TheBorderlandsfranchise constantly emphasizes the importance of Vaults, whether it be as plot devices that villains like Handsome Jack seek out, or sources of loot that the playable Vault Hunters want access to.Borderlands 3delivered on the promise made byBorderlands 2’s ending, allowing players to explore multiple Vaults and battle a few different Vault monsters. Unfortunately, entering into these Vaults was anticlimactic, andBorderlands 4has to put more effort into making each Vault feel unique.
When entering the loot portion of a Vault inBorderlands 3, players usually found the exact same things. A handful of chests lined the back walls, featuring loot that was no different from what could be found in the base game. Not only were the chests lacking in special rewards, but the formulaic nature of grabbing some kind of ability from an orange room meant that every Vault felt the same, something that should not be the case. Ifevery Vault has a unique monster, it should also have a distinct aesthetic and valuable rewards.
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How Borderlands 4 Can Make Vaults Better
For starters, the loot within Vaults needs to be better. One routeGearboxcan take is the addition of exclusive items to Vault chests. While exclusive drops from Vault bosses is good, and makes the fights themselves replayable, players should also be excited to enter the Vault doors behind the bosses and open the chests within. If a handful of Legendaries are exclusive to Vault room chests, players could have another reason to keep grinding Vault boss encounters, and they could have the freedom to fight whichever boss they’d like if the special loot pool spanned across all Vault room chests. If Gearbox did not want to take this step, though, boosting the RNG chances of good loot to guarantee at least one Legendary in Vault rooms would be a good move.
An even more important change to the Vaults would see them resembling something like the Secret Armory of General Knoxx from the originalBorderlandsgame, or Vaulthalla from thePsycho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluckexpansion forBorderlands 3. These finales feel like a big deal, with players rewarded for their efforts through a massive Vault of goodies. Looting as many chests as possible within the time limit is thrilling, with some players devising proper strategies to get as many opened as possible.
Borderlands 3’s Vaults, on the contrary, are painfully lackluster. Unlike Knoxx’s armory or the Vault in Krieg’s mind, which lore-wise were not as difficult to reach as some of the Vaults inBorderlands 3, players get access to a handful of basic chests that do not feel special in any way. Players have all the time in the world to run over to them and loot them, but they end up opening everything in just a few seconds because there is so little to collect. Considering thatBorderlands 3’s Diamond Armoryhad a time limit, Gearbox clearly knows how well the mechanic combines with looting, and bringing that to Vaults could instantly make them more exciting.
Obviously, balance is something to consider, and players should not be able to run back a Vault full of chests just for killing one Vault monster. Gearbox may have to choose between one of these two scenarios, either letting players re-loot Vaults with a handful of chests that have a unique pool of loot, or letting players go through a massive Vault of chests one time per playthrough. Most fans would likely take the latter, so maybe Gearbox could find a way to let players re-loot a Vaulthalla-like area multiple times. Perhapsborrowing fromDestiny 2and featuring weekly resets would be an option, or maybe special loot events could re-open the Vault doors once every few months.
Outside of better loot quality that lives up to the mystique of the Vaults, it would be nice if Gearbox added a unique gameplay element and visual style for every Vault. Perhaps one Vault could have a platforming puzzle, and another could force players to defeat some waves of Guardians using an upgrade they looted from said Vault. For example, it is easy to think of a scenario where the Anointed followed the Vault Hunters intoBorderlands 3’s first Vault, letting players instantly test out the melee weapon that destroysEridiumcrystals. This, along with a distinct visual palette and architecture unlike the other Vaults, would have resulted in a more memorable experience. Hopefully withBorderlands 4, Gearbox can deliver bot quality and quantity with its Vault lineup.
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