Those who followed our previous coverage of Battleborn, the newest game from Borderlands developer Gearbox, might have noticed that not much new information on the game has come to light since last year. It seems that will change at this year’s E3.
“Next month, Battleborn will be at E3 in a big way and we will have more news to share about the title prior to the show,” Take-Two president Karl Slatoff said in the company’s recent earnings call.
Slatoff didn’t elaborate beyond saying that Battleborn will feature an “accelerated character growth system.” This is meant to allow players to learn heroes’ play styles more easily, which is something that goes against the grain of many of the games Battleborn shares gameplay traits with.
It may not look like it at first glance, but Battleborn is a radical departure for Gearbox. Though the game shares a first-person perspective with the Borderlands games, it looks like the game will play more along the lines of Smite or a first-person Dota 2.
Gearbox has called Battleborn its “most ambitious” game to date, and considering how impressive the loot system in Borderlands was when that game was first released, that’s saying something. The game will feature five-on-five competitive matches, five-player cooperative multiplayer, and even a single-player mode.
While the style of the game shares some elements with the Borderlands series, the arenas in Battleborn seem more colorful and vibrant. The comic book sensibilities first seen in Borderlands are taken to the logical next level here.
No specific release date has yet been announced, but Battleborn is currently slated for a release on the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One some time in the 2016 fiscal year.
While Slatoff’s wording would have it seem that more details will be revealed before E3, for now the closest look at the game can be had from gameplay footage released in September 2014. For more information, see our preview of Battleborn from last year.
