Gamescom Opening Night Live kicked off with a surprise reveal: Borderlands 4 is real and coming in 2025. It’s been a long wait for the next numbered sequel in the sci-fi looter shooter series, and the teaser confirming the game’s existence didn’t give a clear idea of what to expect from it. Fortunately, fans have been poring over the brief video and have already come away with a bunch of interesting clues and theories about what’s coming next year.
To recap, the Borderlands 4 reveal trailer shows a planet appear in space out of nowhere and begin moving toward the crystal barrier of another celestial body. It begins tearing through the shield as burning debris falls from the sky and pocks the surface. We then see a robotic arm reach out into one of the mini-craters and pick up a psycho bandit mask.
Fans immediately began to wonder if a tease at the end of the trailer was hinting at Handsome Jack, the main villain from Borderlands 2. He dies on Pandora, but Borderlands 3 is haunted by his memories, with tons of little lore nuggets excavating his past. A face and vault symbol that briefly flashes at the end of the Borderlands 4 trailer was interpreted as a nod to his return. Unfortunately, Gearbox Entertainment CEO Randy Pitchford has already shot down that theory.
“That’s not handsome jack,” he told one fan. “That is something far more dangerous and sinister.” In fact, Pitchford had to keep telling people over and over again that it wasn’t Handsome Jack. Some other players were even relieved to hear that the studio wasn’t going back to that well, and would instead be exploring a new threat. You can click through the above slideshow to see what else eagle-eyed fans have discovered so far.
