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Today, you may think of Borderlands as a tired franchise.
New games in the series like fans but change little to win over detractors.
It wasn’t the first looter shooter, but defined the new genre.
More than that, the team also found the key to making successful live service games outside of MMOs.
But that’s to look back with the benefit of hindsight.
Despite that honor, the game is now but a footnote in history.
Borderlands was also a shooter you could pour hours into.
A sentiment echoed in many other reviews.
This potent blend of systems would become Borderlands' lasting impact on the game industry.
Borderlands' influence extends beyond just looter shooters, though.
Gearbox developed clean ways to integrate class systems and skill trees into a first-person shooter.
To look at it today, it’s easy to miss how innovative Borderlands was back in 2009.
But that’s only because its influence is so widespread.
