Randy Pitchford hints at a'seamless loading' in Borderlands 4. When asked to elaborate on this, he says, 'I will absolutely explain', does not elaborate and leaves.

The next Borderlands game will be released in 2025, and despite the recent movie being a financial and critical disaster, I am still excited. While I have had many opinions about the direction of the series in terms of aesthetics and story since Borderlands 2 (in the sense that it has been all over), I can't really say I've been disappointed by many of the series' entries as far as gameplay is concerned. The formula is the same: you sit down, shoot, make numbers go up and then shoot some more. It's a tried and true formula.

I am however, greatly entertained by Randy Pitchford. The founder of Gearbox, the developer, has a habit to post through it. Like the whole movie thing which culminated with him comparing the Studio to The Beatles. You know, standard game developer stuff. I'm being a bit harsh here. He also recently pledged that he would help a terminally-ill fan see Borderlands 4 earlier, which was truly heartwarming. There are worse things than getting a little into itonline.

He's now returned with a twinkle of an eye (thanks to Gamesradar) in order to hint at a upcoming feature for Borderlands 4 Well, sort of. As Borderlands streamer JoltzDude139 marvelled at the almost-seamless load that happens when you throw in an SSD to a game that was released 12 years ago (it's a fun marker for how far we've progressed, don't you get me wrong), Pitchford arrived and, typing with mischievous twinkles in his eye and clicks in his heels replied: "Seamless?

JoltzDude139 replied, astonished: "Randy... you must elaborate." You can't just leave us hanging like that, especially with BL4 looming on the horizon. Pitchford, who is already fading away into the stars, assures JoltzDude that "I will definitely elaborate", before logging off X for 3 days.

Let's try to extrapolate some sort of linear thought from the act of mischief. Borderlands games are usually structured in an ARPG style. While there have always been large, open areas, calling them "open world" is not accurate. They also serve as questing hubs that direct you to smaller dungeons and missions. You get the picture--it all looks very Diablo.

If Pitchford and his secret cartel of scientists didn't develop the world's very first SSSD in secret, then the idea that Borderlands 4 would be "seamless", suggests more a structural change from the previous games than any sort of technological marvel. The Risk of Rain 2 expansion did not inspire much confidence in the code department. It tied its physics engine with its framerate, which is, um. Bad. You shouldn't be doing that.

This could mean that Borderlands 4 will be an open world game in some capacity. A seamless sprawl of loot, where you can, we assume, drive around a little dune buggie and crash into lampposts. Or Pitchford might be playing me and his fans. We'll find out in the hypothetical announcement that is to come.