The game features the ability to explore the in-game world and complete main missions and optional side quests, either in offline splitscreen, single-player or online cooperative gameplay.

[1] Four playable character classes are available in the base game, each with their own unique Action Skill: Axton, "the Commando", can summon a turret to provide offensive support.

[12] In addition, players can collect mods which would alter the stats of grenades and Action Skill,[8] and Relics, which are rare items that can change any gameplay aspect.

[8] A major addition to the game is the "Badass Rank" system; completing various in-game challenges award points, which convert into tokens that can be redeemed to increase the base stats of the player's characters.

Handsome Jack (voiced by Dameon Clarke),[21] president of the Hyperion Corporation, secures this new resource and makes use of it to attempt to "bring peace" to the planet.

Like its predecessor, Borderlands 2 features four playable characters: Axton the Commando (Robert McCollum), Maya the Siren (Martha Harms), Salvador the Gunzerker (John Swasey), and Zer0 the Assassin (Michael Turner).

[21] Other NPCs originating from the first game and its DLCs include the Guardian Angel (Jennifer Green), Claptrap (David Eddings), Scooter the mechanic (Michael Neumann), Dr. Zed (Ric Spiegel), Marcus the arms merchant (Bruce DuBose), Mad Moxxi (Brina Palencia), Crazy Earl (Randy Pitchford), and the insane archaeologist Patricia Tannis (Clinkenbeard); new NPCs include the cyborg hunter Sir Hammerlock (J. Michael Tatum), Scooter's sister Ellie (Jamie Marchi), and explosives-obsessed girl Tiny Tina (Ashly Burch).

The Guardian Angel contacts the Vault Hunters and instructs them to accompany Claptrap to the city of Sanctuary, and to join the Crimson Raiders, an anti-Hyperion resistance movement, in order to defeat Handsome Jack.

The power core turns out to be a trap; it allows the Guardian Angel, who is revealed to be working for Jack, to lower the city's shields, leaving it vulnerable to an orbital bombardment.

Sascha Dikiciyan, Cris Velasco, and Jesper Kyd worked together to craft the game's original soundtracks, while Gearbox's Raison Varner provided additional music.

[25] Similar to the first game, Borderlands 2 adopted the "concept art style", which features graphics inspired by both photorealistic imagery and comic-book-inspired visuals.

This was difficult to replicate, because the first game was "artfully unfinished"—its artstyle had been switched at the last stage of development with some older visual designs present in the final product.

To recreate the sense of "imperfection" and allow for innovation, the art team were given creative freedom while management avoided frequent requests for design revisions.

[36] Burch, in hindsight, stated that one of his biggest regrets was the inclusion of silenced protagonists, since they felt "out-of-place" in a game that features a large cast of eccentric characters and an over-the-top world.

[37] Burch initially wrote banter dialogue between the Vault Hunters which would be triggered when the player left their controllers idle for a while, though this idea was scrapped.

Burch was inspired by classic villains including GLaDOS from Portal and SHODAN from System Shock, and stated that he would have been the protagonist if the story was told from a different perspective.

Players who completed the spin-off, which involves shooting at a mountain carved with Handsome Jack's face, would have a chance to win prizes such as pin badges, figurines and copies of the game.

[48] Gearbox revealed that they would be honoring a late fan of the game, cancer victim Michael John Mamaril, with the addition of an NPC named after him.

Both games in The Handsome Collection feature remastered graphics, and are capable of running at 1080p resolution at 60 frames per second when playing with one or two local players.

[59] In 2013, 2K partnered with merchandise maker National Entertainment Collectibles Association to create real-life masks based on Handsome Jack and Psycho Bandit.

[64] A "Deluxe Hunter's Collector's Edition" was released and includes an artbook, stickers, map of Pandora, digital comic download code, a Marcus Kincaid bobblehead plus in-game DLC.

A steel case, Creatures of Pandora ID chart, postcard set, field notes from Sir Hammerlock and a cloth map are also included.

The DLC increases the level cap from 61 to 72 and introduces the Digistruct Peak Challenge, a new map where Patricia Tannis will let players fight high-level enemies to earn new loot.

As they try to figure out some way to make a space-worthy ship, Sanctuary is attacked by Dahl's Colonel Hector, who has created a powerful mutant army using a strange floral spore.

[103] Mike Minotti from VentureBeat described Borderlands 2 as an excellent blend of FPS and RPG, and praised Gearbox for perfecting the looter-shooter genre.

[100] Sterling McGarvey, writing for GamesRadar, noted that the campaign is bloated with filler content, but the narrative remains compelling due to the presence of Jack as a strong central villain.

[109] Watters believed playing with friends contributes to a more rewarding experience due to the presence of item trading, difficulty scaling and better loots.

IGN gave the port a 5.4 out of 10, concluding that "its compromised visuals rob it of much of its bombastic charm, while its erratic performance and unreliable touch controls keep the gameplay from shining like it has in the past.

[125] Controversy regarding sexism hit a month before the game's scheduled release after Gearbox designer John Hemingway told Eurogamer that the Mechromancer mode would feature "the girlfriend skill tree" for people who "suck at first-person shooters".

At a panel during PAX South in January 2015, Pitchford announced that the studio was preparing to begin work on a new Borderlands game—which he described as "the big one", and began to offer a number of new staff openings related to the game.