Borderlands - Interview @ RPS

Simon Hurley interview on RPS, talks about exploration, story, loot, co-op and non-linearity. Words by Jim Rossignol.

From what we’ve seen so far, however, the story is one of the least interesting aspects of the game. What’s rather more enticing is the fact that Borderlands seems to be a remarkably open ended shooter with vehicles, bandit-dudes, wide-open environments, dungeons, and gigantic, roaming monsters. It’s ripe for that kind of wandering and poking about in virtuality that we love so dearly. So are we actually looking at it being a large, explorable game like Stalker or Oblivion? What kind of story should we expect? Something wide open and sandbox, or fairly linear? “The game can be played both ways”, says Hurley. “There is a main mission storyline that advances the story and the game, and there are large, open environments in Borderlands that are ripe for exploration.” Ah, sweet exploration, how we savour it in our games. It is too rare a commodity in these modern times.

Hurley continued: “You will come across all sorts of enemies, loot, and gameplay experiences along the way. We also have several vehicles to help you get around (in addition to doing crazy vehicle combat with) so you won’t be slogging along on foot all the time. Because of both the dynamic nature of the game, the size of the world, the randomization of certain aspects of gameplay, and game adjusting itself based on the number and experience level of the players, it’s a different gameplay experience every time you go through it. If you just want to go exploring, there is always new stuff to find and new enemies to fight.”