How to play border games (and derivatives) in timeline order
Blog Andrew Joseph 18 Feb , 2025 0
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In the years since its release, Borderlands has quickly earned a reputation as a genre of heist shooting games and has actually become one of Gaming's most well-known franchises. From its shadowy art style to masked Psycho poster kids, the dirty, cheek tongue sci-fi universe is now a staple of modern video game culture. It didn't stop there, though, and the series itself quickly turned into a multimedia feel, spinning into comics, novels and even tabletop games.
This month, the journey reached its biggest milestone to date, with the border area finally jumping its long-awaited big screen to the hotel and the big screen provided by Thanksgiving director Eli Roth. Reimagine Pandora and her obsessed with the huge locals reimagining for a completely new audience. and The movie reviews are not very goodthis is still an important step in any franchise.
and Borderlands 4 confirmed release Later this year, there may be a lot of new and return fans looking to get back to the game and regain their start. So we decided to put together a quick schedule for the series to get you stuck in the way they fit.
There are a total of Seven border games and derivative products is the classic of the series, and two Smaller non-currency title: Border: Vault Hunter Pinball and Border legend.
While this is the easiest answer, the best starting point is arguably Borderlands 1, although any of the three mainline games are a good introduction if you don't care about the story.
All three entries in the trilogy are relatively similar in style, scope and gameplay, and better, they are all available on modern consoles and PCs. That being said, here is a great overarching story that runs through The Border Legend, and if you just left the movie and want to follow it the way you expected it is the best way to play from the start.
Each Canon Border Game in chronological order
These confusions contain mild spoilers for each game, including characters, settings, and story beats.
1. Borderlands (2009)
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Start the game with all this. first border Launched in 2009, it tells the story of Lilith, Brick, Roland and Mordecai: the group of four “Vault Hunters” who ventured their lives treasure hunt. When they arrived at the volatile planet of Pandora, they searched for a legendary bunker called The Vault, which is said to accommodate unimaginable treasures.
As expected, their expedition quickly turned into a chaotic massacre, the group faced a militia known as the Scarlet Spear, confronted the Earth's savage wild animals and flora and occupied the hordes of bloody males. deer. From the moment Borderlands landed on the shelves, it was a huge blow, pushing the robbery shooter genre into the stratosphere with its engaging gameplay that killed a large number of enemies and building The role you chose.
The game has also received strong support after its release, further Four extensions This brings the game to the tongue riff on Thunderdome from the zombie-themed island.
2. Border: Before the preliminaries (2014)
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Developed by 2K Australia with the assistance of transmission software Border: Forefront Probably launched after Borderlands 2, but it fills the gap between the first two Borderlands games. The story follows a group of new insurance horse hunters, Athena, William, Nesha and Claprap, who head to the mission to find the vault on the moon of Elpis.
In many ways, the top listed are more fans of “Fans Without Borders”. and New lesson To master and learn, it provides More gunsthe boss's battles, missions and enemy encounters are about to farm, while the whole world awaits the inevitable border 3. However, its main selling point further emanates the story of Border World 2, which features the main rival of the second game, the handsome Jack in the leadership role.
In addition to playing the second main boss and character from years ago in the sequel’s story, it also offers Jack’s drop to crazy views and establishes the origins of the iconic enemy. Like other games, 2K Australia has added several expansions after the game launch, including Holodome Raid and claptastic Voyage Maps, as well as two playable characters: Doppelganger and Baroness.
3. Border 2 (2012)
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The official sequel “Border Area”, Border 2 Launched in 2012, bringing players back to Pandora, with a new ambitious vault hunter dragging it. The story begins with our heroes Maya, Axton, El Salvador and Zer0, heading to Pandora to find a new vault. But soon, it became apparent that the overlord of the earth, sadistic Handsome Jackthe brave adventurer who seeks fame and wealth by discovering Pandora's latest allegorical library is unwilling. Jack tries to kill them while riding a train through untamed planets, causing them to fall into a cold wasteland.
The team left dead and began to take risks, discovering the truth behind handsome Jack's plans, trying to stop and find the vault in the process. Borderlands 2 is essentially a larger, broader role for the original game, offering many tasks, New course To master a charismatic main villain, somehow you can find and collect more guns.
It is still regarded by many as The best border to dateproviding a fun story, unforgettable battle encounters and a healthy dose of the series’ trademark sense of humor. Like the first game, it also brings a lot of post-release support, including four other campaigns, two reward characters, and several headhunter missions.
4. “Border World” (2014-2015)
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The first complete spin-off of the series, Stories from the border It is Telltale's view of the Borderlands Universe, the Walking Dead developer, which offers a story-focused adventure on the surface of Pandora. Unlike the mainline entries, the story doesn’t focus on a team of super-powered, gun-obsessed vault hunters. Instead, it was a liar and a company liar who unknowingly stumbled upon a grand adventure.
After the events of Border World 2, we follow RhysHyperion employees lobby companies have higher positions in the company, and Fionaa liar who works with his sister Sasha. After Rhys tried to get a family of colleagues by intercepting transactions to get a deal with a vault key, he learned that the key was a fraudster set by Fiona, tangled the two and triggered a chain reaction of the incident in a brand new vault. trace.
and All games in TelltaleThe story of “Border” is mainly focused on a branch with moral choices, and the film story can change the direction of the narrative. In the years since its release, The Unbounded Story was recognized as a key part of The Canon on the Border, with the original characters in the game even popping up in Borderlands 3.
5. Little Tina's Wonderland (2022)
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Gearbox software latest entry in the border franchise, from the outside, Tiny Tina's Wonderland It doesn't look like a border game. Covering the futuristic desert wasteland into a huge fantasy kingdom, and Wonderland may have many dragons, goblins and unicorns, but it's still a game of nowhere except for the environment.
Act as a mature version of the beloved Border 2 DLC, Tiny Tina's Attack on Dragon KeepTiny Tina's Wonderland once again brings you into the world of bunkers and bad guys. The border area is equal to the dungeon and the dragon. Take Tina for you Very Passionate dungeon masters, you will fight a series of fantasy monsters, embark on some heroic missions and fight with you to the giant dragon lord.
Like all border games, Tiny Tina's Wonderland has a large number of guns to find, master lessons and enemies to kill, while also combining new ideas to complement the transformations in the environment, such as the one you travel between missions and abilities. Use spells across areas. It also has its own extensions to help dig, with four separate DLCs with new dungeons, bosses and gear.
6. Border 3 (2019)
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Seven years after Borderlands 2 is released, Gearbox software returns to its third official entry, launching Border 3 In 2019. As always, the Triple Quel brought the fresh vault hunter into the game, introducing the players to Amara, FL4K, Zane and Moze and taking them out of a chaotic new adventure.
This time, the player’s mission is to stop a murdered siren twin named Troy and Tyreen, who are taking risks across the galaxy and leveraging the power inside the vault to achieve a mysterious cause. First, in the franchise, the player's task is to go Multiple planets Take them away, work with a range of familiar faces like Lilith, Rhys, Maya, Brick, Zer0, and of course Claptrap.
As always, you can expect a lot of robbery shooter chaos to follow, with a bunch of guns, enemies, enemies New role class master. Once done, there is plenty of DLC content to be involved, with Borderlands 3 other content offering four new campaigns, knockdown missions, and even designer and director cuts that will resurrect on the ground in the cutting room. a bunch of contents.
7. A new story from the border (2022)
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The official follow-up of the gearbox software, stories from the border areas, A new story from the border It is currently the last match in chronological order. Instead of choosing to continue the original story game, the new story introduces a series of fresh characters, with three main characters: Anu, Octavio and Fran.
The story follows the group's adventures, stumbles into a vault and finds precious artifacts, which inadvertently places them in the line of fire for Tediore Corporation and its brutal CEO Susan Coldwell. Now, with the ownership of the relics, the three begin to reveal their true power while trying to escape them as she pursues them.
Just like the previous games, the new story of Border World is almost entirely focused on weaving a branch story based on your choice. You can expect a lot of dialogue choices, QTE battle sequences and tough decisions that will affect the outcome of your adventure.
Each border game is released in order
- Borderlands (2009)
- Borderlands Legends (2012)
- Border 2 (2012)
- Border: Before the preliminaries (2014)
- Stories from the Border (2014-2015)
- Border 3 (2019)
- Tiny Tina's Wonderland (2022)
- A new story from the border (2022)
- Border: Vault Hunter Pinball (2023)
- Border 4 (2025)
What's the next step without borders?
In terms of the game, Border 4 It's the next major version, Set Release September 23, 2025. Transmission software reveals sequel Randy Pitchford, head of gearbox, after the studio announced its acquisition Tell us during the interview That was “this is the greatest thing (the studio has done).
Although that's what we have to continue for now, it seems that projects in the border universe may be conducted more frequently. We recently learned that after the acquisition, the franchise will be the focus of Take Two, and Take-Two Boss Strauss Zelnick will be the focus of Take Two Point out the investor's phone number The company sees a lot of “potential growth opportunities” for IP. We have to wait to see exactly what Zelnick means, but it seems we can hike to Pandora in the next few years.
Callum Williams is an IGN freelancer covering features and guides. When he leaves the table, you usually find him obsessed with the legend of the latest obscure indie horror games or slamming his boss in the head in the latest soul-like situations like that. You can catch him on @caiiumwilliams' Twitter.