Why French Critics Are Wary of Borderlands 4—and Why I’m Torn

Why This “Exception Française” Actually Matters To Me

I’ve been living a double life with Borderlands since the first game: min-maxing builds at 2 a.m. with my co-op crew, then flipping to solo runs where I soak in the scenery and listen to every line of dialogue like a tragic Shenmue disciple. I care about the feel of a trigger pull like a fighting-game nerd obsessed with frame data, but I also want games to surprise me, to take risks that feel personal. So when Borderlands 4 dropped and the global press largely cheered while French outlets hung back with raised eyebrows, I didn’t roll my eyes—I nodded. Because after 60-plus hours split between English and French audio, online four-player and couch split-screen, I’m torn in exactly the same way.

Globally, the game sits in that mid-80s to low-90s sweet spot on aggregators; in France, it hovers in the 70s. Players are happy. I’m happy. But I’m not blind to the seams. The gap isn’t some tired “France being contrarian” meme. It’s where Gearbox’s refined, very American rhythm hits French expectations around narrative ambition, localized humor, and a cultural instinct to demand more than efficient fun. And honestly? Both sides are right—and that’s what makes this release a fascinating litmus test for what we want from big-budget games.

My Thesis: Borderlands 4 Is A Great Shooter-Looter—And A Conservative Work

Here’s where I land: Borderlands 4 is the most playable, least annoying Borderlands since 2. The gunplay is tighter, movement crisper, and the loot treadmill tuned to keep you snacking instead of starving. The humor has been dialed back from the try-hard energy of 3. If you judge it on “is this a blast to play with friends?” it’s a win. But if you ask “does this push the genre forward? Does it say anything beyond a knowing smirk?”—that’s where the French response makes sense. The game feels careful where it should feel bold, familiar where it could have been audacious.

TL;DR: Borderlands 4 nails the core loop with rock-solid shooting, smart co-op design, and fewer cringe jokes. But it stops short of narrative or mechanical risks, leaving solo explorers and story lovers wanting more.

What Gearbox Absolutely Nailed (From Someone Who Played the Damn Thing)

I ran the campaign in English, then replayed big chunks with French audio and subtitles. Four-player online, two-player split-screen on PS5, cross-play held up—launch stability was surprisingly solid for a modern AAA. The guns hit harder than in 3, with less sponge and more pop. There’s a dopamine stutter when a legendary drops that still beats any loot-slinger I’ve sunk into.

Movement is subtly improved: mantling and slide-canceling into a slam ability makes firefights feel like controlled chaos, not a pinball machine. The loot system adds smart filters and clearer affix language, so you spend less time deciphering nonsense and more time experimenting. Co-op scaling lets mixed-skill parties run side by side without one-shotting or one-tricking the group. Tone-wise, fewer desperate meme blasts, more situational sarcasm—writers have stopped screaming “look how quirky we are” every five minutes. That restraint goes a long way in a series that can drown itself in punchlines.

On pure moment-to-moment fun, I get why many call this the best since Borderlands 2. It’s why I kept booting it up after midnight, telling myself “just one more bounty” while my coffee went cold.

Where French Critics Have A Point (And Where I Felt It Too)

After the campaign high, the illusion fades. The open world is efficient but generic—a buffet of outposts that blurs together. Exploration rarely rewards curiosity; it rewards checklisting. That’s not a sin if you’re grinding with friends, but solo? It’s a carousel that keeps spinning without surprise.

The endgame is light. You can chase higher-difficulty tiers, time-trial horde playlists, and recycled boss rotations, but it lacks the “one more run” gravitational pull of the best ARPGs. The build-craft is fun without being deep enough to transform playstyles in radical ways. I’m not asking for Diablo 2 spreadsheets, but I wanted more room for weirdness—risk/reward modifiers that change how guns behave, not just their damage numbers.

PC optimization also matters. My 3070 rig ran it well enough most of the time, but I saw stutters when streaming in towns and odd frametime spikes when particle effects stacked. Nothing catastrophic, but enough to remind me why I did most of my co-op on console. When French reviews flagged PC performance, I didn’t clutch pearls; I nodded and filed it under “fix this, 2K.”

Enemy motivations are paper-thin. Borderlands villains should steal the show with charisma—or at least poison it. This one… doesn’t. Side characters don’t get arcs, they get punchlines. Narrative and tone aren’t obligations—they’re opportunities. Borderlands 4 too often takes the safe option.

The Localization Problem: Jokes Don’t Just Translate—They Transform

I spent hours in French to see what landed. Sometimes localization pulls off small miracles: puns become clever wordplay, timing tweaks sharpen delivery. Other times, the rhythm collapses. A throwaway bandit taunt in English—“You’re not the hero, you’re the collateral damage. I’m the hero’s accountant”—lands with deadpan flair. In French, “Tu n’es pas le héros, tu es les dommages collatéraux. Moi, je suis le comptable du héros” is accurate, but the cadence flattens the gag.

Claptrap remains divisive. In English, the performance makes even bad jokes charmingly desperate. In French, the energy slides toward noisy. When a series leans on irreverence, localizing tone is as important as localizing meaning. The best localizations bend jokes around French comedic DNA—dry wit, satirical bite, double-entendres. Borderlands 4 does this sometimes, but not enough. And when the world itself skews generic, missed laughs hit harder in France than in English.

Why French Critics Are Tougher—And Why That’s Healthy

France’s critical scene holds AAA feet to the fire. Canard PC built its reputation on cutting through marketing gloss; Gamekult set a bar for skepticism that still echoes. Even mainstream sites like Jeuxvideo.com will hand out a 14/20 to a safe, expensive sequel that won’t commit to a bold idea. That’s not contrarianism—it’s a different rubric.

There’s an auteurist streak in how French outlets look at games, inherited from film. A cleanly executed loop is not enough. They want a point of view, a rupture in style, a narrative gamble. Borderlands 4 is a flawless execution of a familiar loop—but “flawless” is the baseline, not the headline.

My Turning Point & The Bigger Picture

My personal reckoning came about 40 hours in, during a four-player assault on a desert fortress. We laughed, we died, we replayed—and I felt that itch for something more: a twist in the story, an environmental puzzle that subverted expectations, or a boss that forced me to rethink my build mid-fight. Instead, the mission loop pressed on, efficient but predictable.

That moment crystallized why this debate matters. Big-budget franchises face a choice: refine or reinvent. Gearbox doubled down on refinement, delivering a polished version of what we know and love. Meanwhile, a cultural expectation in France insists on reinvention—on design swings that risk failure. Neither approach is wrong, and both have passionate defenders. But if AAA studios never risk falling short, they’ll also never surprise us.

The Counterpoint: Fun Counts, And Borderlands 4 Delivers It

I’m not here to perform cynicism for clout. Fun matters. Craft matters. Not every sequel needs to reinvent the wheel into a triangle. The reality is Borderlands 4 gives you seamless four-player online, two-player split-screen, cross-play at launch—and it works. The core shooting and looting feels fantastic. If you came to clap enemies, crack jokes, and chase builds that make numbers explode, this game slaps.

International reviewers are warmer for good reason: the technical baseline is high, pacing is tighter, cringe is toned down. In a year where polished live-service launches are rare, this feels like an oasis. Enjoyment doesn’t negate expectations—it just reminds us why we keep playing.

Practical Advice: How To Play Borderlands 4 The Smart Way

• Try before you buy. Free weekends will come—jump in English and French audio to see which vibe lands. If French humor makes you wince, switch to English with French subtitles.
• Embrace co-op. This loop shines with friends and fades solo. Lean into four-player chaos and two-player couch sessions.
• Tweak PC settings early. Cap your framerate to reduce stutters, disable motion blur, and lock a generous FOV. If frametime spikes bother you, wait for a patch or use RTSS capping.
• Manage expectations for endgame. If you need months of buildcraft and roguelite escalation, you’ll bounce early. Plan for a few dozen hours of polished loot runs.
• Set narrative expectations. Treat the story as seasoning, not the main course. Don’t expect a generational villain or deep character arcs.

Developer To-Do List: How Gearbox and 2K Win France Next Time

• Invest in adaptive localization. Hire native comedic writers to reshape jokes for French audiences. For example, transform the “hero’s accountant” gag into a pun about “comptable galactique” with a voice-actor cue that nods to French office satire.
• Deepen endgame with risk/reward modifiers. Introduce a “Volatile Rounds” mode that doubles elemental damage but halves magazine size, or a “Sands of Kairos” challenge that rotates arena layouts daily.
• Give side characters arcs, not just gags. Add three short questlines—like a bounty hunt that reveals an NPC’s hidden past—to inject narrative stakes and emotional payoff.

Conclusion

Borderlands 4 is a triumph of polish and accessibility, and it nails the core loop in a way few modern AAAs manage. But its cautious stance on narrative and risk leaves a cultural gap, especially against French expectations for creative leaps. If you prize co-op fun and refined gunplay, jump in now. If you live for story depth or postgame complexity, you might want to wait for future updates or DLC. Either way, both reactions—to cheer or to critique—are valid, and both help push the series forward.