Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel

This game is very similar to the first titles from the series, almost feels like a dlc or expansion but long enough to be a standalone chapter in the franchise.
If you played Borderlands and Borderlands 2 you should play this too because as title suggests this is a missing link and it's mandatory to understand the origins of our heroes and villains.
I enjoyed the space theme and low gravity jumps and new mechanics,there is a new rooster of playable characters with the robot being the most fun and memorable.
I have to mention some of the main quests from the story which made me lose my temper , i understand they had to deliver a certain amount of playtime but not like this.. I'm talking about Pickle and his stupid quest, oh and it's secondary mission is even worse somehow. The huge levels and the walking simulator feeling gets in your head after some time,at least there are enemies to shoot everywhere..
This is not the best Borderlands but it can deliver a lot of answers for the series so don't skip it!
My review score
Story - 7
Gameplay- 8
Graphics- 8
Sound - 9
Overall - 8

It’s the third game in the Borderlands series but essentially Borderlands 1.5. From the perspective of the first game, it’s a sequel. From the second game’s perspective, it’s a prequel—hence, a "Pre-Sequel."

It was five years ago when i started this game and i gave up becoz i didnt like it. but i decided to give it another chance and after sevrl hours i noticed that i want to play more and now i got all achvmnts

While Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel feels more like a big Borderlands 2 expansion than an actual sequel due to a lack of significant changes to the series formula, it remains an enjoyable looter-shooter despite not quite reaching the same heights
Out of all main titles in the franchise, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (or Borderlands: TPS for short) always felt like the odd one out, as most fans usually tend to talk about Borderlands 1-3 instead. This might be because developer Gearbox Software wasn’t solely responsible for Borderlands: TPS since 2K Australia co-developed the game, but also because Borderlands: TPS didn’t really do anything to progress the franchise formula – which makes it feel less like a mainline title but more like a big expansion instead. Coupled with the unusual storytelling that takes place before and after the events of Borderlands 2 at the same time, it seems that Borderlands: TPS was mostly made for fans of the looter-shooter franchise in order to bridge the long time before Borderlands 3 would arrive.
As the name suggest, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is split into two parts narratively: The actually playable portion of the game is set before the events of Borderlands 2 and allows players to experience how popular villain Handsome Jack rose to power. However, the non-flashback parts of the story happen a lot later, after the events of Borderlands 2, as these cutscenes are set between the third episode of Tales from the Borderlands and Borderlands 3 instead. To keep things simple, all of this just means that Borderlands: TPS should only be played AFTER Borderlands 1 & 2, if you want to experience it’s story in the best possible way.
While the story and writing of Borderlands: TPS never really hit the same heights as other franchise titles - especially Tales from the Borderlands - for me, it’s still an enjoyable yet drawn-out trip to Pandora’s moon Elpis and the Helios space station. Having played through the game once during its launch on PlayStation and now once more on PC many years later, what most stuck with me is how nicely many of the prequel elements actually added to the events in Borderlands 1&2: There’s Jack’s story of course but there are also other notable answers to open questions like what is actually powering the Helios laser, for example.
On the downside, the story of Borderlands: TPS unfortunately suffers from big pacing issues. Even if you’re not the type to tackle all side-quests the minute they appear, the main story still moves at a snail’s pace at times, as fulfilling simple objectives usually turns into an unnecessarily lengthy affair. Coupled with the same mission objectives almost every time (“shoot X, stand here, press button”) and a visually-boring setting, it’s fair to say that Borderlands: TPS can occasionally test the patience of even the most devoted fans. If the gameplay received some meaningful updates, the feeling of repetitiveness might’ve been less of an issue, but unfortunately this isn’t the case.
To put it bluntly, Borderlands: TPS feels way too similar to Borderlands 2 in terms of UI and gameplay, to the point where it might as well be a huge expansion. Apart from the new locations and story, the main differences between Borderlands: TPS and Borderlands 2 are the inclusion of O2 kits, a new vehicle (“Stringray”), a new elemental effect (cyrogenic instead of slag) and a new weapon type (laser). Furthermore, the “Grinder” machine allows the player to “recycle” weapons and receive new ones in return.
While most of these additions are self-explanatory and mostly okay – I personally never cared for the Stingray – the O2 kits are a different story. Due to the space setting, many environments in the game feature low gravity and no air, which is where the O2 kits come in: Not only do they provide air for a certain time until they need to be replenished (thankfully, running out of oxygen only makes the player’s character gradually lose health instead of instantly killing them), they also function like a jetpack and allow for various air manoeuvres (e.g. hovering, air dashes) as well as ground slams.
This might sound like a huge gamechanger on paper but in practice, O2 kits are more of a slight modification to the core Borderlands gameplay. Searching for air is nothing more than a slight annoyance and the increased air manoeuvrability is certainly nice to have but also limited to the point where you’re still mostly going to stay on ground. Overall, Borderlands: TPS still mostly plays like Borderlands 2: do quests, fight the same few enemy types, level up, invest points in three skill trees, use increasingly better procedurally generated weapons and so on. The gameplay loop is still fun, sure, but if you’ve played a lot of Borderlands 2 before, you probably want something a bit more different instead – like the refinements that Borderlands 3 brought to the gameplay.
There’s one aspect of Borderlands: TPS that proves to be a real downgrade compared to Borderlands 2 however: It’s level design. While the map UI is as unhelpful as ever, especially since you can’t track objectives of multiple quests at once, the individual levels range from way too big and boring to small and needlessly complicated/annoying to navigate. As mentioned before, they’re also visually boring, with the same few barren environments more or less repeated instead of doing something more interesting – a shame, compared to the many different environments showcased in Borderlands 2.
On a more positive note however, Borderlands: TPS runs well on a SteamDeck OLED using Proton Experimental: My playthrough at a native 1200x800 resolution and with almost all settings maxed out resulted in a nearly flawless 60 FPS experience. Strangely, the game likes to restrict itself to just 45 FPS upon a restart at times – this was easily fixed by adjusting the SteamDeck screen refresh rate from 60hz to another number and back to 60hz in the SteamDeck settings however. I found the SteamDeck to be a great fit for Borderlands: TPS, although I have yet to try using it during a co-op playthrough.
Concluding, Borderlands: TPS is a decent title for fans of the franchise that just want more Borderlands. It’s not suited for newcomers due to its story structure and might feel a bit dated if you’ve played Borderlands 3 beforehand, but it’s quite enjoyable if you’re not expecting it to be more than a slightly adjusted Borderlands 2 experience.

I came back for the second time and the game is still good, if not better, as the first time.
Great fun with all the characters, satisfying visuals without stressing gpus, funny for the most of the gamers and community still alive for fun or coop achievements.

What else to ask?

Another one amazing game in Borderlands series. Events set between bl1 and bl2
At first look it's like same bl2 but Pandora's moon here with low gravity, another vehicles and moonstones instead eridium. First of all this game is about Jack, Handsome Jack crazy and hilarious villian. He "loves" Claptraps, hires Vault Hunters which are pretty familiar characters after playing bl2. We have an opportunity to know about him better by being his ally. This game also has a lot of side quests, random loot and long grind but it may seem different, just it's like more space version of bl2. Most intersting part of game for me was Claptastic Voyage DLC where Jack digitizes Vault Hunters and sends them inside Claptrap's mind, I love those levels so much where enemies much stronger and final boss pretty tough

I can't say this game is better than Borderlands 2 but it feels like something missing between first two games of franchise, and we can understand events in bl2 better after playing this one. It's nice to look on events from eyes of villians. And don't forget to replenish oxygen if you are not a Claptrap

As borderlands 4 is releasing in 2025, and its the 10 year anniversary of the pre-sequel i decided to replay the story on pc from xbox back in 2014. The visuals are excellent the game holds up quite well despite its age and the fact it was made to run on the xbox 360/ps3. I've always enjoyed the pre sequel but this time can see how much slower pace the game can be compared to borderlands 2 or 3. I also find that the map design is very tedious and not thought out well and can cause some frustration and sometimes the art design gets repetitive with not much uniqueness to areas or differences which is a draw back. The big plus for me is the story itself and the outer space theme and direction the team was going with exploring Pandora's moon. The music, gun play and loot are always top notch and wish there was more random encounters or bosses to loot from. Overall i'd rate the game a solid 7.5/10 its definitely worth a play through especially with friends and if the game is on sale its good value will take over 20H to complete the game with the side quests.