Screenshots & trailers
What players say
Why the number is what it is: aspect mentions counted across 302 sampled Steam reviews (236 positive / 66 negative), recent and most-helpful. Plain keyword counting, fully reproducible; nothing here is written by a machine.
What positive reviews talk about
- Story & writing29% mention it
- Combat10% mention it
- Progression & loot7% mention it
What negative reviews complain about
- Story & writing50% mention it
- Progression & loot15% mention it
- Combat11% mention it
- Bugs & crashes11% mention it
- Controls & UI11% mention it
Satisfaction by hours played
Same score, different games: see how sentiment holds up the longer people play.
Under 5h
65%
34 reviews
5-15h
75%
56 reviews
15-40h
75%
84 reviews
40-100h
82%
60 reviews
100h+
88%
68 reviews
Review sentiment over time
Weekly positive-review rate (green) and review volume (bars). Dashed lines mark significant patches; the amber line is the start of the current scoring window. Hover the dots to see what drove a dip or a jump.
How this score was computed
The VGC Score is a weighted blend on a press-comparable 0-100 quality scale. Steam approval rates are first calibrated (95% positive on Steam ≈ 89.5 quality, since Steam approval skews high). Press and tracked creator reviews each count ~2x a player review and share one cap against player evidence (creator buy/skip calls pool into an approval rate, calibrated like Steam approval); all-time sentiment is capped and halved (it's context, not verdict); reviews of the current build carry the most weight when a fresh patch anchors the window; and a 'typical game' prior keeps small samples from pegging the scale. Because press reviews and Metacritic user aggregates describe the launch build, their weight decays as the game ages (3-year half-life after a 1-year grace). That's how a game that launched rough can outgrow its old reception once updates win players over. Reviews under 2h playtime (the refund window), non-Steam activations, and free copies are downweighted.
| Component | Positive | Quality (0-100) | Weight (pseudo-reviews) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Press reviews (OpenCritic) | – | 80 | 56 |
| Creator reviews (3 tracked) | – | 83 | 2 |
| All-time Steam reviews | 81% | 75 | 1214 |
| Metacritic user ratings | – | 58 | 212 |
| Post-patch Steam reviews (trust-weighted) | 81% | 75 | 130 |
| Calibration prior (typical game) | – | 72 | 50 |
Scoring window: last 30 days (no significant patch detected) · 300 reviews sampled · 370 total reviews in window · weighted 199.6 up / 47.1 down · computed 2h ago · full methodology →
Press & Creators reviews (163)
Individual verdicts from outlets we track: scored reviews first, most trusted outlets first among them. The small badge is each outlet's trust score: how well its scoring history aligns with players.
- 80
“Borderlands 3 is a great co-op shooter/RPG with huge amount of content and good variety of loot, locations and quests. Shooting, exploring the locations and collect new guns is fun and interesting. Especially with friends online. Problems with framerate can be annoying, but I want to play Borderlands 3 even after tens of hours, and this is important.”
read full review ↗ - 70
“Borderlands 3 has all the good things we loved in its predecessors and upgrades them a little. On the other hand it still has all the problems of Borderlands 2 and a few new ones. It’s fun to play, it has great feeling and it still is the best loot & shoot game on the market. However it also has some game design problems and more than a few technical difficulties that spoil gameplay and just shouldn’t be part of modern AAA titles. That being said it’s still a must for every fan of the series and every gamer who wants to became badass crimson raider traveling impossible galaxy full of insane creatures.”
read full review ↗ - 70
“The game is stuck in the past with its unfunny jokes, archaic game design decisions and unwillingness to follow at least some modern trends. If words”
read full review ↗ - 50
“The game is boorish, infantile, and violent, and, in refusing to take any sort of consistent stand, is wildly off the mark.”
read full review ↗ - 70
“Borderlands 3 has the worst video game narratives in recent memory but makes up for that with its stellar gameplay, co-op, and tons of loot.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Borderlands 3 is a terrific looter-shooter, one of the best out there, among the best in history. The game focuses on the most important thing, the gameplay. Shooting provides tons of fun and a gigantic arsenal of weapons keeps boredom at bay. It would be pretty much perfect, if not for the technical pitfalls, the game needs fixing.”
read full review ↗ - 65
“It's a shame that Borderlands and I are no longer a good fit. What I miss most of all is its personality. The aesthetic and surface changes to the series don't make it a stranger; the change in temperament does. We just don't have as many laughs as we used to. Better to cut things off now, and remember the relationship for what it once was, because it doesn't get any better from here.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Borderlands 3 is a love letter to fans of the Borderlands franchise. They were very loud for a long time about wanting more, and Gearbox have given them just that, serving up another enjoyable game that will have players adventuring through it’s world, or worlds now for years to come and running into old characters from prior games.”
read full review ↗ - 80
- 90
“Borderlands 3 has been crafted from the ground up with fans of the series in mind. ”
read full review ↗ - 87
“If you’re a fan of Borderlands, there’s a lot of love in doses here. It’s fulfilling from both a gameplay and fan-service perspective, with tons to see and do for hours on end.”
read full review ↗ - 70
“Borderlands 3 is the return of the king of loot shooters, with enough familiarity there for fans. The gameplay is the best it has ever been in the series, so get ready to blast some bandits. There’s just a few things keeping it from being a truly remarkable game.”
read full review ↗
GameMAG
INDIANTVCZ
3DNews
Slant Magazine
eXputer
GRYOnline.pl
Paste Magazine
ani-game.com
The Angry Joe Show
Cubed3
Nexus Hub
Gamer Guides…and 151 more tracked reviews.
Patch history
- Borderlands 3 Update: August 31, 2023Aug 31, 2023
- BORDERLANDS 3 CROSSPLAY UPDATE!Jun 24, 2021significant · resets scoring window
- Borderlands 3 Hotfixes: December 17, 2020Dec 17, 2020significant · resets scoring window
- Borderlands 3 Patch and Hotfixes: November 9, 2020Nov 9, 2020significant · resets scoring window
- Borderlands 3 Hotfixes: October 8, 2020Oct 8, 2020significant · resets scoring window
- Borderlands 3 Hotfixes: September 17, 2020Sep 17, 2020significant · resets scoring window
- Borderlands 3 Hotfixes: September 3, 2020Sep 3, 2020significant · resets scoring window
- Borderlands 3 Hotfixes: August 27, 2020Aug 27, 2020
- Borderlands 3 Hotfixes: August 20, 2020Aug 20, 2020significant · resets scoring window
- Borderlands 3 Hotfixes: August 13, 2020Aug 13, 2020significant · resets scoring window
- Borderlands 3 Hotfixes: August 6, 2020Aug 6, 2020significant · resets scoring window
- Borderlands 3 Hotfixes: July 30, 2020Jul 30, 2020significant · resets scoring window
- Borderlands 3 Patch and Hotfixes: July 23, 2020Jul 23, 2020significant · resets scoring window
- Borderlands 3 Hotfixes: July 9, 2020Jul 9, 2020significant · resets scoring window
- Borderlands 3 Hotfixes: June 26, 2020Jun 26, 2020
- Borderlands 3 Patch and Hotfixes: June 25, 2020Jun 25, 2020significant · resets scoring window
- Borderlands 3 Hotfixes: June 18, 2020Jun 18, 2020
- Borderlands 3 Hotfix: June 16, 2020Jun 16, 2020
- Borderlands 3 Patch and Hotfixes: June 11, 2020Jun 11, 2020significant · resets scoring window
- Borderlands 3 Hotfixes: May 28, 2020May 28, 2020