"So much space, need to see it all"

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is Borderlands in space and the best Borderlands so far.

The first Borderlands introduced us a lovely shoot 'n' loot game with a rich world full of tales and wicked characters. One of the most tiring things while also being part of its charm was actually the part of Pandora that we saw. The surroundings. Sand, sand and more sand combined with fifty shades of brown. Me and my co-op partner felt like drowning in sand and dust after the playthrough. After all this Borderlands 2 rose like a phoenix and showed us Pandora in a completely different light with green pastures and maps that weren't only taken from Mad Max! With a story that for the first time felt like a proper story and more lunatic fellows and guns and loot and more everything, it made the first part look shameful.

Most of the aspects from the old parts are here in The Pre-Sequel, just better or at least at the same level of quality. In the story we see our beloved villain Handsome Jack's path from a wannabe hero into the horrible monster of Borderlands 2. The gameplay is the same old good Borderlands that you have gotten used to with some space twists like weaker gravity and the often absence of areas with oxygen. Jumping in space is seriously fun and also convenient, so it's pretty hard to get used to gravity again. Anyway, I'd like to praise the story. Who crazy plays Borderlands for their stories? I do, especially from now on. The jokes are as funny as ever if you find the Borderlands humor endearing and the plot is interesting to follow while exploding heads just like in the second part. The feature that I experienced as compelling was the fact that your Vault Hunters finally join the discussions and are more engaged in the story instead of just some random catchlines. This adds a good amount of replay value for those who are not only interested in different skill trees but also in interacting characters. I felt like really being part of the story and not just a mute shell doing quests. Something that seems so minor was a huge change in my eyes. Why wasn't it always done like this? It's a good start and even more dialogue from the Vault Hunters is what I absolutely desire.

Remember the complaining about dust? I love space. There's a lot of space in this game. The areas aren't boring though and shouldn't make you want to never see space again, but at the same time the game maps aren't from as large scale as in Borderlands 2. For a guy like me who sees dreams of Mass Effect, I can't say I mind too much.

The Pre-Sequel doesn't reinvent the wheel, it attaches rockets to the wheel and sends it out of Pandora. And the wheel speaks now. That's enough for me, but for the next game it's only reasonable to demand bigger differences. The series is going into a great direction and I expect wonderful things from Borderlands 3. Meanwhile, enjoy the fresh air of Elpis!