Borderlands 4 officially launches in 2025

The first trailer for Borderlands 4 has finally been revealed.
borderlands 4 trailer

2K and Gearbox Software have officially confirmed long-anticipated sequel Borderlands 4 will launch in 2025. This was revealed in a new trailer released during Gamescom Opening Night Live 2024, starring a mysterious asteroid planet, and a cyborg life form retrieving a Psycho mask. The trailer also teased the symbol of the Firehawk, which could suggest the appearance of siren, Lilith.

As confirmed by 2K, Borderlands 4 is the next “mainline” game in the Borderlands franchise, and it will directly pick up the events of Borderlands 3 – so we’re likely to see many returning faces, including those with more ambiguous fates. In a minor tease for the future, 2K has confirmed players will “once again assume the role of a legendary Vault Hunter as they search for secret alien treasure while blasting everything in sight.”

That’s not a particularly insightful line, as every major Borderlands game has featured this plot – but regardless, there should now be plenty of excitement about Borderlands 4.

“The team and I at Gearbox have a lot we’ve wanted to do with Borderlands since we first introduced the looter shooter genre to the world with our original game,” Randy Pitchford, founder and President of the Gearbox Entertainment Company said in a press release.

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“All of us at Gearbox have massive ambitions for Borderlands 4 and are putting everything we have into making everything we love about Borderlands better than ever before while taking the game to new levels in exciting new directions.”

What happens at the end of Borderlands 3?

Given Borderlands 4 will pick up the threads of the franchise, we can assume some of the major mysteries of Borderlands 3 will be explored in this sequel. For those who need a refresher, there was plenty of world-changing events at the conclusion of BG3, with all of the game’s main heroes impacted by change.

In the journey to defeat evil twins Troy and Tyreen Calypso, who aimed to harness the power of a Vault to rule the world, siren Maya is killed, and fellow siren Lilith seemingly sacrifices herself to save the world from the towering Destroyer beast. Lilith brands the moon with her Firehawk sign on defeat, leaving it as a symbol for worship.

Given the appearance of the Firehawk in the Borderlands 4 trailer, we could see Lilith return in this adventure or the symbol could simply represent the cult of worship that’s grown around her since her sacrifice.

For now, that’s about everything 2K has teased about Borderlands 4, so we’ll just have to wait to see more of what’s to come.

Leah J. Williams is a gaming and entertainment journalist who's spent years writing about the games industry, her love for The Sims 2 on Nintendo DS and every piece of weird history she knows. You can find her tweeting @legenette most days.