Should You Play Borderlands 2 or The Pre-Sequel First?

As a long-time Borderlands fan who has sunk over 200 hours into the franchise, I strongly recommend starting with Borderlands 2 if you‘re new to the series.

While The Pre-Sequel is a great game with some very fun qualities, Borderlands 2 is going to give you the best introduction to Pandora and the core Borderlands experience. Let‘s dive into the details, vault hunter!

Why Start With Borderlands 2

• Borderlands 2 was released first back in 2012, establishing much of the game mechanics, enemies, weapons, and visual style that fans now expect. The Pre-Sequel came later in 2014.
• On average, Borderlands 2 offers 15-20 more hours of main story gameplay than The Pre-Sequel.
• Borderlands 2 is also more polished, avoiding a lot of the technical bugs and performance issues that plagued The Pre-Sequel at launch.
• For these reasons, Borderlands 2 tends to be more accessible for newcomers looking to get into the loot-shooting fun.

Preserving The Story Arc

Let‘s think about the narrative timelines, because this gets confusing! The Pre-Sequel takes place between Borderlands 1 and 2, making it a true "pre-sequel."

However, the game was written after Borderlands 2. So The Pre-Sequel contains heavy spoilers about what happens later on Pandora during the events of Borderlands 2. The Pre-Sequel also won‘t have as much emotional impact if you aren‘t already familiar with key characters like Handsome Jack and Lilith who appear in Borderlands 2 first.

Here‘s a quick visual timeline to demonstrate:

In-Universe Timeline:

   Borderlands 1 ----> The Pre-Sequel ----> Borderlands 2

Release Timeline:

   Borderlands 1 ----> Borderlands 2 ----> The Pre-Sequel  

Comparing Key Gameplay Elements

Let‘s explore some key stats across a few gameplay elements:

• Borderlands 2 features over twice as many environments to explore on Pandora and beyond. There is more visual variety across distinct areas.
• Borderlands 2 has a decent amount more story missions in the main campaign.
• For skill customization folks, Borderlands 2 has six different classes you can play as, while TPS has only four.
• Borderlands 2 also has much deeper skill trees to flesh our your ideal vault hunter builds.

Addressing Concerns for The Pre-Sequel

Alright, time for a little tough vault hunter love! I totally understand the appeal of diving right into The Pre-Sequel first. Who wouldn‘t want to hang out on the moon and hear Handsome Jack‘s backstory?

However, The Pre-Sequel seemed a bit rushed out the door following Borderlands 2‘s success. As a result, it suffered more bugs, less polish, and some tedium compared to its predecessor:

• Many players experienced technical problems at launch on PC and consoles.
• Critics panned its lack of environment variety due to being confined to the moon and space stations.
• The low-gravity mechanics, while novel, got dull rather quickly. The oxygen management felt like unnecessary tedium tacked on.
• Most importantly – without context for Jack and Lilith from Borderlands 2, the plot just doesn‘t hit as hard. You won‘t get the full emotional payoff from experiencing Handsome Jack‘s full character arc.

To Sum It All Up…

If you‘re new to Borderlands, or just want the best introduction, go with Borderlands 2 first. Spend your time on Pandora shooting, looting and enjoying the ride!

Once you inevitably get pulled into the storyline and characters, The Pre-Sequel becomes a fun prequel to provide backstory and new perspectives. Just don‘t let Jack shoot you out that airlock along the way…

Let me know if you have any other questions! I could talk Borderlands strategies all day. Happy hunting!