Every Borderlands Game, Reviewed – GameSpot
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When we first got our hands on the original Borderlands back in 2009, we couldn’t have imagined just how influential the franchise would end up being, as the developers at Gearbox simultaneously invented and popularized the RPG looter shooter subgenre. Franchises like Destiny and The Division probably would never have existed had Borderlands not paved the way. But there’s nothing quite like the series that started it all, which is back for more in 2025 with Borderlands 4.
GameSpot has been along for the ride with Borderlands since the beginning, and the launch of the franchise’s fourth numbered title makes for a pretty solid occasion for looking back on how we evaluated each of the full games in the series when each of them was first released. This is not a best-to-worst ranking or anything like that. We’re just going in release order here. Just keep in mind these reviews were written in the moment without the benefit of hindsight that we have now on these games.
