Borderlands Games Tier List: Every Entry Ranked
Looter-shooters live and die by their guns, their jokes, and whether the grind actually feels good. Borderlands built a whole genre identity on cel-shaded chaos, and over the years it's spun off spinoffs, telltale-style adventures, and one game people are still arguing about months after launch.
Here's how all eight entries stack up, from the game that defined the series to the one that tested fans' patience. We've leaned on what critics scored, what forums still argue about years later, and what actually gets replayed versus shelved after one playthrough.
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SS Tier: The best the series has ever done
Borderlands 2
The one that made everyone a believer. Handsome Jack is still the series' best villain by a mile, and the loot chase through Pandora's frozen wastes and Opportunity's shiny corporate hellscape still holds up. This is the game people mean when they say they miss Borderlands.
About Borderlands 2
The 2012 sequel widely considered the series high point, introducing villain Handsome Jack and expanding the loot and skill systems significantly.
- Released
- 2012
- Developer
- Gearbox Software
Tales from the Borderlands
Telltale's best work outside The Walking Dead, full stop. Rhys and Fiona's heist story is funnier, sadder, and better paced than anything in the mainline shooters, and the Pre-Sequel-adjacent plot threads actually matter. Even people who've never touched a Borderlands shooter love this one.
About Tales from the Borderlands
A 2014-2015 episodic narrative adventure from Telltale Games, following con artist Fiona and Hyperion employee Rhys through a heist gone wrong.
- Released
- 2014-2015
- Developer
- Telltale Games
AA Tier: Essential Borderlands
Borderlands 3
Bigger numbers, more planets, a genuinely huge skill tree overhaul, but the Calypso twins never came close to Jack as villains. Still, the gunplay is the best in the series and the endgame content kept people grinding for years after launch.
About Borderlands 3
The 2019 mainline entry that expanded the series across multiple planets, with new Vault Hunters and an overhauled skill tree system.
- Released
- 2019
- Developer
- Gearbox Software
Borderlands
The original, rough around the edges but historically important. The story is barebones and the ending is infamous for being a letdown, but the first taste of orange loot explosions and Claptrap's nonsense earned it a permanent place in shooter history.
About Borderlands
The 2009 original from Gearbox Software that kicked off the looter-shooter genre, combining FPS combat with RPG loot systems on the planet Pandora.
- Released
- 2009
- Developer
- Gearbox Software
BB Tier: Good spinoffs, not essential
Tiny Tina's Wonderlands
A fun tabletop-flavored detour with a loose class system that let you mix and match skills in ways the main games never allowed. Tina's chaotic energy carries it, though the Dungeons and Dragons riffing wears thin faster than the Borderlands setting usually does.
About Tiny Tina's Wonderlands
A 2022 fantasy-themed spinoff built around Tina's tabletop game-within-the-game, featuring a flexible multiclass system.
- Released
- 2022
- Developer
- Gearbox Software
New Tales from the Borderlands
A respectable follow-up without Telltale behind it, trading some of the original's sharpness for a smaller, more personal story about three siblings trying to escape Rhys's corporate mess. Good, just never quite as quotable as its predecessor.
About New Tales from the Borderlands
A 2022 narrative adventure sequel developed by Gearbox after Telltale's closure, following new characters navigating Hyperion's corporate chaos.
- Released
- 2022
- Developer
- Gearbox Software
CC Tier: Fine, but skippable
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
Low gravity and a moon setting were a neat gimmick, but this one always felt like a side quest dressed up as a sequel. Worth it mainly to watch Jack's slow turn into a villain, which recontextualizes a lot of Borderlands 2.
About Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
A 2014 spinoff set between the first two games, taking place on Pandora's moon Elpis with low-gravity mechanics, co-developed with 2K Australia.
- Released
- 2014
- Developer
- 2K Australia / Gearbox Software
Borderlands 4
Still shaking out with players, with generally favorable critical reviews but mixed user reception around performance issues and whether the new additions justify the price of admission. Too early to call it a classic, and early feedback suggests it's splitting the fanbase more than any entry since the Pre-Sequel.
About Borderlands 4
The newest mainline entry in the series, continuing the looter-shooter formula with new mechanics and setting.
- Developer
- Gearbox Software
How we ranked them
We weighed critical reception at launch against how each game is remembered now, since Borderlands games tend to get re-evaluated hard over time. Writing, gunplay, replayability, and whether the game respects your time with its grind all factored in. For the narrative spinoffs we judged them as the choice-driven adventures they're built to be, not against the looter-shooter mechanics of the main line. Where fan opinion is genuinely split, we say so and explain which side we land on.
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Rank these yourselfFAQ
What is the best Borderlands game?
Most fans and critics point to Borderlands 2 as the series peak, thanks to Handsome Jack and a much tighter story than the original.
Is Tales from the Borderlands a shooter?
No, it's a narrative choice-driven adventure game made in the Telltale style, with no gunplay or loot grinding.
Do you need to play the earlier games before Tiny Tina's Wonderlands?
Not really. Wonderlands is designed as a standalone fantasy spinoff, though returning fans will recognize Tina from Borderlands 2 and the Pre-Sequel.
Is Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel worth playing?
It's the weakest of the mainline shooters for most fans, but it fills in backstory on Handsome Jack that makes Borderlands 2 hit harder.
Is New Tales from the Borderlands a direct sequel to the first Tales game?
It's set in the same universe and follows some of the same fallout, but it follows new protagonists and was made without Telltale, which had shut down.
More rankings
Image credits
- Borderlands 2Cover: Wikipedia · Source
- Tales from the BorderlandsCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Borderlands 3Cover: Wikipedia · Source
- BorderlandsCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Tiny Tina's WonderlandsCover: Wikipedia · Source
- New Tales from the BorderlandsCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Borderlands: The Pre-SequelCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Borderlands 4Cover: Wikipedia · Source