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After a few delays, the live-action Borderlands movie is right around the corner. You may be curious about the Eli Roth-directed sci-fi adventure, but if you know nothing about the universe or the games used as source material, the trailers may surprise you. With this introduction, we hope to shed some light on why we hope this movie does at least some good at bringing the Borderlands universe to life.
The Borderlands video game series takes players to Pandora, a rebellious, barely colonized planet on the edge of the known universe. With its harsh weather, dangerous vegetation, and hostile animals, it is a difficult planet to ‘tame.’ Despite these harsh conditions, the lure of Pandora’s mineral wealth and ancient secrets attracts many fortune hunters and mega-corporations.
Now, it’s important to note that the movie doesn’t take place within the ‘video game canon’ and actually remixes elements from all the games, so the main group of adventurers don’t resemble any specific roster from the series.
The Borderlands games are first-person shooters (FPS) with role-playing game (RPG) elements in the same vein as Diablo and other action RPGs with a heavy emphasis on loot and fancy weapons. Developers Gearbox introduced a daring genre mashup back in 2009 that was incredibly refreshing. Now, the series is trying to reinvent itself to stay relevant amidst all the fierce competition. Word on the street is that Borderlands 4 might be coming sooner rather than later.
If you’re looking to jump into more iconic sci-fi FPS video game series, you shouldn’t miss our ranked lists of the Halo and Half-Life games. We’ve also put together a list of the best space settlement games available today if you’re just looking to kick back with something a lot more peaceful (but still set in space).
Interstellar megacorporations are at the top of the food chain
By the time the events of the games take place, humanity has settled the Six Galaxies, a cluster of galaxies. Although the years are not explicitly stated, some Easter eggs suggest that it is the 29th century and Earth is barely remembered anymore. There are also references to old traditions and nations throughout the plays. Most likely, humanity abandoned its home planet after exhausting all of its resources and instead began exploring the stars some three centuries before the events of the first Borderlands.
In the final phase of this neocolonial era, the megacorporations began to rebel against humanity’s central government. This led to their eventual victory and also allowed them to become the ‘new rulers’ of humanity across the stars. However, less than four months after a trade and defense agreement was signed, war broke out between these corporations. The Corporate Wars ended with the weapons manufacturers overpowering the others and subsequently absorbing them. This group included Atlas, Dahl, Hyperion, Jakobs, Maliwan, S&S Munitions, Tediore, Torgue, and Vladof.
After discovering ancient Eridian ruins on Pandora (more on this later), the Atlas Corporation invaded the planet in search of a second Vault after acquiring another Eridian location on the planet Promethea. The Corporation managed to reverse engineer Eridian technology, which improved their weapon designs and put them ahead of the competition. However, Atlas’s search on Pandora was fruitless, and Dahl later arrived, hoping to extract Eridium (a universal power source) and secretly find the fabled Vault.
Ancient aliens called Eridians are vital to the main plot
Long before humans began exploring the Six Galaxies, the Eridians, an ancient alien race that is likely extinct, possessed highly advanced technology that allowed them to manipulate entire worlds and even play with space itself. Most of what is known about them at the time the Games took place comes from stone tablets written by Nyriad, a Siren who lived among them – Sirens are individuals with incredible powers that are inherited and have a mysterious connection to Pandora.
The general assumption is that the Eridians came from an unknown and distant place in the Six Galaxies, perhaps fleeing a cosmic threat to their existence. The Vaults that the mega-corporations began to uncover contained not only relics, but also massive and mysterious beings such as the ‘Destructor’ that resided within Pandora’s Great Vault. It is also implied that the Eridians were forced to sacrifice entire populations in order to seal these Vaults, which could explain their collapse as a direct result of trapping these beings.
Pandora is a wild world meant to reflect the Old West
Pandora, the main setting of the Borderlands games, is a largely barren world filled with dangerous creatures and even more savage people, and home to a lone moon named Elpis, who is heavily exploited by corporations like Dahl and Hyperion.
Pandora’s biggest surprise is that it was ‘built’ by the Eridians, thanks to the aforementioned world manipulation technology, as an eternal prison for the Destroyer found at the end of the first game. This explains its very unusual characteristics, unpredictable climate, and rather hostile fauna and flora. Furthermore, the presence of Eridium and the deadly mutations that affect many living things on the planet are directly due to the Eridians’ long-ago work on the planet. However, Pandora’s human-breathable air has yet to be fully explained (no, it is not the result of terraforming).
When you combine Pandora’s killer ecosystems and harsh climate conditions, it’s hard not to think of the Old West, especially considering all the visual references to the cinematic representation of the Wild West. After the first game, as more of Pandora is revealed, we learn that the planet isn’t entirely desert-like. It remains a very difficult world to live in, but its Gold Rush-like call to adventure, wealth, and new opportunities have attracted many colonists and fortune hunters. It all sounds familiar, but the Borderlands universe’s darkly comedic, sci-fi spin on the colorful characters is a very appealing makeover.
Not everyone on Pandora is a murderous psychopath
The human presence on Pandora is larger than you might think, but the planet remains mostly ‘unconquered’ due to the hostile conditions mentioned above. It is believed that the Eridians have made sure that almost everything on the planet is designed to challenge and repel conquerors and explorers from other races who arrive after they are gone.
When the first game begins, despite its colonial past led by Atlas and Dahl, the corporate presence on Pandora is fairly limited. However, the large structures and military camps have been left behind, and the recent search for the Great Vault has reignited corporate interest on the planet. Much of the planet is inhabited by civilians, living in small towns and establishments poorly put together from scrap, garbage, wood, or brick. In these places, most people try to make ends meet by running traditional businesses that serve adventurers, miners, and anyone else trying to get their hands on a piece of Pandora.
But of course there are big groups Really bad So are humans. Whether left behind during expeditions, born into poverty or lured by a life of evil, bandits abound on Pandora. They will exploit whatever is left behind by the corporations, creating their own self-sufficient societies and constantly at war with each other, threatening the ‘more decent’ towns and villages that seek to preserve human civilisation. Think Mad Max, but with a sci-fi twist and often a rare Pandoran mutation. Frightening!
“Borderlands” is coming to theaters on August 9, 2024 from Lionsgate.