Is Borderlands 4 actually funny?

Borderlands 4 release times have been revealed and reviews have started rolling in. The map is huge, the engame is… there, the Vex gameplay was sorta neat… But whatever. I just want to know: Is it funny?

Borderlands 3 was not funny. That may not seem like a big deal in a first-person shooter and looter, but it actually was one of the major reasons that the game failed. While the gameplay was pretty good, the humor was dated (what people would call cringe these days), try-hard, repetitive, and aimed at babies. And that truly made it unenjoyable for those that fell in love with the first two.

When Borderlands 4 was announced, fans immediately started praying that the developers had watched some standup specials or watched funny TikToks – anything! As the conversation continued, Narrative Director Sam Winkler responded on social media in December 2024.

“I remain firm in my criticism of Borderland 3’s overabundance of toilet humor,” he said, adding that nobody would be saying things like “skibidi.”

So, is it funny????

Remember when out-of-touch Randy Pitchford said that “real fans” would pay $80 for Borderlands 4 and everyone basically decided they weren’t even going to buy the game anymore? Well, the game is now $70, but is the price justified? Can players suck it up and pay for Borderlands 4?

That honestly depends if it’s funny or not.

First, a trailer came out for Borderlands 4 a few months back that gave us hope. You can see plenty of comments under this video that express relief with the dialogue, which doesn’t feel as “try-hard” as Borderlands 3. In fact, it’s pretty intense and serious overall. I didn’t hear a single joke when I watched it. Not even a Psycho saying a “that’s so silly and random” millennial phrase like “I’M GONNA POOP… IN YOUR HEAD!”

While I wouldn’t say the trailer was funny, it was still an improvement from Borderlands 3 in the humor department. Meaning I’d rather have no humor at all over the “jokes” in the previous game.

Most early reviews of Borderlands 4 don’t really touch upon the humor, which is quite strange seeing as nobody could stop complaining about that previously. But one review I found by Video Games Chronicle actually had something insightful to say beyond telling me about the gameplay, weapons, characters… Like blah blah blah already!

“Whereas the Reddit-pilled, Aldi Rick and Morty-style humour of the third game would have probably absolutely killed in 2016, by 2019 it felt incredibly dated. Making a game is extremely hard. Making a funny game is practically impossible,” Jordan Middler stated.

“So Borderlands 4 doesn’t worry too much about it. The zany humour dial is turned virtually all the way down. That’s not to say it’s a particularly self-serious game so far, but we’ve yet to meet a character that makes us want to open YouTube in another tab and mute Borderlands 4, something that 3 suffered from on an hourly basis.”

Alright, so is Borderlands 4 funny? I think the jury is still out. I’ll need to see more reviews and reactions – or play the game myself if I’m a “true fan.” But I think it’s safe to say that Borderlands 4 isn’t unfunny and that’s a huge improvement.