Skip to main content

Battleborn's First 14 Minute Video Has All The Genres

We're definitely post-genre now

I briefly dismissed Battleborn as a console game that didn't belong on these pages, before realising, no, wait, that's Bloodborne. Battleborn is instead Gearbox's multiplayer first-person shooter that takes easy co-op and a cartoon-y world reminiscent of Borderlands' and combines it with lessons from e-sports, MOBAs and MMOs. They call it a "hero-shooter", but what the heck does that even mean.

There's fourteen-minutes of the game in action below, which does a better job of explaining what it really is.

Gosh, it's colourful, isn't it? Obviously Gearbox learned the power of a good, cartoon-ish art style after Borderlands, but I don't think I realised how many pinks and purples Battleborn was going to have. I think my interest in the game - admittedly small to begin with - doubled at the sight of it all. Also I like that the circling spaceship looks like a metallic fish.

I am unsold on the combat, though. You know what I hate? Waves of things. Even small enemies seem to soak up lots of bullets before falling, and none of the various special attacks seem to connect with their targets in a meaningful way.

Of course, if you're still confused about what Battleborn is, as always you can turn to this tweet by Gearbox's Randy Pitchford.

Battleborn is: FPS; hobby-grade coop campaign; genre-blended, multi-mode competitive e-sports; meta-growth, choice + epic Battleborn Heroes!

— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) July 8, 2014

Read this next

Graham Smith avatar
Graham Smith: Rock Paper Shotgun's editorial leader, corporate dad, and breezy evening news writer.
View comments (29)
In this article

Battleborn

PS4, Xbox One, PC

Related topics

Rock Paper Shotgun is better when you sign in

Sign in and join us on our journey to discover strange and compelling PC games.