The Besties – “The Highs and Lows of Borderlands 4”

Hosts: Chris Plante, Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy
Date: September 19, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, three of the Besties (Russ is absent this week) dive deep into Borderlands 4, discussing its strengths, weaknesses, and what sets it apart (or fails to) from its predecessors. The episode also touches on the state of Destiny Rising (the new mobile Destiny game), Henry Halfhead (a quirky indie), their progress on Silksong, Noah Hawley’s new show Alien Earth, and a live musical performance experience with The Invincible Czars. The conversation is marked by their usual mix of irreverent banter, personal anecdotes, and incisive analysis.

Main Discussion: Borderlands 4

Autumn Vibes & Initial Confusion

• [00:00] Griffin jokingly describes Borderlands 4 as an “autumnal game” that should come with “a slice of banana bread and a pot of chili ... served in a whole pumpkin.”

  “The game should come with a slice of banana bread and a pot of chili and just a whole pumpkin ... so spirited has it gotten me for the autumn season.” — Griffin McElroy [00:02]

• After some playful confusion—Griffin reveals he’s been playing Costume Quest by mistake—Justin claims the main responsibility for dissecting Borderlands 4 today.

Highs: Writing and Tone Improvements

• [08:07] Justin and Griffin agree Borderlands 4 is “kind of fun,” with Griffin crediting Justin’s veteran game critic skills for quickly landing on that conclusion.

• Major improvement noted: The writing is toned down compared to previous games.

  “The writing doesn't make me want to die ... it is not trying so hard to a point where you want to claw your own eyes out.” — Justin McElroy [09:08]

  “The writing and story are super duper inoffensive ... it’s way better than just constantly joke, joke, joke ... and feeling so exhausting.” — Griffin McElroy [09:37]

• Christopher points out the benefit of humor serving actual narrative or character purposes, not just relentless gags.

Lows: Weaknesses & Lingering Problems

Writing & Character Building

• Griffin hedges that while the writing is less offensive, it is still not great, partly due to the challenge of writing for four distinct playable characters.

  “It feels like you're storming through the same dialogue with four different voices, four different lines ... it’s hard to make that feel really, really strong.” — Griffin McElroy [12:08]

The Gunplay and Abilities

• Justin and Griffin both play as Vex, enjoying her creative duplicate-summoning ability and finding enjoyment in experimenting with different gun types and builds.

  “To me, I didn’t know what was going to happen when I pulled the trigger half the time. And that’s really fun ... I would start pulling the trigger and just start shooting tiny bombs. It’s like, whoa, what is this?” — Justin McElroy [17:28]

• Guns are still central, but they cycle frequently (until you reach endgame, per Griffin), with various outlandish mechanics—a source of fun but not necessarily meaningful build depth.

Performance and Structural Flaws

• Both Justin and Griffin complain about rough PC performance, even on beefy machines, and suggest optimization is getting worse in current-gen games ([18:50]).

  “I feel like games these days ... should be getting better at that low end optimization. ... Rather than it get better, they're actually getting worse.” — Justin McElroy [19:28]

The Open World: Design Issues

• The new open-world structure is divisive.

  • Griffin: “I truly, truly do not like the open world of this game. I really, really ... It is not like a hub system. ... Unlocking fast travel points is kind of annoying ... and the movement... really breaks the flow.” [20:03–22:42]
  • Movement options like the hover bike and grappling hook are underwhelming; verticality is cumbersome and backtracking tedious.

• Justin describes an awkward mission where the quest design fails to account for player intuition, breaking the experience ([23:53]):

  “I fast travel back and then I’m no longer holding this egg. ... oh, you wanted me to ... just walk with this egg, huh?” — Justin McElroy [24:19]

• Griffin expresses frustration that co-op play is a Band-Aid for what he sees as fundamental pacing issues:

  “There’s always something fun and great and pure and good at the heart of the thing that is kind of tarnished ... by the stuff surrounding it.” — Griffin McElroy [26:06]

Secondary Discussions

Destiny Rising: The Mobile Destiny

• [28:28]–[38:09] Justin introduces Destiny Rising as the first mobile Destiny game on Android, which feels and looks like Destiny but introduces gotcha mechanics and character-specific weapon pools.

• The core gameplay feels like Destiny, but aggressive monetization and overwhelming free-to-play systems ultimately sour Justin’s enthusiasm:

  “...when I got hit with those first few walls of, like, gotcha garbage ... It stings the eyes ... everything’s glowing, everything’s glittering ... you don’t notice that you're doing it.” — Justin McElroy [34:33–35:19]

• Chris sees this as the trajectory for most big free-to-play games, while Griffin notes the business model is becoming instantly recognizable and off-putting for series regulars.

Indie Spotlight: Henry Halfhead

• [38:34]–[46:19] Chris describes Henry Halfhead, a short, whimsical indie where you play as the top half of a person’s head, possessing different objects to solve puzzles.

• The narration begins with childlike whimsy and gradually incorporates adult themes—without becoming dark, but delivering existential reflections.

  “At first the narration is like Henry got out of his bed and played with his toys. And then later it's like Henry is at work and it’s extremely boring and he has no sense of self worth. And you’re like, oh, Jesus. Okay, now I see.” — Chris Plante [42:54]

• Designed for both solo and co-op, Chris notes it’s more fun with a friend, as the joy lies in mutual discovery of how objects interact.

• For those just seeking silly mechanics, Chris suggests muting the narrative for a purely playful experience.

Listener Letters & Honorable Mentions

Silksong Progress

• Griffin is deep into the last leg of Silksong (about 32 hours), praising its exceptional writing, emotional growth of Hornet, and challenging bosses—but wary of investing in a 100% completion run ([49:07–50:57]).

Alien Earth (TV Show)

• Justin and Chris discuss Noah Hawley’s new show, blending Alien lore with Peter Pan themes, corporate intrigue, and consciousness transfer, with a riveting premise and a less “pretentious” approach than some of Hawley’s other works.

  “This is highly entertaining, super engaging ... touches on the themes and then moves on to more action ... less pretension here and more entertainment and storytelling.” — Justin McElroy [57:24]

The Invincible Czars’ Phantom of the Opera Live Performance

• Chris recommends this unique live event, where a modern band scores classic silent films, “so transcendent” and an exciting experience for the Halloween season ([61:00]).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Griffin on missed co-op opportunities:

  “...this situation is such a pain in the ass ... if I want to go back up there and get that, I’m going to have to run all the way through this wonderful maze...” [22:55]

• Chris, on live corrections:

  “People think that that’s a waste of money. The five people that I have full time living in my ... [corrections department].” [26:53]

• Chris, describing existential themes in games:

  “...you have some mild existential awareness by the end where it’s like, hey, you learned some human drama while playing a video game...” [45:13]

Highlighted Timestamps

• [08:07] Justin and Griffin admit Borderlands 4 is “kind of fun,” setting the tone for their discussion.
• [09:08] Justin celebrates improved, less-grating writing and humor.
• [18:50] Technical complaints about current-gen PC performance.
• [20:03] Griffin’s major structural/open world critique.
• [34:33–35:19] Justin rails against gotcha/monetization in Destiny Rising.
• [42:54] Chris addresses “adult” narrative shift in Henry Halfhead.
• [49:07] Silksong progress and boss challenges.
• [57:24] Justin on the stronger “entertainment and storytelling” focus in Alien Earth.

Final Thoughts

On Borderlands 4

• Improved tone and less in-your-face humor are a plus.
• Gunplay and character abilities feel inventive and exciting, at least early on.
• The open world is a significant misfire: movement is fun until verticality and backtracking kill the pace; navigation feels tedious.
• Technical and optimization issues mar the experience.
• The game remains most fun in co-op, where frustrations can be papered over by social play.

“There’s always something fun and great and pure and good at the heart of the thing ... that is kind of tarnished a bit by the stuff surrounding it.” — Griffin McElroy [26:06]

What’s Next?

• Next week: likely Baby Steps (new Foddy game), followed by Ghost of Yotei
• More Resties and bracket episode content available for Patreon supporters

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