I must say, starting the whole presentation with someone putting a VHS tape into a VCR was a great start. Then just launching things with a bit of that1980's wireframe found with line drawings of iconic Gearbox characters... just wonderful. It broke into the 3 different parts of the company, the different colleges under the umbrella, “Gearbox University.” The “College of Software” was all about becoming that “looting shooting Vault Hunter” that you could always be. The “College of Publishing” was offering degrees in Norse Mythology, Projectile Meteorology, or regular Meteorology, or write a thesis on Physics. Finally, there was the “Whatever-the-hell-else,” and talking about the upcoming Borderlands movie that Gearbox is working on. This lead to a trailer for the various games that Gearbox has been busy with to welcome everyone to their presentation properly.

From there, we got introduced to Randy Pitchford (The Head Honcho), out in Budapest, Hungary. He explains his involvement with Gearbox, and that he is on a live sound stage for the Borderlands movie!While he's walking us through the stage, there is a blurred person (who is may or may not be Ariana Greenblatt as Tiny Tina). Randy then introduced us to Eli Roth who is directing the movie. He made it clear he's after a great sci-fi movie. Given that is the true base of Borderlands (that and all the guns), it is a very good goal. We also got to meet Edgar Ramirez, who is playing Atlas for the movie. Atlas is a new, unique character for the movie. Atlas does exist in the game, but we've never met him. We then get the siloetted photo of Cate Blanchett as Lilith, the original Siren of Borderlands. Blanchett might just know more about Sirens' powers than anyone outside of Gearbox. We also get a refresher on the chosen cast so far: Cate Blanchett is Lilith, Jack Black is voicing Claptrap, Keven Hart is Roland, Ariana Greenblatt is Tiny Tina, Florian Munteanu is Krieg, Jamie Lee Curtis as Tannis, Gina Gershon as Mad Moxxi. There are likely a few more yet to come. Randy then brought his cameras over to two of the producers, Emmy Yu and Ari Arad. Randy made it clear that Gearbox has turned down a LOT of offers from Hollywood already and only wanted to work with someone who was going to show the clear they have for the series. It apparently took two years of a back and forth for this to really start in its present form. At the time the interview was recorded, the movie was about half way to two thirds done with the shooting. We break from the movie set with another Gearbox University commercial.

This commercial has a bit of a twist. This lead into their course of Borderlands Science. The announcer was talking about how by solving puzzles, the players could contribute to the human biology studies. More details were given by Mayim Bialik. You literally become “Conductor of the Poop Train.” You will get in-game rewards for participating and help the world become a better place... thanks to poop and our drive for rewards.

This particular tease just felt a little too short, giving a simple reminder of 2 things: Homeworld Remastered Collection and that Homeworld 3 is still coming out.. While Homeworld 3 was initially announced back in 2019, I guess this is just an update letting people know when it will be coming out now. Just left slapped into everything. But then later in the presentation it circled back to Homeworld, giving a few trivia facts about the franchise, each time it came up in the presentation. Over the course, it was made clear that the game is entering production and looks to have a release next year, in 2022.

Following that short trailer and section, we got something more fleshed out. This has a Vault Hunter literally fighting a dragon's firebreath back with their gun. This will be featuring Andy Samberg, Wanda Sykes, Will Arnett, Ashly Burch, and most importantly, Butt Stallion. This ad was for Tiny Tina's Wonderland. Just what this is going to be is a bit of a mystery from the trailer. It does look like it is expanded on the world we first saw in the Borderlands 2 expansion, “Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep,” but much more as a stand alone game. We then got to hear from the Senior Producer, Kayla Belmore. She immediately confirms that it will be a Looter Shooter, but set in a fantasy environment. It is meant to be a stand alone entry and will require no previous Borderlands knowledge (just you'll get a few more jokes). This game will have a lot of new takes on classic fantasy enemies, like Wyerns and Goblins. While it gave more insight, a lot was very intentionally left vague.

After this, we got a good teaser for Tribes of Midgard. A good overview of the defense-oriented game. With the mix of exploration, crafting, and base building, it does look fun. You will be able to make armor, clothes, weapons and a lot more. All in the service of protecting a seedling from Yggdrasil, the World-Tree. All this, over a period of time, to defend it from the coming of the Giants. We got a release date of July 27^th, 2021. It will be a 10 player co-op action RPG. We also got a look at the unique cosmetic outfits available if you pre-order the game either through the PSN or on Steam. After that trailer, we got a few words from Julian Madora, the director of Tribes of Midgard. In this, he says, you will be playing as an Einherjar returned to Midgard (Earth) to protect the seedling. There will be plenty to do with numerous events, dungeons to explore, and lots of loot to be found. This game will have 8 classes available in it, each with their own play style. Of course, more information will be available in the coming weeks.

Next, we got a trailer for Godfall and its release onto the PS4 with a free upgrade to the PS5. It will also be releasing through the Epic Game Store as well. This will include a free update, the Lightbringer. This will also bring with it the beta for Matchmaking as well. Plenty more lootable items and new skins are on their way. All this, with the Fire and Darkness update as well. Fire and Darkness will release on August 10^th, 2021. After that trailer, we got to meet Dick Heyne, the Senior Technical Producer for Godfall. The big announcements were Godfall coming to the PS4, as well as offering the free upgrade to the PS5. It will also be offering Cross-Generational play, so the Playstation players will be able to team up with each other, regardless of system. Fire and Darkness is the first full (paid) expansion for the game. It will be bringing you into the Fire Realm for the first time. A large number of unique rewards await. Alongside the paid expansion is the Lightbringer update. This will add in a new end-game activity, and award a new kind of reward, Cursed Loot. This loot will ask the player to complete particular objects to awaken it, and it will be at least as hard as Primal Gear to properly unlock. A large library of new cosmetic options are coming with the update, all of which can be gotten by completing objectives within the game.

The Presentation started to wrap with a return to the Borderlands Movie set, with Randy bringing the camera to meet Kevin Hart. He had plenty to say about taking on the role, giving nothing away about what he'll be doing in the movie beyond being the bad-ass that is Roland. It is good to get a preview of things and have a laugh about it.

Final Thoughts:

While this was an entertaining presentation, there was only a bit of substance to it. The Homeworlds 3 announcement of it being in production left very slap-dash. It would have done a bit better as a single segment with a little more information added in or just skipped in favor of another project. We don't always need gameplay, concept art works wonders too! Getting a better idea of things for the Borderlands movie was nice though. I liked there were no spoilers about what is happening in the movie. I certainly hope that it will continue on with the trailers. While it did show a great sense of humor and didn't take itself too serious, it did feel a more mixed bag. The Geek in me is excited for Tiny Tina's Wonderlands and am looking forward to see how things changed from Assault on Dragonkeep. Finally, Tribes of Midgard and Godfall. Tribes of Midgard does look like a good mix of things I'm familiar with, something more of Diablo meets Don't Starve. Unique combination, but not quite an original one. Godfall, being a hybrid singleplayer, online multiplayer game looks alright. A demo or some free time in it would make a fair bit of a difference overall. It's just been middling, but could have potential yet. Hard to say with what little was shown. Maybe this presentation will help bolster the game. Alright is ultimately a good way to sum this one up.