Borderlands 3 is a 2019 action role-playing first-person shooter video game developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K.

Upon release, Borderlands 3 received generally favorable reviews with praise directed to its gameplay, though some criticized the lack of innovation, technical issues, and writing.

Borderlands 3 shares the same core loop with previous games around taking on missions, defeating enemies, and obtaining loot from fallen foes or special chests, most often in the form of procedurally generated weapons to vary in damage, range, ammo capacity, and other special perks, giving the game "over one billion guns".

Tediore guns can be thrown when empty and create additional effects, Atlas have tracking bullets to hunt down enemies in cover, and Hyperion can have shields that absorb damage and use that for other purposes such as healing as well as having a reverse recoil mechanic.

[8] Besides character skills and weapons, player-characters have new combat maneuvers and abilities, such as crouch-sliding influenced by the mechanic in Titanfall and Apex Legends, and wall-mounting to climb up over short heights.

[6] Borderlands 3 has integration with Twitch streams; viewers can explore the streamer's inventory and skill tree, and special chests in game will offer the opportunity for viewers to receive the same gun/item that the stream finds via way of a Shift Code they can enter into their own game, scaled appropriately for their character's level.

[10] Gearbox creative director Paul Sage estimated that players will spend about 35 hours through the main quest line along with some side missions.

[11] True Vault Hunter Mode, a type of New Game Plus, allows players to replay the campaign after finishing it with their leveled-up character, fighting more difficult enemies for a chance of better loot.

"Circles of Slaughter" found on various planets have players attempt to fight through difficult waves of enemies for higher quality of loot.

In decades prior, several corporations have laid siege to Pandora to try to find the Vaults, but the constant conflict and bloodshed has left the planet and its population ravaged and crazed.

Lilith, a member of a race of women with alien powers called "Sirens" and current leader of the Crimson Raiders, a resistance force created to protect Pandora, recruits new Vault Hunters to help stop the Calypsos.

Returning NPCs include gun salesman Marcus Kincaid, explosives expert Tiny Tina (now going by just Tina), entrepreneur Miss Mad Moxxi and her mechanic daughter Ellie, cyborg hunter Sir Alistair Hammerlock, archaeologist Patricia Tannis, weapons manufacturer Mr. Torgue, and isolating Eridium trader Crazy Earl.

Playable Vault Hunters from previous titles, including Timothy Lawrence from The Pre-Sequel and Gaige, Krieg, Axton, and Salvador from Borderlands 2, are featured as NPCs in the game's DLC campaigns and modes.

On Athenas, the Vault Hunters help Maya and her apprentice Ava recover the Key, learning it is only one-third of the artifact.

The Vault Hunters fight and kill Troy, resulting in Ava inheriting the Siren powers he had stolen from Maya.

During the credits, scenes depict the Vault Hunters, the Crimson Raiders, and their allies honoring and memorializing Lilith and everyone looking at the Firehawk sigil on Elpis.

[20] The trailer received mixed reviews by video game websites, some of which characterized it as too similar in appearance and content to previous entries in the series such as Borderlands 2.

[23] Several voice actors reprised their roles, including Ashly Burch as Tiny Tina,[24] and Chris Hardwick as Vaughn from Tales from the Borderlands.

In June 2019, Gearbox invited Trevor Eastman, a series fan with terminal cancer, to play a preview build of the game.

The content features the players helping Moxxi take back a casino that Handsome Jack stole from her prior to his death.

[50] Director's Cut introduces small story missions and features a raid boss encounter, in addition to a new menu section that lets players view concept art and behind-the-scenes videos.

The game is designed to present puzzles formulated from DNA sequences from the medical studies from research into the human gut microbiome.

[55] In October 2020, Gearbox announced next generation console support for the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 platforms to come via a free update.

Alongside vertical two-player split screen, "Xbox Series X and PS5 will display Borderlands 3 at up to 60 FPS in 4K resolution during single-player and online co-op, and the next-gen consoles will support three-and-four-player splitscreen for local multiplayer".

[61][62][63] GameSpot gave Borderlands 3 a positive review, noting its preservation of the franchise's hallmarks (including weapon variety, a "personable" cast, and "juvenile humor and ludicrous jokes"), refinements to the skill system and player movement, and that its storyline "satisfyingly wraps up the arcs of characters that fans have been following for 10 years".

However, it was felt that the flow of Borderlands 3 was still disrupted by the franchise's reliance on boss fights with little strategy and "bullet sponge" enemies.

In conclusion, it was argued that "if you've never been a fan of the franchise, it's unlikely Borderlands 3 does enough things differently to change your mind, as the game best excels at continuing what the series has always done: deliver a humorous tall tale of misfits looting and shooting their way to heroism".

[66] PC Gamer felt that Borderlands 3 was "the best and worst of the series all at once", acknowledging refinements to gameplay and its signature visual style, but that enemies were still "too dumb and erratic and spongy to force tactical play", and that while the different planets provided variety over the "muted deserts" of Pandora, they were often "an excuse to roll out an old character only for them to disappear or fade into the background as soon as they say hello, shoot some folks, and crack a few one-liners in sidequests that do little to reveal anything about them or test them in any way."

It was also felt that the game's endgame options were "shallow" at-launch, and that its overall writing was not as good as the "pitch perfect" Tales from the Borderlands, and "[read] like teenage lunch table improv circa The Spy Who Shagged Me.

In addition, the sales for the MS Windows version in this time were the highest for any 2K title to date, and more than 70% of all purchases were made through digital distribution.