Borderlands is one of those games that I was absolutely convinced I wasn’t going to like – I didn’t like the visual style, the “shooter RPG” classification, or the obnoxious adverts. I refused to entertain the idea of even trying it until over a year after its release, when I bought the Game of the Year edition for PS3 on my 21st birthday. I then discovered just how very wrong I was about it, and learned how I should actually try some things before I write them off. Yes, this is something I learned when I turned 21. As long as you actually reach maturity at some point, it doesn’t matter how long you take to get there, right?

I will continue to tell myself this and other lies – such as that I have actually reached some form of maturity – whilst I write this. Maybe if I believe it other people will believe it too!

This was something of a rushed playthrough – there is nothing worse than being right in the middle of a playthrough of a game just as something you are dying to play gets released. In this instance, I got Tales of Arise on Thursday, a day ahead of its release. Cue a mad dash to finish my first playthrough in a very long time (5 years, I think?) of the original Borderlands, a game which has held up very well over the years in my opinion.

Although perhaps it is a little bit…bare-bones, now. I couldn’t help but notice just how repetitive this game really is – there isn’t much variety in the sidequests, there’s nothing hidden to discover in the empty spaces of Pandora (well, unless you like loot chests) and despite each character having three distinct skill trees of their own, a lot of those skills aren’t particularly useful. Or at least, they don’t seem to affect the balance of the game very much. Which in some respects is a good thing, because it’s all too easy to break games sometimes and whilst I delight in doing this it does ruin the experience sometimes, but on the other hand it makes progression feel very…iffy. Like, what am I doing this for again?

Also, the narrative for this is…well, bad. There is a lot of personality floating around in the NPCs (I despise Scooter and I always will, but Tannis’ audio diaries are a highlight of the game for me, and I have a love-hate relationship with Claptrap) but the story feels more like an excuse to funnel you through objectives and locations than it does something that was actually thought out and planned. Looking at it with hindsight it’s little more than setup for the second game – which I will talk about in extensive detail when I replay that, I’m sure – which is fine, but it doesn’t really do the cast justice.

I went with Roland this time, because in terms of skills he’s probably the easiest and most useful character to solo the game with. Well, unless you really like sniper rifles or just want to run past every enemy you come across, I guess. I’ve played through this game at least four times in the past and the only character I didn’t enjoy using was Brick. But I thought having another soldier on the field (agh, now he’s got me saying it…) would make things a little smoother, because I was playing for a refresher more than I was a challenge.

I still got a challenge, to my surprise. This game is VERY strict when it comes to level recommendations. If you try and take on an enemy or a quest even a single level above your own, you’re going to get killed. A lot. I actually died quite a bit in this run through from doing this, and whilst this did encourage me to do the sidequests again (which is where about 90% of my playtime went) it was a bit aggravating at times, because it meant running back to wherever I was from the last waypoint. Or just leaving things sitting in my quest log for a while, which isn’t something I generally like doing as a player – I get a quest, I do the quest. Call it a personal failing.

I skipped the DLC this time around, for two reasons: firstly, because of Tales of Arise sitting on my shelf. Secondly, because I played this through to 100% completion on PS3, and honestly the DLC isn’t that great. The Zombie Island expansion is entertaining enough but it’s still just a standard FPS zombie campaign that was all the rage back then for some godforsaken reason, Secret Armory and Robot Revolution are padding at best and a chore at worst, and the less said about the Underdome, the better. I spent about 15 hours clearing the Underdome. Never again. Borderlands’ DLC content is better than many games of its time, but it’s still just more of the same, and honestly even without Arise begging to be played I doubt I would have done it this time around anyway. Maybe when I inevitably come to play it on my Steam Deck I’ll consider it, though.

I have yet to play Pre-Sequel or 3, so I will likely play through all the games in chronological order over the next several months (ideally before Wonderlands releases, because I really want to play that after the last trailer!) because it’s been about as long since I played 2 and Tales from the Borderlands, but whilst it’s dimmed a little bit over the years, my fondness for the original Borderlands is still quite strong, despite the more dated aspects of it. It’s a game typical of its time that doesn’t reinvent the wheel in any significant fashion, but does a good job of spinning it regardless.