Borderlands 4 incorporates a seamless open world, however your journey appears to culminate in an assault on the Timekeeper’s stronghold metropolis, Dominion. Although not a lot is thought in regards to the densest atmosphere in Borderlands’ historical past, Gearbox gave me a guided tour of town. Whereas I can not share all the things I noticed and heard, right here is all the things I can say about this late-game zone.
In distinction to a lot of the remainder of Borderlands 4’s open world, you aren’t getting entry to Dominion till later within the recreation when you’re in your march to confront the Timekeeper. Utilizing an occasion that happens on Pandora’s moon, Elpis, which is now within the orbit of Kairos, the Vault Hunters can enter Dominion with the hopes of dealing with off in opposition to the Timekeeper.
As soon as contained in the partitions of Dominion, issues aren’t as orderly because the Timekeeper’s obsession would lead you to imagine. The assorted Borderlands 4 factions are at one another’s throats throughout the metropolis limits, and, with out spoiling something, town is not fairly what I anticipated coming in; the Timekeeper values order at any price, however the metropolis during which he bases his operations feels oddly chaotic. As I watch inventive director Graeme Timmins give me a tour, the Timekeeper taunts his Vault Hunter of their ear.
And regardless of the Vault Hunters knocking on the door, he is conserving his composure. “Despite the fact that we’re breaking in, actually attempting to get to the Timekeeper, he is nonetheless in his component,” senior mission producer Anthony Nicholson says. “He is nonetheless very calm and positive of his plan and what he has in retailer.”
However even when enjoying solo, the Vault Hunter storming Dominion will not be alone. “Clearly, you make a whole lot of pals alongside your means, they usually’re all going to assist and contribute to your time right here within the metropolis,” Timmins says.
All through the sport, gamers can see Dominion within the distance, much like how Hyrule Citadel is at all times seen to gamers in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It is deliberately positioned in order that gamers are conscious of the aim, and it stays front-of-mind. “As you are beginning your journey in Fadefields, you will see that tower within the distance,” world inventive govt and former Sport Informer editor-in-chief Andrew Reiner says. “That is truly there. That is not a skybox. It is not within the background. [You] can fly out of right here, again to the start line of the sport. That content material is at all times there.”
Dominion serves as the house of Borderlands 4’s foremost antagonist, the Timekeeper
The design of Dominion appropriately feels just like the fruits of the sport, as every zone you visited in the remainder of the sport has a devoted biome throughout the metropolis limits. Moreover, town is extraordinarily dense and vertically oriented, with quite a few locations to climb and discover. “As you progress all through the missions and undergo every of those totally different districts, you get extra of the story that is evolving and unfolding,” Nicholson says.
Timmins and Nicholson share extra particulars, each about Dominion and the Timekeeper, which I will not disclose within the curiosity of sustaining surprises. Nevertheless, Timmins is happy for gamers to discover this space. “There are a whole lot of vital story moments that occur right here within the metropolis,” he says. “It’s a entire ‘nother zone’s price of content material. It is also probably the most content-packed. Being town, we prioritized actually making it really feel like an city sprawl. We slammed collectively numerous areas which can be stacked on prime of one another.”
The primary story offers you a tour of the assorted districts inside Dominion, which, like Borderlands 4’s open world, could be explored seamlessly. However gamers can go off the crushed path to expertise extra content material. “There’s tons extra side-missions which can be positioned right here as properly,” Timmins says. “Truly, a few of my private favourite side-missions occur to be within the metropolis. They usually’re fairly prolonged, too. A few of the side-missions in Dominion, specifically, have a whole lot of chained missions that you find yourself spending a whole lot of time with a few of these NPCs, and a few of the relationships you truly make within the side-missions within the metropolis, specifically – or at the least for me – stand out as a few of the extra fascinating ones.”
There have been loads of extra particulars to cowl surrounding Dominion, however I withheld them from this story for the sake of avoiding spoilers. Suffice it to say, the environmental storytelling will shatter a few of your preconceived notions you will have had coming into Dominion for the primary time. In the event you’re itching to storm Dominion and take down the Timekeeper, you do not have for much longer to attend, as Borderlands 4 arrives on September 12.
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