Borderlands 4 lead writer Taylor Clark has commented on the humor and tone of the game, saying players shouldn’t expect as many jokes as Borderlands 3. The writer also talked about why he believes Borderlands 4 represents the “Simpsons era” for the team.

Speaking to VGC, Clark said Gearbox was “of course” aware of the feedback from Borderlands 3 regarding its jokes and general tone. “We took all the valid criticism on board. We’re creating an entirely new world, and we want to have a tone that fits the new planet we’re on.”

Borderlands 3’s world of Pandora was like “the Wild West,” but the planet of Kairos for Borderlands 4 is a “totalitarian world.” As such, “Having everybody making jokes every minute wouldn’t totally feel right,” Clark said. This follows on from the game’s narrative director saying fans should not expect Skibidi toilet or Hawk Tuah jokes in Borderlands 4.

Meanwhile, senior project producer Anthony Nicholson told GameSpot that Gearbox is “really proud” of its past titles and the jokes and general humor in them. However, Nicholson said the world is different today, in 2025, and while Borderlands 4 aims to be “very humorous,” the humor is trying to be more grounded.

“We now make sure that the Vault Hunters themselves are the ones who are driving [the jokes] and they’re the ones who are being [funny]. So when we say [Borderlands 4] has grounded humor, we mean it’s more situational comedy between [the Vault Hunters] as opposed to pulling things out from the real world and things like that [like the series used to],” Nicholson explained.

Simpsons era

Clark went on to say that Gearbox is entering its “Simpsons era” with Borderlands 4, in that the studio has written so much material over the years that it’s a big job to try to find new storytelling.

“We’re in the writers’ room, and somebody will have an idea on how to finish a mission, and someone will be like, ‘We did that in Borderlands,'” he said. “We’re always trying not to repeat ourselves; that’s why our villains are so different. We’re always trying to keep it fresh.”

Borderlands 4 launches on September 12 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, with a Switch 2 launch lined up for sometime later. The game’s standard edition costs $70, not $80–and this makes Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford very happy.