Borderlands 4 Will Get Individually Scaling Difficulty Levels

Ahead of Borderlands 4’s release this Friday, September 12, Gearbox has revealed the difficulty options players will be able to select from launch. Borderlands 4 is getting more difficulty options than previous games have had, as well as offering co-op players the option of playing on a different difficulty than others in the party.

In the lead up to Borderland 4’s launch, Gearbox has shared a bunch of extra information about the game, including its minimum PC specs, graphic settings, and accessibility options. Included alongside accessibility are the game’s difficulty options, with Gearbox noting that the difficulty levels “may make the game more accessible to some players.”

The three difficulty settings on offer are Easy, Normal, and Hard. Here are how they’re described by Gearbox:

• Easy: “Looking for a story.” Reduced damage, Elemental Affinities matter less
• Normal: “Looking for a balanced experience.”
• Hard: “Looking for a challenge.” Increased damage taken, increased Cash, Loot Quality is increased, Elemental Affinities matter more

Notably, difficulty is selected when creating a character and scales individually when playing in co-op, meaning you can choose to play on hard even if your buddy wants to experience the game on easy mode.

In practice, this means that most of Borderlands 4’s difficulty modifiers are focused on the player rather than enemies–while the enemies’ attacks and HP won’t change, you’ll take more damage per hit if playing on a higher difficulty level. Unlike some games where resources are also more scarce on higher difficulties, Borderlands 4 instead rewards players who choose the hardest game mode, awarding extra cash and better loot.

While these three difficulties are available from the beginning, Borderlands 4 also has an endgame difficulty mode called Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode. In this new game plus-style mode, enemies will hit harder and take less damage, but drop even better loot for a high-risk, high-reward playstyle. As its own contained game mode, Ultimate Vault Hunter will include five increasing difficulty levels that will unlock as you progress through its various challenges.

Borderlands 4 releases on September 12 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, while the Nintendo Switch 2 version launches October 3.