The cyberpunk genre has seen a massive increase in popularity in recent years, and with Cyberpunk 2077 returning to the spotlight thanks to the success of Edgerunners bringing back interest in the game, many look to 2077 for a cyberpunk gaming experience. Cyberpunk 2077 isn't the only game in the genre, though, and surprisingly enough, the comedic space-western series Borderlands pulls off some of cyberpunk's genre trappings better than 2077.

The Borderlands series is considered one of the first looter shooters, providing players with a mix of RPG mechanics and FPS action as well as some fantastic loot mechanics that offer a wide array of weaponry. The series is mostly known for its zany sense of humor and cartoonishly violent action, but much of the surrounding story and lore of the series provides a harsh and critical look at some of cyberpunk's main themes.

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Borderlands Takes Cyberpunk Themes to Space Opera Proportions

Axton points a gun in Borderlands 2

At the core of Borderlands' loot and story are the games' weapon manufacturers: interplanetary megacorporations that are responsible for almost everything players interact with throughout the games. Like Cyberpunk 2077's megacorps, these companies are incredibly powerful and control much of the setting, with the current condition of Pandora in Borderlands and Borderlands 2 being directly caused by corporate wars waged to find and open alien vaults. This setting of chaos created by corporate greed is one of cyberpunk's central themes, and with the abundance of incredible technology mixed with raiders and wastelands, the genre's motto of "high-tech, low life" rings true.

Where Borderlands differs is that it takes cyberpunk tropes and expands them to galactic levels. Across the many games in the Borderlands series, players are introduced to more than just the arid wastelands of Pandora. The games also end up taking just as much influence from classic sci-fi and fantasy. While this does mean that the games aren't coherently cyberpunk, aspects like the games' respawn machines charging players for their deaths while reading out corporate slogans feel right at home in the genre. One particular side-quest in Borderlands 2 even sees villain Handsome Jack asking players to kill themselves, only for them to respawn with Jack gloating over the choice.

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Cyberpunk 2077 Is a More Consistently Cyberpunk Experience

Borderlands 3 Proving Grounds

The downside to Borderlands' zany style is that the cyberpunk flavor doesn't stay for long. While the Borderlands series is incredibly influential with its looter shooter design, its science-fantasy, space-western style keeps it separate from the much more serious and consistent cyberpunk games that have come out in recent years. While fans of Cyberpunk 2077 will definitely find aspects of the series' lore and occasional dips into the genre entertaining, Borderlands doesn't offer an overarching cyberpunk story. While the Pre-Sequel gives players a much more cyberpunk-styled story, featuring a moon slowly being pulled apart by corporate interests, it still falls into many of the space fantasy tropes that the series is much more familiar with.

While the series may not completely fit within the cyberpunk genre, Borderlands is still a series that many gamers have fond opinions of. When it wants to, Borderlands is capable of delivering the attitude and themes of cyberpunk stories with a charming edge that is hard to beat. And if the series ends up going all-in on a cyberpunk story, it could rival the best that Cyberpunk 2077 has to offer, so long as the dated internet humor takes a backseat.