Borderlands 4 is out now on PC by way of Steam and the Epic Retailer. And the looter shooter sequel is already the largest Borderlands launch on Steam, with over 200,000 concurrent gamers just some hours after its launch. However evaluations on Steam aren’t nice, as many gamers are struggling to even play the co-op FPS.
On September 11, Borderlands 4 launched on PC. The long-awaited sequel to Gearbox’s Borderlands 3 is an even bigger, higher, and wilder expertise than the earlier recreation, that includes a number of good adjustments and additions to the traditional looting-shooting formulation. Nonetheless, that’s solely the case for those who can truly play the sport and luxuriate in it. And on PC, gamers are reporting numerous efficiency points, even on {hardware} that Gearbox listed as assembly the wanted specs.
As of 4:30 pm EST on Steam, Borderlands 4 has about 2,000 evaluations which can be completely divided between adverse and constructive, giving the sport a 50 p.c blended standing. That’s no good! Scrolling by way of evaluations, the largest complaints appear to be not in regards to the content material of the sport, however about how poorly it performs on numerous {hardware} setups. Gamers are additionally complaining about stuttering and hitching, or being compelled to make use of DLSS to play the sport at a steady framerate. Others can’t even boot the sport up, reporting crashes earlier than they even get into the motion.
In fact, there are additionally loads of evaluations from folks saying they’d no points in any respect and claiming that folks complaining must improve their PCs. That is the web, so in fact it devolved right into a struggle with numerous sides and factions.
Within the evaluations on Steam, the preferred culprits individuals are blaming for the unhealthy efficiency embody Unreal Engine 5 and DRM safety software program Denuvo. During the last yr or so, Unreal Engine 5 has develop into a goal on-line as gamers imagine the engine isn’t well-suited to huge video games and is difficult to optimize. The complaints have gotten so loud on-line that Epic CEO Tim Sweeney even stepped in just lately to defend the engine and lay the blame on devs who aren’t targeted on optimization early sufficient within the cycle.
My expertise taking part in Borderlands 4 on PC
I’ve been taking part in Borderlands 4 on PC for the final week, and my expertise has been up and down. After I first obtained the sport, I used to be taking part in on an RTX 3070 and struggled to run it at 1080p at 60FPS. I upgraded my rig to an RTX 5070 (one thing I had been planning on doing for a number of months now), and Borderlands 4 ran a lot better. Nonetheless, I nonetheless discovered that I wanted to run the sport with DLSS on and body gen to succeed in 120 FPS at 1080 with some settings kicked right down to medium. Contemplating the specs within the machine, I used to be stunned by how energy hungry the sport is, and I’ll admit that I proceed to be disillusioned with Unreal Engine 5 video games.
That stated, ever since I discovered some settings that labored and downloaded the most recent drivers, which weren’t obtainable after I first obtained entry to the sport, I’ve been having a good time taking part in the sport on PC. It largely locks to 120 with my present settings and setup, and it feels nice. I also needs to level out, although, that there’s been some chatter indicating that the day-one patch for the sport, which arrived shortly earlier than launch, might have triggered issues that weren’t current when critics and content material creators have been taking part in it pre-release. In my fast exams, I’ve discovered the newest patch, the one individuals are taking part in with on Steam proper now, appears to deliver with it some points that weren’t current earlier than the day-one patch. However I must play extra to actually see if issues are damaged.
I hope Gearbox points a patch on PC quickly to assist enhance issues a bit. Or on the very least, eliminate Denuvo ASAP.