Summary
One of the potential blessings or curses of having a long and successful series of games is that, eventually, each title will be compared to its predecessors in some way, andBorderlands 4is no exception. Considered the true founder of looter-shooter games,Borderlands 1was and still is an influential game and a great classic to play at least once. While it may not have aged gracefully compared to the other entries in the series, withBorderlands 2being considered one of the best games ever by many fans and titles likeBorderlands: The Pre-SequelandBorderlands 3having their time in the limelight,Borderlands 1remains a cornerstone of the series - andBorderlands 4is going back to its roots.
There have been a few back-to-back showcases ofBorderlands 4lately, with Gearbox revealing how the title’s new gameplay loop works as well as various intricacies tied to the story, setting, characters, and more. For example,Borderlands 4has three new weapon manufacturerscompared to the usual one or two, and on top of that, it also has the Licensed Parts system for better and more varied loot. Another big change is thatBorderlands 4will not have a minimap, and there are pros and cons to this.
Borderlands 4 Cutting The Minimap May Be a Controversy Waiting to Happen
In the recent PAX East developer discussion about the game, Randy Pitchford himself explained a few key choices behindBorderlands 4, including the removal of the classic minimap that has been around sinceBorderlands 2. A minimap in looter-shooter games, or even just shooters, tends to be crucial in terms of giving players information they need to decide what to do and where to go, so losing it inBorderlands 4may sting. Yet, Pitchford also said that this is for a good reason, asBorderlands 4’s Kairosdoesn’t truly allow for one.
Kairos is much bigger than any other area in previousBorderlandsgames, and on top of that, it has increased verticality.Borderlands 4’s new movement techalso makes traversal much different than past games. According to Pitchford, all this combines in a way that makes the beloved minimap redundant. If players have various things to do in a small area, the minimap would be crowded, whereas maybe other objectives would be too further out to even appear on the map. This is whyBorderlands 4is taking a different approach, and it’s going back to the compass used inBorderlands 1instead.
Why Borderlands 4’s Compass Makes Sense Over the Minimap
The compass returning is not necessarily a bad thing, as it does allow the bigger open world to be explored more freely. For example, the recently releasedOblivion Remastereduses a compass rather than a minimap, and while the game does have a larger map with local, smaller maps, it can be much harder to navigate.Borderlands 4may run into the same issue, even with the compass replacing the minimap, but it may be much easier to track down quest locations, bosses, and more. EvenBorderlands 4’s co-opmay benefit from this change, considering that now players can fast travel to their friends.
Borderlands 3’s minimapdoes provide some additional information that the compass won’t, such as places that are off-limits and a general sense of the layout of the area. Still, the fact thatBorderlands 4has a grapple hook as well as a way to glide through the air means that some of the issues with traversing areas in past games don’t really apply to it. Furthermore, it would be quite complex to depict such a vertical world as Kairos on a 2D minimap, so the compass is a good replacement, even if it means going back to the very first installment of the franchise in terms of features.
