Summary
Something that open-world games generally fall prey to is the concept of quantity over quality, and this isn’t necessarily due to the size of these worlds but their design. An open world can be massive and still be executed well by prioritizing player discovery and storytelling over mere quantity of content. Unfortunately, the temptation to fill anexpansive open worldwith enough content to justify its size often overcomes the design philosophy of these games, resulting in a bloated, boring experience overall, with content that could be described as “filler” at best. Fortunately, it has been confirmed thatBorderlands 4isn’t fully open world, despite being “seamless,” according to Gearbox.
Borderlands 4may not be fully open world, but its seamless design still implies that its map will be large. As such, in order to avoid the common pitfall that many open-world games tend to fall into,Borderlands 4will need to ensure the quality of its content isn’t compromised for the sake of a larger world. Looking back on the series' past games, this raises some questions about whetherBorderlands 4will be able to pull this off, as it doesn’t have the strongest resume when it comes to quests and other content.
Borderlands 4’s Quests Can’t Succumb to Its Sizable World
Borderlands Has Been Known to Feature Repetitive Fetch Quests
No game in theBorderlandsseries has ever been fully open world, with each one instead relying on a semi-open-world approach that features interconnected zones separated by loading screens. However, despite not featuring sprawling open worlds, theBorderlandsfranchise has featured one of the most infamous quest types often found in open-world games: fetch quests. In a nutshell, fetch quests are a type of side quest that are often seen as filler content for open worlds with bad design, as they generally follow little more than a “go here, pick up/kill something, return” pattern. Rarely, arefetch questsconsidered an integral part of a game’s narrative or worldbuilding, and are therefore generally received with disdain.
to avoid the common pitfall that many open-world games tend to fall into,Borderlands 4will need to ensure the quality of its content isn’t compromised for the sake of a larger world.
TheBorderlandsseries has been known to feature plenty of repetitive fetch quests, even from its origins, and although these quests are usually backed up by humorous, eccentric characters and ridiculous premises, they often require little brainpower and can become monotonous after doing so many of them.Borderlands 2was heavily laden with fetch quests, despite the charismatic villainy ofHandsome Jackthat frequently acted as a backdrop.Borderlands 3, although it improved the series' quest design to a certain extent, was still bogged down by a multitude of fetch quests.Tiny Tina’s Wonderlandsis anotherBorderlandsgame that featured overly repetitive fetch quests, in spite of its unique premise.
Borderlands 4’s Quests Should Aim for Quality Over Quantity
Now,Borderlands 4has an even greater reason to bloat its world with meaningless side quests, if it is indeed as large as it sounds. The addition of avehicle that can be summoned almost anywhere inBorderlands 4also suggests that the game might find fetch quests to be worthwhile filler content, since players will now be able to travel between objectives at an unprecedented pace. Even so, it also has a prime opportunity to up the game on the series' formula by featuring side quests that actually mean something to the story, whether they flesh out the game’s characters, its world, or delve deeper intoBorderlandslore.
All in all,Borderlands 4absolutely needs to prioritizequality over quantitywith its side quests, or else its expansive world might feel a little too large or too bloated if its content has little substance. The next game in theBorderlandsseries can accomplish this by deepening the storytelling of each side quest, honing in on character-specific narratives, or even offering numerous outcomes based on the choices that players make during those quests. While fetch quests are okay in moderation, they should be far from the majority inBorderlands 4.
