While the Borderlands series has always been known for keeping a goofy, irreverent tone, the last entry caught some flak for bordering on self-parody. Gearbox has repeatedly asserted that Borderlands 4 will avoid that trap with a tone more in keeping with the first two games, and in a new interview, the writers go into some detail in explaining how they're achieving that tonal balance.
"I've been on the game for a couple of years," lead writer Taylor Clark tells IGN, "and it was definitely something from the moment that I came on board, when I was talking to Sam [Winkler, narrative director], the grounded tone was a priority. Grounding the humor in the world, he made it very clear that if I tried to put a meme in the game, he would come to my house with a baseball bat [laughs]. So, it was definitely in the brief from the beginning to make the tone fit the world.
"I don't want to swing the needle too hard on that front. I am not anti-meme," Winkler himself adds. "In fact, hey, exclusive: There's a specific meme in this game, and I feel justified putting it in because I accidentally created it. Yes, I didn't mean for it to become a meme, but it became a meme, and it's in the video game. That is all I'm going to say."
Winkler hints that the gag in question is one he's credited on a Know Your Meme page for – I'm guessing it's Zanzibart... Forgive Me – and Clark immediately makes clear that "It does not involve a Skibidi Toilet."
Managing director of narrative properties Lin Joyce adds that the team is looking to tell jokes that land not just for the player, but for the characters themselves. "It was a gut check, 'Is this as funny to the characters and their lived experience as it is to the player? Can we do both?'" If a joke feels like one the characters might actually want to make, the world will then feel that much more grounded.
Thus, no memes. Or, at least, a minimal amount of them. Winkler evokes the popular animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks as a personal inspiration, as it "takes its characters seriously" even while telling definitively comedic stories, avoiding turning into a true parody. "I think that on Borderlands 3," Winkler says, "in our worst hours, it sometimes felt like parody, and that is where we edged into a red line, I think, for a lot of fans and for myself, personally."
Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford is "a little nervous" about Borderlands 4 because it can be harder than previous games and not everyone wants a big challenge.
