If you have Borderlands 3 in your library right now and is still in love with it like literally millions of other gamers out there, be very prepared that it’s going to take a while before you finish it. From what I have seen, it will literally take months to discover everything that the game offers and everyone are loving the heightened scope of the bizarre looter shooter more than ever.
But just in case you’re looking for a newer pasture to graze on, though they might not be as good as this strange, addictive co-op adventure shooter. I promise that the craving for similar games with similar atmospheres can be scratched by these following games.
So if you’re already quite tired of obliterating Maliwan soldiers and Calypsos’ crazed followers, pay very close attention.
Duke Nukem Forever
Duke Nukem Forever came out in-between the first Borderlands and the sequel, Borderlands 2. Gearbox fortunately fished Duke Nukem Forever project out of 3D Realms rather incapable hand and put an end to the endless production cycle. Bringing the game to the market after quite literally a decade of anticipation. Although the reception isn’t particularly that good, most considered it as a miracle that the game even saw the light of the market at all.
If you're not familiar with the Duke Nukem series, afraid not. Duke Nukem Forever still holds quite a lot of the explicit, cartoonish humour taken from Duke Nukem 3D - one of the first few games that Randy Pitchford worked on. If you're into the humor of Borderlands, you could probably see where the immature styling and humour were derived from.
Wolfenstein: Young Blood
The classic series Wolfenstein that more or less kick-started the modern shooter genre had made a grand comeback in recent years with New Order, New Colossus, and the freshest release, Young Blood.
This game is quite a divergent from the core of the game, which focuses considerably more on the solo, shoot-em-up style rather than the co-op experience that Young Blood is trying to convey to the players.
You will be put into the shoes of our infamous (To the Nazis) hero B.J. Blazkowicz’s daughters as they unleash their own brand of havoc upon the streets of Nazi-controlled Paris. The game bears pretty striking resemblance to Borderlands 3 gameplay, with the players having bloodied fun in a single, open area and gradually ranking up as they progress through the game.
Destiny
Unfortunately, if you’re a fan of Borderlands’ humor, Bungie’s space opera Destiny is far more serious when it comes to its narrative and plot. However, if you appreciate its gameplay, then you will like this one.
The grinding and satisfaction when you finally get that piece of armors or weapons that you’ve had your eyes on for some time. For people who are especially competitive, Destiny also has multiple competitive modes for you to sate that thirst for victory in.
Although the sequel, Destiny 2, got itself into some pretty hot water after it was released and wasn’t as celebrated or as good as the first one. But giving that the developers are now distancing themselves from Activision, the game might get better in the future. Only time will tell.
But in spite of all of the negativities and the troubles, there’s no denial that Destiny is a very great game that’s worth at least one playthrough!
Rage 2
The overall aesthetic of the game can remind you a lot about Borderlands. Even though the settings are different, with Rage 2 taking place in a post-apocalyptic world and Borderlands simply taking place in the wilderness of an entirely different planet, we can still appreciate the comparability between their desert environments.
But for the fans of Borderlands 3, coming to Rage 2 shouldn’t be all about the looks.
The great gunplay and the massive combat arenas are huge pluses. The game also takes a pretty humorous approach to the brutal world that it’s set in. The game doesn’t really have a cooperative feature, soloing in this vast world is an experience you can’t miss out on.
Bulletstorm
The original Bulletstorm was actually a product of EA. For better or for worse, the remaster of the game finally fell into the hands of developers at Gearbox Publishing. For this, Duke Nukem made a return on the computer screen as a playable character and the voice of John St. John also made a theatrical homecoming, handling the voice acting.
People who are huge fans of Duke, this might be your only semblance of a sequel for a while. Best yet, the game doesn’t really take itself very seriously so the humor is the same with mainstream Duke Nukem and yes, Borderlands.
Diablo III
You’re definitely wondering how Diablo III made it on the list.
Well, on the surface it’s a pretty strange recommendation alright, but hear me out. People love Borderlands for many different reasons: Some like the exciting gunplay, some like the amazing world and the character, and some just like collecting loots and seeing the stats rising each day.
If you like the looting aspect then Diablo III is far too perfect a game for you to get the same kick out of. Technically, Borderlands is just Diablo III made into a shooter and imbued with some dirty humour.
Of course, there are no similarities between their gameplay whatsoever, with one being a shooter and the other an RPG. But that doesn’t matter much when you mow down hordes of enemies and reaping the plunders from the corpses, which is satisfying in any genres.
Overwatch
Borderlands doesn’t leave a lot of ground for PvP combat. Unless you send the other person who you want to destroy a request and they accept the challenge, the game’s cooperative top to bottom.
Overwatch, like CS: GO and other competitive shooters out there are the purest examples of PvP. But players of Borderlands could still appreciate the shooter for its colorful, highly stylised art style, and of course, great character designs.
All of the characters in Overwatch aside from looking different also feel different and act different. Everyone has their unique abilities that can contribute to the team just like how all of the characters in Borderlands have their own sets of skill.
There’s no single-player, however, so if you want a narrative-based game, skip this one. But if you're in it all for the multi-player you really can’t go wrong with Overwatch.
Warframe
Warframe didn’t really feel like a game that would make an impact when it first came out all those years ago. But Digital Extreme’s development of the game was very gradual, building upon the foundation from one year to another up until it became an entire monument all by itself.
This cooperative sci-fi shooter also has a stint of role-playing in it and a pretty attractive plotline. With the recent update, the game has an entire open world map for the player to explore so there’s that if you're into exploration.
These aren’t the best part of Warframe, however: It’s free.
Of course, there are microtransactions to act as the lifeblood of the game. But ultimately, it doesn’t push you a lot into spending money and buy your way through the game. This arrangement is relatively risky for a game developer but somehow, the company’s made it work. Warframe is still going strong even years later and there’s never been a better time for you to hop onto the train.
Fallout 4
Fallout 3 is also something that I highly recommend but the sequel, Fallout 4, rose above the latter for the way it had changed the classic approach to the series. While Fallout 3 and its derivative (New Vegas) felt like a choice-driven RPG, Fallout 4 felt like a dungeon crawler instead.
The choice and dialogue system saw very limited starring in comparison to the prequels with most of the quests revolve around the combat system.
Of course, there have been pushbacks from the player base loyal to the original formula of Fallout, we can’t really deny the fact that Fallout 4 isn’t that bad of a game. Sticking to the Fallout series a little bit further and you’ll have Fallout 76.
It’s not a game that I can recommend to you with a straight face or a clean conscience, but if you’re able to overlook all of the flaws, the bugs, and the scandals … the multiplayer system is great.
Dying Light
Dying Light can be considered as the successor to the spectacular failure that was Dead Island. The same developer made these two games, both of which involved zombies and a four-player co-op mode.
The only difference between them is that the former was a success, and the latter a crying failure. Everything about Dying Light is an improvement over its predecessor from the character animation, design, and the gameplay. You can really feel suffocating being stuck amidst a horde of bloodthirsty zombies.
A sequel to Dying Light is about to come out very soon and the lead designer has been confirmed to be Chris Avellone. There aren’t a lot of chances that the story between the two games would be interconnected with one another.
But whatever the case, you can start familiarizing yourself with the gameplay with the first game and remember to bring a couple of friends with you along for the ride while you’re at it.
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