets, each with its own fauna and factions.

The shooting system, long a celebrated strength of the series, received further refinement with billions of procedurally generated weapons with bizarre properties, new character abilities, and a deeper skill tree allowing for distinctly different playstyles. On Xbox One the game featured striking cel-shaded graphics, energetic electronic-rock music, and the series' trademark sarcastic humor, complemented by four-player co-op letting players progress through the same campaign regardless of differing story progress.

Borderlands 3 was one of the series' most commercially successful entries, and critics praised especially the refined shooting and the sheer volume of content, though some reviews noted that the humor occasionally felt stale or overly forced. Thanks to extensive post-launch support in the form of paid and free expansions, the game continued to grow even after release, cementing Borderlands' position as one of the longest-running and most influential brands in the looter-shooter genre. For many players it became the entry point into the whole series, and it remains a title they return to repeatedly in pursuit of ever-better combinations of weapon and character ability. The quartet of playable characters with distinct playstyles also gives the game notable replay value even for players who have already finished the campaign once, encouraging them to try the same challenges with a completely different approach to combat.

Why play it: For looter-shooter fans craving an endless pursuit of the best combination of weapons and character abilities, the four distinct characters and generous post-launch support guarantee dozens of hours of fun.