Why Borderlands 4 Players Are Angry: 407 Steam Reviews, Broken Down
BC2S · · updated
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Short version: players are not angry at what Borderlands 4 is. They are angry that it does not run. Tech & Support ranks 495th of the 498 games we have analyzed, and the single most common complaint (crashes, freezes, stutter and poor optimization) comes up in 167 of the 407 reviews we read. The most common praise is that it is "what you expect from Borderlands."
What we read
407 Steam user reviews of Borderlands 4 from the past year, in all languages, analyzed on September 14, 2026. Steam lists 86,452 reviews in total; we read a sample from the last twelve months. Each review is scored on 25 indicators in 8 categories, from −5 to +5. How we score games.
The breakdown
Overall: 30.7 / 100. Every category is negative.
| Category | Score (−5 to +5) |
Share of reviews that mention it |
Rank among analyzed games |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tech & Support | −2.6 | 72% | 495th / 498 |
| Content Volume | −2.1 | 36% | 454th / 472 |
| Story & World | −1.5 | 43% | 396th / 400 |
| Gameplay | −1.1 | 47% | 461st / 498 |
| Multiplayer | −1.1 | 15% | 236th / 284 |
| Pricing & Fairness | −1.1 | 35% | 424th / 498 |
| Visuals & Sound | −0.8 | 22% | 425th / 431 |
The one complaint that drives everything
Summarized from what reviewers wrote (the number is how many reviews made the point):
- "Riddled with crashes, freezes, stuttering, poor optimization" (167 reviews)
- "Don't waste money buying it now, wait two years" (22 reviews)
- "Open world padding, forgettable side quests, bland locations" (15 reviews)
- "Full dumpster fire with awful performance and baffling decisions" (11 reviews)
The phrases that recur most often in negative reviews are poor optimization, high-end hardware and shader compilation. Reviewers on strong PCs are not exempt. That is the point many of them make.
The twist: underneath, players like it
The positive side reads like a different game:
- "Fun with lots to do, what you expect from Borderlands" (35 reviews)
- "Story is genuinely well-written and fun" (16 reviews)
- "Co-op gameplay is engaging" (7 reviews)
Even the story splits. Sixteen reviews praise it, yet Story & World still lands at −1.5, 396th of 400 games. The reviews that dislike the story outweigh those that like it.
What would move the score
Tech & Support counts complaints across all reviews, so the score climbs as soon as fewer people write about crashes. If a performance patch lands, a re-read of new reviews should show it there first. Pricing & Fairness is largely the same complaint in another form: "don't waste money buying it now, wait two years."
Limits
1) This measures what reviewers wrote, not the game itself.
2) Reviews skew toward people with strong opinions, and performance complaints come disproportionately from PC players with problems.
3) Numbers are as of September 14, 2026.
BC2S. Better Creative, Better Society. We read hundreds of thousands of reviews so you can see what people really think.
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Game pages: Borderlands 4 · How we score games
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