I blinked and missed whenever it was confirmed that Borderlands 4 on Nintendo Switch 2 would be making an appearance at PAX AUS 2025. I happened to come across it on Sunday and, as a last-minute thing, lined up to check it out. I haven’t played Borderlands 4 on any platform. I was intrigued by what the game would look like, considering it had only recently been “delayed indefinitely,” having been initially set to release on October 3.
I was reminded by two different Nintendo employees/demonstrators that the game was “a demo and not representative of the final product.” Which is to say, everyone knew it wasn’t looking great. And if I have two people tell me that before I pick up a controller, I’m kinda setting myself up for a specific result.
Thankfully, the thing I was most worried about, which was how the game would play, wasn’t the problem here; it was, in fact, the visuals.
Everything seems to be running smoothly at 60fps, as the demo allowed me to play the first vault raid. Nothing seemed to slow the game down either. Many explosions were happening on-screen between me and the enemies, and I didn’t pick up any drops or stutters.
When it comes to the game’s visual identity, however, specifically the cell-shaded art style, it’s almost thoroughly washed out here. It’s as if the game was being run on ‘ultra-low,’ to make it run as good as it was, and with that was a result where I would struggle to pick enemies out from amongst terrain, as they, at a distance, seemed to be just flat shapes. Even getting enemies right up in my face, they still looked very washed-out and like they hadn’t loaded in their full shaders yet or something very odd-like that, it was just an odd-looking representation of the game.
The quick headline is that: I played Borderlands 4 on Nintendo Switch 2 and it runs fine. The bigger question, however, is at what cost? And currently, the answer is everything that makes Borderlands games have their distinct and well-loved look and feel.
Considering the “indefinite” delay of the game, it seems either Nintendo or Gearbox Software decided that the game isn’t worth putting out in its current state, which is commendable to a degree. I hope they can find a balance between visuals and performance before we set a new release date.
[Explosion Network attended PAX Australia 2025 with a provided Media Pass.]
