First Borderlands 4 Concept Art Revealed at PAX West Showing Off a Glimpse of Its New Worlds

Gearbox Software attended PAX West 2024 to reveal a collection of concept art and new details for its recently announced looter-shooter sequel, Borderlands 4.

Each shot highlights new foreign locations for players to explore while also not revealing too much about how the fourth Borderlands game will shake up the formula. If there’s one thing to take away from the concept art drop it’s that Gearbox wants to give players a variety of areas to loot and shoot through. One image shows a smokey, candle-lit room decorated with glowing blue lighting, while another shows a small neon town surrounded by snowy mountains. You can see some of what Borderlands 4 has in store in the gallery below.

“The Borderlands universe is super interesting and there is so much to get to play with,” art director Adam May said when describing the concept images at PAX West. “It is a post-apocalyptic world but in the distant future, so it’s like high-tech but lo-fi. It creates all kinds of interesting opportunities with what we can do with tech, our weapons, our characters, and world in general.”

The Gearbox team teased even more at PAX West. For starters, the Borderlands 4 teaser that was revealed at gamescom Opening Night Live earlier this month is now confirmed to take place seconds following the conclusion of Borderlands 3’s story. With new parts of its universe to explore, the team has taken the opportunity to incorporate technology in ways that haven’t been touched on in the past.

“I can’t say much, but this has a lot to do with it here,” May said. “A lot of the things we haven’t had much of a chance to play with too much in the past is some of that high technology stuff.”

He continued, teasing that the Gearbox team got to play with more tech and color than ever before, calling Borderlands 4 “the most diverse and beautiful game we’ve ever made.” A Borderlands 4 release date has not been revealed, but it is expected to launch for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S sometime in 2025. Gearbox still has more work to do before revealing more, so in the meantime, be sure to catch up on some of the more popular fan theories that have spawned from that first teaser trailer.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

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