Gearbox's release of Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition brings the missing piece of the franchise to current generation consoles. Mechanical and visual improvements solidify Borderlands has always been a fun, beautiful game that was quite forward-thinking despite some things not aging well.
Having already seen Borderlands 2 squeezed into the PlayStation Vita (with, admittedly, ropey results), it’s a surprise this version of the first game isn’t also coming out on Nintendo Switch, but that’s an issue for another day. For many though, having an excuse to replay Borderlands 1 on the same console as the Handsome Collection is good enough. Definitely worth a play if you’ve never done so before, but perhaps not all that essential anymore.
A mixed bag. It’s fun to revisit one of the first “looter shooters” for consoles again, and the mix of run, gun, and loot still holds up well despite its age. But this is hardly a perfect port/remaster of that game, and because of that, it’s difficult to really suggest picking it up.