How Borderlands 4 Can Move On From Handsome Jack

gamerant.com:

Ahead of Borderlands 4, there are a lot of things that stand out about the franchise, whether it be wacky humor, the thousands of guns a player, or the unique, cel-shaded graphics. Something that brings fans back to the FPS franchise again and again is its characters. From Tiny Tina, who received her own spin-off in Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, to one of gaming's best-known villains in Handsome Jack, Pandora and its surrounding planets are brimming with intriguing individuals.

For many Borderlands fans, the series isn't the same without characters like Claptrap, Lilith, and Handsome Jack, which leads to problems when one of them dies. In the case of Handsome Jack, his death has led to Borderlands games that follow either utilizing the character in some form, or creating a new villain who is criticized for not living up to the precedent set by Jack. Borderlands 4 really needs to step up its game to create an antagonist without ties to this iconic villain that stands out entirely on their own.

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Before seeing how Borderlands 4 could move on from the megalomaniac, it's important to look at what made Handsome Jack work in Borderlands 2. As a villain, Jack succeeded in making players hate him, notably through his constant harassment of the Vault Hunters. A player seemingly couldn't walk five feet across Pandora without Handsome Jack popping up in the corner of their screen, either insulting them for their choices or telling them about his diamond-encrusted pony.

While Tyreen and Troy Calypso proved to be a similar annoyance, the problem with these twins was how their dialogue felt like a ripoff of Jack's, rather than an attempt by Gearbox to