Borderlands 2

Rating: 8/10 -Good TLDR: A stylistic, action packed loot adventure. Had this game rotting in my account since 2019. I played it for like 16 hours and then dropped it for whatever reason. Now in 2026, I decided to pick it up again and got addicted somehow. Gameplay, music, characters and the story managed to really hook me this time. Positive: Story: The story is surprisingly compelling. On the planet called Pandora, an alien vault was opened which released eridium, a powerful and valuable alien metal onto the surface. Handsome Jack and his company called Hyperion have caught eye of the powerful material and try to gather every last bit of it to open another vault. They make tons of money off this stuff. You play as a vault hunter which are also trying to get hold of the treasures of the vault. You team up with other vault hunters to fight against hyperion since they are killing vault hunters like you. Your adventure will lead you to all kinds of places on Pandora. Villain: Handsome Jack is a one of those likable villains like GLaDOS or Vaas. He comments on the things you do throughout the game via radio. He makes fun of you, insults you and he acts as if he is the hero of the story. He feels grounded and insane at the same time. He sort of develops over the course of the game and you start to learn more about him. probably one of my favorite villains so far. Locations: I didn't count but I feel like this game has like 30 locations and each one has its own unique look and feel. Green fields, snowy areas, dry deserts, caves and industrial complexes. Everything is here and it's beautifully designed both in looks and gameplay. Gunplay: The gunplay is simple but feels great. Shotguns eat away enemy health on close range or one shots smaller enemies. Snipers can cause enemy heads to explode. There are also weapons that cause element damage which are better suited for killing certain enemies. I never got tired of shooting enemies and that is pretty important when it comes to looter shooters. I also really liked how weapons behave differently from different weapon manufacturers. Music: I wasn't expecting such a banger soundtrack when going into this game. Each location has its own track. Every single one was a banger. It doesn't matter how important the location is. There is always a banger track playing in the background and during combat. I looked up the OST on YouTube and found out that it was made by Jesper Kyd, the composer behind the ezio trilogy. I'm still amazed by this OST. You hear the track of your current location and you think that it's the best of the game but you would be wrong. The next area has an even greater banger waiting for you. Like, I'm serious. This OST is a gift that keeps on giving. Negative: Geometry: I found myself getting stuck on small things on the ground throughout the game. It's just something minor but it can get annoying after a while. Fast Travel Bug: when I'm unlocking a new fast travel station, there's a chance that it doesn't actually unlock. The station is active and you can choose different destinations but you're not able to travel back to it even though you should. You have to kill yourself and respawn at the fast travel station to fully unlock it. It's weird I know but it works. I got the solution off Reddit. This bug occurred in places like "The Fridge" and " Caustic Caverns". DLC: This game has a ton of DLC and only a few are actually good. Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep was really good. The rest was uninteresting to mid. Conclusion: Borderlands 2 is a funny and addictive looter shooter with an interesting story and a memorable villain. I expected the gameplay to get repetitive after a while, but surprisingly, it never did. The game didn’t manage to hook me when I first played it in 2019, but now, in 2026, I absolutely adore it. I highly recommend giving it a try when it’s on sale, as it’s often available for a very low price!

100% (10.14.23): this is the best borderlands game. it also has the best borderlands dlcs. handsome jack is not only the best borderlands villain, but undoubtedly one of the best video game villains of all time. even if some of the humor has aged real bad, this game is peak

Very good, I liked getting good weapons. It was fun to bounce off of the grenade. But too many homosexual. Please update roland to use more african american vernacular english, it breaks my immersion that he sounds like a white guy.