Summary

• Borderlands 4 has a chance to bring back the fun and satisfying melee classes like Brick and Krieg from earlier games.
• The absence of melee classes in Borderlands 3 was notable, but Gearbox can easily solve this by adding a similar class back.
• Borderlands 4 could take cues from games like Cyberpunk 2077 to innovate melee combat by focusing on increased mobility and melee finishers.

Gearbox Sfotware has the chance to add a feature from earlier games that Borderlands 4 has been announced. Borderlands 4 will technically be the fifth game in the mainline Borderlands franchise, as Borderlands 3 was preceded by Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. While all the games in the series have stayed relatively consistent in of basic gameplay, there was one fun feature from the first two games that The Pre-Sequel and Borderlands 3 both dropped.

One of the main ways Borderlands games add variety to the gameplay is through the different classes that players can choose from. Each game has come standard with four playable protagonists, and most games also include additional classes as DLC later on. Unfortunately, one of the most fun class archetypes was dropped after the first two games, and hopefully it can be brought back in Borderlands 4.

Borderlands 4 Should Bring Back Melee Classes

Borderlands & Borderlands 2 Had Melee Classes

Borderlands and Borderlands 2 both include classes that allow players to temporarily swap their guns for extremely effective melee attacks. Brick from the first game pummels enemies with his fists, and Krieg in Borderlands 2 cuts through them with his combination buzzsaw/axe. This makes for very satisfying gameplay at higher levels, as players can easily clear a room of enemies in a single high-energy rampage without firing a single bullet. When built right, Krieg is also able to heal himself through killing, essentially making him invincible as he cuts through enemies.

Though Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel and Borderlands 3 both have some fun classes, the absence of melee classes is notable. Players who preferred this method of gameplay over using ranged weapons now no longer had the option to play Borderlands the way they had been accustomed to. Borderlands 4 could easily solve this by adding back a melee class with a similar skill to Brick and Krieg’s.

Borderlands 4 Should Take Cues From Other First-Person Games For Building Melee Classes

There Have Been Many Innovations To First-Person Melee Since Borderlands 2

The Borderlands spin-off, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, seemed like a natural place for the series to bring back melee classes thanks to its fantasy setting. Unfortunately, the game’s classes fail to capture the same energetic flow of melee combat with Brick or Krieg. If Gearbox is looking for ways to bring back melee in Borderlands 4, but also innovate a bit, the studio can look to more recent games with first-person melee combat for inspiration.

Cyberpunk 2077 is a good example of a game that makes melee feel fresh and exciting, while also balancing it against a mixture of ranged and melee enemies. One thing Borderlands 4 could implement from Cyberpunk could be the game’s focus on increased mobility. Being able to zip around the battlefield and chop up enemies would be a lot of fun, and also differentiate a new character from Brick or Krieg, who are larger and less agile.

Another option that would fit the Borderlands format would be a class that was rewarded for melee finishers, similar to the DOOM series. Allowing players to recover health or ammo during a spree of melee kills would build momentum for the point when players switch back to using guns, creating a nice synergy between the two styles of play. This seems perfectly suited to Borderlands’ often frenetic combat and would let Borderlands 4 bring back one of the series’ best features that never saw the light of day with Borderlands 3.