When you want to fill a void in a series with another entry but aren't ready for a full sequel, some developers make a side-story game. The Borderlands series decided to go this route with the Pre-Sequel, but it's arguably one of the worst games in the series.

A bit of background. Borderlands 2 was set sometime after Borderlands 1, and the writers of 2 noted this left them time to explore how Handsome Jack, the villain of 2, became said villain. Hence Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. The grammatically correct term is "interquel", but the title was clearly chosen to be humorous. As to the game engine, it uses a modified version of the Borderlands 2 engine (more on that below).

The main plot is that Jack, a low-level coder at Hyperion Corporation, hires a bunch of mercenaries to find a Vault. The meeting to take the job with him goes sideways, and the rest of the game shows how Jack went from a somewhat likable, if slightly arrogant programmer, to the owner of the Hyperion Corporation and insane tyrant that he became by Borderlands 2. The game uses an "in media res" plot device, as the story is related to the protagonists of Borderlands 1 during an interrogation.

The core gameplay has changed little from the classic Borderlands "looter shooter" formula. You have to explore various areas, shoot hordes of enemies, and constantly upgrade your guns to better guns. It follows the game formula of Diablo, a fantasy game with randomized equipment, only applied to sci-fi guns as opposed to medieval fantasy gear. Hence the term "looter shooter".

The Pre-Sequel, however, adds a few new elements to the series. A considerable portion of the game is spent on Elpis, the moon of the planet Pandora. Here, oxygen can only be found in certain areas, making it dangerous to explore the surface for protracted periods without oxygen tanks. Also, the moon has lower gravity, making traversal interesting because you can jump farther and higher than normal.

Some other new features are Bada** ranks, or a system that rewards bonuses to the player for completing ranked challenges. Skins and custom heads can be customized for the playable protagonists. There is also a "grinder", which can combine three different guns into a potentially better one. The oxygen mechanic replaces the relic system from the second game. Players can double jump or "butt stomp" enemies so long as they have more than zero oxygen with their "OZ kit".

Graphically, this follows the colorful cel-shaded art style of the series, though it throws a few curveballs with the muted tones of the Elpis moon and with a greater focus on blue tones than has been seen in the prior games. The overall animation is generally competent, though it's obvious a lot of assets were simply reused from Borderlands 2. The user interface, with some minor additions aside, is directly ported from the second game, just to give an example.

Sounds and music follow the frenetic, fast-paced sci-fi aesthetic of the prior titles, though we get a few more ambient tracks for the Elpis moon segments. This title was produced by the Australian branch of 2K Games, hence the pronounced amount of clearly Australian-accented voices. It's not horribly out of place as it sounds like, just very noticeable.

The Pre-Sequel is fully playable with either a keyboard and mouse or any Steam-supported controller. Basic tutorials ease the player into the game, and while keys are remappable, the stock setup is pretty easy to get used to.

Game stability is decent. It runs natively on Microsoft Windows, macOS and Linux. It is also rated Playable on the Steam Deck.

A few more notes. Technically, this game is clearly little more than an asset flip hack of Borderlands 2, and it shows. The map design is really tedious, especially on Elpis, with even more backtracking than usual for a Borderlands game. The oxygen and zero-g physics tend to be more annoying than interesting, and combined with the dull world design, this makes exploring a chore.

My other big problem with this game is that the story is bad even by Borderlands standards. Handsome Jack was, at the time this is set, already in the process of kicking puppies, but tries to make it seem like he only progressively got worse and worse until he became the villain of Borderlands 2. Without spoilers, the events of this game don't add up. Second, the way they try to make Jack sympathetic mostly involves him getting backstabbed by other more likable members of the cast for reasons that are at best overblown and at worst petty. Basically, they tried to make him the hero by making former heroes the villains to compensate, and it does not fit how things were in Borderlands 2.

Morally, like other Borderlands games, there is a lot of concerning content.

Violence is going to be fairly graphic. You will see a lot of blood and cartoonish gore. Some of the more exotic effects like cryo and poison show enemies either shatter or melt as well.

Language is fairly earthy. Expect to see terms like a**hole and b***h tossed around very frequently. There are also frequent crude sexual references and more than one openly gay/bisexual character. There are several female characters with revealing outfits as well.

One of the unlockable bonuses is a form of alcoholic drink called a Moxxtail. It's also worth mentioning you essentially play an entire group of villain protagonists (save one or two playable characters who have some arguable morals).

Overall, this game was rather disappointing and tedious. Technically, it's solid enough. Morally, it's not meant for anyone except mature audiences. Unless you are a diehard Borderlands fan, this is worth skipping.