With an entire planet to explore and countless collectibles to gather, Borderlands 4 offers substantial content that will require players and their friends dozens of hours of gameplay. Let’s delve into our estimate of the game’s lifespan in this guide.
Get ready to head to Kairos to take down the Time Guardian and his lieutenants in Borderlands 4, a fully cooperative adventure packed with content. As we discussed in our review, the game embraces an open-world format, bringing both excitement and challenges. You’ll find it takes a significant amount of time before you’ve fully explored everything the map has to offer. Based on our gameplay experience, here are our estimates for the lifespan of the game, considering three different player profiles.
How Many Hours to Finish the Story?
If you stick to the main storyline, you can expect an adventure that will take you about 30 to 35 hours in normal difficulty. Each major chapter of the game is packed with content, and mission briefings can sometimes feel prolonged. This is particularly true during the final quarter of the journey, where you will need to navigate through dozens of bullet-sponge enemies to advance. Be warned, Borderlands 4 can be quite challenging, and you might struggle with certain phases without the support of one or more friends. The enemy levels are designed in such a way that you often face foes several levels above yourself.
How Many Hours to Complete Side Content?
To tackle the majority of side missions and gather all the Arche fragments necessary to unlock new bonus areas, you’re looking at about 50 hours of gameplay. However, this could easily extend if you get wrapped up in the exploration of Kairos. Each region offers a significant number of side quests, and aside from a few with unclear objectives—such as Tartare Barbare—most should be manageable, unless you find yourself dozing off during their lengthy dialogues.
How Many Hours to 100% Completion?
If you’re aiming for trophies in Borderlands 4, be prepared to gather hundreds of collectibles scattered across Kairos. Don’t worry; most of them will show up on the map as you get close. However, you will still need approximately 75 to 85 hours of gameplay to earn that platinum trophy, 1000G, or complete 100% on Steam. Keep in mind that the game can become somewhat repetitive after a few hours of completion, but playing in multiplayer can ease the grind: everyone in the session shares the collected locations or items found by others.
