Borderlands 4 has no end of amazing environments to explore and litter with bullet casings, but in the upcoming FL4K and the Last Resort story pack you can cross forgotten space resort and iridescent metallic forests off your list. Reloader was given a chance to drag our eyeballs across what’s in store for players, speaking with the developers that are making it happen – and it looks like the best kind of vacation: all action and carnage with old friends.
Welcome to Providence, a mysterious island on the planet of Kairos that the diabolical Timekeeper used as a tropical getaway for his most treasured lieutenants. A nice place to unwind with some R&R at the behest of your tyrannical mind manipulator –but unfortunately the resort staff have long been off work, and the place is being reclaimed by the volatile nature of Kairos. Oh, and now the Tediore corporation are staking their own claim to get their hands on the island’s precious Ordonite resource.
But why are we going there? Well, turns out our old beastmaster friend FL4K from Borderlands 3 is on a unique hunt – tracking down his loyal skag companion Mr. Chew that has seemingly been pinched by those Tediore cronies. Any excuse is a good excuse to take the fight to the ruthless Lieutenant Harmony and her five elite micromanagers.
Being that it’s Tediore causing the ruckus, players can expect some good old fashioned tomfoolery. The ground troops of the corporate army make use of the same Tediore-branded guns that players have likely used before, meaning that you can expect to have exploding guns thrown at you, flying drone guns and even firearms that will sprout legs and navigate the terrain on their own. The bipedal support mechs will also make use of the classic digistruction technology to warp in weapons to respond to threats – even going so far as to warp in new guns if you manage to blow off their existing ones, so pro tip: don’t disarm them, DESTROY them
One thing that had me personally salivating for the lore implications is the appearance of the Deadframe technology that was first spotted in the story trailer for Rafa. For those out of the loop, Rafa wears a military exo-suit developed as part of “Project Liveframe”, augmenting his physiology to rapidly deploy digital weapons and keep him alive in high-gravity environments.
Only, the suit was never built for that purpose. Instead, it’s a horrible exoskeleton designed to remote-control a soldier’s body after they perish. And now we get to fight them as part of FL4K and the Last Resort. I had the chance to ask how Rafa will react to these horrendous enemies, and Level Designer Matt Higgins was all too happy to tell me that he will be pretty not-chill about it. The team also took great relish in explaining how ghoulish the animation process was for creating a ‘remote control dead guy’ enemy, so keep an eye out for that.
Besides the synth-wave-colored jungles and the dumpster-chic aesthetic of Tediore’s buildings, the island is also home to an active volcano that now serves as Lt. Harmony’s base-of-operations bunker. Sure, you might need to work your way up to cracking that walnut—but you can still enjoy the wonders of sharing a space with a live volcano thanks to recurring eruptions.
Yup, you can enjoy a hearty helping of lava rain throughout your travels. Matt Higgins was quick to share that you will be very aware of these occurrences, as the sky turns red and ash falls from the sky to signal that things are getting gnarly. And gnarlier still, these molten eruptions can actually lead to unique volcano bosses appearing within the world, providing an opportunity for some extra loot.
There is also a hallmark of any good vacation spot: ziplines. I have long said that Borderlands 4 movement options feel like the definitive level of expectation from a modern sci-fi shooter – with running, sliding, double-jumping and hovering all core aspects of what you can do. But in my HUBRIS, in my COLD-BLOODED HASTE, I never even considered that ziplines could elevate the whole thing further.
Thankfully Gearbox has answered the question I never thought to ask, as Providence has ziplines on hand. Players can grapple onto these bad boys at their leisure, either to traverse across them or to rapidly reposition at will. They also serve as a great way to explore the verticality on offer within the island, as Art Director Chris Neeley details, allowing you to erupt beyond the treeline to reach new vantage points or to get the upper hand in combat. Chris even went as far as to say it’s hard to go back to normal, non-zipline movement.
If I wasn’t on board before, I definitely am now.
If you do end up tiring of ziplines, jungles and volcanic action, you can always upload yourself into one of Tediore’s digiverse servers. These enormous racks are spotted throughout the landscape, and offer a chance to take down waves of enemies in cyberspace before they have the chance to properly manifest in reality.
It sounds like an incredible outing for Vault Hunters of all ages, with promises of eye-popping visuals and endless Tediore goobers to fight – all wrapped up in a heartwarming tale of helping a robo-friend find his lost puppy. What’s not to like?
Besides, I know you are all on board for the ziplines at the very least.
FL4K and the Last Resort releases on September 10, 2026 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
