Borderlands 3 Reveal Trailer Breakdown

Gearbox Software has finally released the trailer for one of their most anticipated games, Borderlands 3. The new peak at the upcoming title promises new Vault Hunters, baddies, environments, and vehicles, as well as some familiar faces from previous titles.

Oh yeah, and over a billion guns.

The trailer starts off with our first glimpse of an arena-like structure that appears several times throughout the video. The arena features a huge sign that reads: "Children of the vault, give your flesh, take your guns."

The arena also features a sign that says, "Join today," and has drawings of two characters who are implied to be the main antagonists later in the trailer. The sign also appears outside of the "Holy Broadcast Center" that appears later in the video.

"Children of the Vault" makes multiple appearances as well. It seems to be the name of a cult-like group that is tied to the arena, possibly run by the two antagonists.

Considering the arena and these two characters are the first things we see, it's pretty safe to assume they're going to be important to the plot. From the sign, it also looks like the arena and these characters are very closely related.

Next, is someone most Borderlands players will probably recognize, a red-haired Siren named Lilith, who made an appearance in Borderlands, Borderlands 2, and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel.

At the end of Borderlands 2, Lilith inherited leadership of the Crimson Raiders, so it's possible the resistance group and Hyperion will be making a re-appearance in Borderlands 3.

The group in the next shot shows up almost constantly throughout the rest of the trailer, so it's pretty safe to say they're going to be the playable characters for Borderlands 3.

The woman on the far left is probably our Siren, the character at center-left appears to be a robot or cyborg who might be a Hunter or a totally new class, the center-right character might be a Mechromancer, and the far right character is probably an Assassin.

The next important thing we see is a shot of the four Vault Hunters with an NPC and a Vault Key. It's unlikely that Gearbox would choose to include late-game content in an announcement trailer, so from this shot, we can guess that Borderlands 3 will include multiple Vaults from multiple different locations, or even different planets.

This is followed by some shots of the Vault Hunters being badasses, then a screen that reads: "Become a Vault Hunter, ask me how!" along with some very quick shots. At a glance, we can see the white-haired antagonist, more vehicle combat, more shots of the Vault Hunters being badasses, a psycho, and a scary-looking dude with x-ed pink in his goggles. We also see Lilith again, as well as a long-haired Maya with a child, probably hers.

There's also this interesting shot of Lilith struggling to get the vault key from earlier, as the two antagonists argue in the background.

Then, we've got more shots of vehicle and Vault Hunter combat, as well as what's probably the most important thing in the whole trailer. There's a screen that reads: "Explore the worlds!" This is followed by lots of location shots that don't look like anything players have seen in the world of Borderlands so far. There's a highly futuristic city, a jungle, and a craggy landscape full of ruins.

Even if there weren't so many other location shots in the trailer, these alone should tell players that exploration is going to be a big part of Borderlands 3. With the first titles taking place on Pandora, players will likely be able to finally explore the other planets in the Borderlands extended universe.

The trailer also gives us a look at some of the new villains players can expect, including huge fire-breathing lizards, more massively muscular dudes paired with midgets, giant insects, robots, and a flaming skull.

After a brief sax solo intermission, the topic of "worlds" is brought back up, along with more familiar faces. There's more long-haired Maya, Tiny Tina, Ellie, Sir Hammerlock and Aurelia, Claptrap, Handsome Jack, and others who will be making an appearance.

Gearbox hasn't announced the release date or platforms for Borderlands 3, but they have promised more information to be released on April 3rd.