Battleborn

 PC
User Score
7.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 409 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 263 out of 409
  2. Mixed: 46 out of 409
  3. Negative: 100 out of 409
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  1. opop90908989787
    May 28, 2016
    7
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  2. Captain_Chaos
    Jun 22, 2016
    9
    Came for the coop, stayed for the coop, but as I learned in the open beta, the versus is good too! However, I implore you to find at least two other reliably good people to play with, as due to persistent issues with matchmaking, trying to play this game with pubs is an exercise in rage-inducing futility. In addition, due to issues with optimization and "always-online" connectivityCame for the coop, stayed for the coop, but as I learned in the open beta, the versus is good too! However, I implore you to find at least two other reliably good people to play with, as due to persistent issues with matchmaking, trying to play this game with pubs is an exercise in rage-inducing futility. In addition, due to issues with optimization and "always-online" connectivity respectively, two of my friends are currently unable to play it. Find out if you can run it, and then buy it, because in spite of the above, it's good. Most of the negativity you hear is purely memetic. I bought it day one and don't regret one cent.

    If you weren't aware, Battleborn is a five player coop, or five versus five competitive team first-person shooter with a much better (read: longer) time-to-kill ratio then the average, and many elements taken from MOBAs. If that's not your cup of tea, and believe me, I understand, then this review will probably not change your mind.

    In the distant future, thanks to a race of horrible dark energy-oozing aliens called the Varelsi, there is only one star left in the entire ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ universe: Solus. To make matters worse, a madman by the name of Lothar Rendain, former general of the brutal Jennerit Empire, has decided to team up with the Varelsi, assassinating the Empress Lenore and transforming his nation into the even more brutal Jennerit Imperium. But all is not lost! Enter the Battleborn, a rag-tag group of electic resistance fighters from each of the five remaining factions, including former members of the Empire, who are poised to stop Rendain and save the last star. As one of the 26 playable members of the Jennerit, the United Peacekeeping Republics, the Last Light Consortium, the Eldrid or the Rogues, you will battle through hordes of Rendain's Thrall troops, minion robots, and Varelsi monsters and massive bosses in nine story missions, or fight against player-controlled battleborn in six multiplayer maps across three game modes.

    Battleborn is first and foremost an FPS. if you can't aim, you can't win. That being said, each of of the playable characters conforms to a different niche of play,and surprisingly, about half the cast are melee-focused fighters, most lacking a ranged weapon entirely. This can prove a disadvantage, and I would personally prefer that they have some kind of weak ranged attack just as a means of staying involved in a fight, but most of them instead have means of closing the distance, blocking or avoiding incoming fire, or diverting attenton. Conversely, ranged characters often have means of preventing enemies from drawing close or otherwise escaping a melee, and every character's quick melee attack knocks enemies away a short distance. The key difference between Battleborn and an ordinary team shooter is really in the active abilities, and using them both often and skillfully, as well as selecting the right augments, will give you an edge in individual engagements. In story, this is enough, but in versus... well. Just, bring a good team. You'll thank me later.

    I thoroughly enjoyed the story mode, which makes good use of Gearbox's now-signature off-beat writing and humor (with considerably less memes, if that bugged you in Borderlands) The music, the voice acting, the color palette the hand-drawn prologue cutscene and accompanying rap, the character design- it all works, its all stylish. Batleborn is one of the most asthetically pleasing games I've ever played. But it is regrettably very short, especially compared to Borderlands, meaning that in spite of a large cast of characters to try and challenges to complete, the lasting time investment of the game will probably have to come from versus, and that carries with it a set of problems.

    The major problem with Battleborn: It's dependence on other players for the quality of your experience, which is my beef with MOBAs in general and why I quit LOL and never touched DOTA 2. You will lose a considerable percentage of matches if you queue for them solo, or even with one other player. Battleborn is extremely team-synergy focused and if you don't have that synergy, you will lose over and over. It's actually more important then individual player skill, and coupled with an actually reasonable damage model, sets Battleborn apart from its Call-of-Duty-influenced contemporaries. At present the game's matchmaking system is deeply flawed (You know, like matchmaking in general), regularly pitting premade 5-player teams against random pubs, resulting in most matches being depressingly one-sided. About half of my matches have ended in a surrender, including the victories, because the losing team is losing so hard that they don't feel like wasting their time playing the match out to completion. This is not the experience I had in in the Beta, oddly, though I am not precisely sure what changed that caused this. There is also a persistent issue with players behaving not only as if they are inexperienced in Battleborn, but inexperienced playing shooters period. I regularly see absolutely boneheaded behavior and it's driving me up a wall.

    Since my enjoyment of a versus game is directly related to not only my personal success but my win percentage, which may be the wrong way of looking at it, I admit, It would be nice to take a break once and a while and play the private versus modes against bots: Except that while you can still earn XP from doing so, you get it at a severely nerfed rate and worse, you don't get challenge or achievement progress from doing so.

    I love Battleborn in spite of its many glaring issues, and while I expected better in the first place, I also expect more from it in the future, especially considering the ongoing fixes, like the sniping exploit on Overgrowth. If you have some competent friends I think you will enjoy it as well.    … Expand
  3. sants
    Jul 22, 2016
    9
    I can not ask more for a game that cost me 5 dollars.

    The game does not have a good optimization, no community and bad matchmaking.

    They should put it free to play
  4. AJCk19
    Aug 1, 2021
    7
    Most people will call Battleborn a copy paste, but that is untrue. Blizzard essentially rushed their game out, so that it would hit the market sooner than Battleborn. And it worked.

    Anyways, Battleborn has a way better single player & co-op campaign compared to Overwatch. The heroes have personality and flavor. There is only 2 problems. Problem 1: shutting down the game, when they    Most people will call Battleborn a copy paste, but that is untrue. Blizzard essentially rushed their game out, so that it would hit the market sooner than Battleborn. And it worked.

    Anyways, Battleborn has a way better single player & co-op campaign compared to Overwatch. The heroes have personality and flavor. There is only 2 problems.

    Problem 1: shutting down the game, when they promised we could still play offline.

    Problem 2: the games online mode was basically dead.    … Expand
  5. isg1983
    Dec 4, 2017
    7
    If you like Borderlands you'll probably like this one too, feels so alike. Other than that i coudln't understand why this game get this much negativity all around, it is nothing game changing but a solid fun game overall.
  6. shinitaru
    Aug 30, 2016
    7
    I don't know what all the hate is about, I've had a lot of fun with this game. Is it the best ever? Of course not, I would say that Overwatch is a better game in every way (I play that too) but Overwatch lacks a story or single player mode and has static abilities where as Battleborn has upgradable characters. They are very different games and I play them for different reasons. As forI don't know what all the hate is about, I've had a lot of fun with this game. Is it the best ever? Of course not, I would say that Overwatch is a better game in every way (I play that too) but Overwatch lacks a story or single player mode and has static abilities where as Battleborn has upgradable characters. They are very different games and I play them for different reasons. As for matchmaking, so far I've never waited more than 5 minutes so I can't be the only one who likes this game. If you shop around you can find it for under $10. Well worth it… Expand
  7. Evilangel
    Sep 19, 2016
    9
    Battleborn is probably the most underrated game of 2016. It has addictive gameplay with unique style and characters.

    -The overall story, while not explored much, is very interesting. Plus, every character has their own backstory that you unlock by playing as them. -The combat is superb. The FPS mechanics are tight and none of the 28 (soon to be 30) characters feel overpowered.    Battleborn is probably the most underrated game of 2016. It has addictive gameplay with unique style and characters.

    -The overall story, while not explored much, is very interesting. Plus, every character has their own backstory that you unlock by playing as them.

    -The combat is superb. The FPS mechanics are tight and none of the 28 (soon to be 30) characters feel overpowered.

    -Sound design is phenomenal. Most games don’t put too much thought into sound. But Battleborn somehow takes it to a new level. You can usually tell how far away and which direction someone is in by character dialogue alone. There was one instance off me hearing a fight underneath a bridge I was on, then jumping in and saving my teammate. The trade off is that there is very little music in the game, but that’s ok because what is there sounds great.

    -The dialogue is funny, with each character having their own, and usually unexpected, personality. For example, Pindles is a snake and assassin that can turn invisible, but he has the personality of a salesman.

    -Co-op story is short, but is the best way to try out characters and grind gear.

    -Gear is free. You can only earn it by finding it in game, or by buying it with ingame currency. It’s also balanced as you have to unlock gear in each match with shards around the map.

    -It runs great, even on AMD cards. I have a AMD Radeon R9 380, and the game runs perfectly 99% of the time.

    -Amazing community. It’s small, but all the players are dedicated and friendly (most of the time).

    The only real criticism of the game I can give is that the matchmaking is bad. This problem has been amplified by the low player count which has made the matchmaking take a long time. If this game ever picks back up, this problem will be mostly gone. Till then, it’s a problem the game is stuck with. Personally, it’s a bug I’m willing to suffer through. The game is just that good.    … Expand
  8. AbeMC
    Sep 15, 2016
    6
    Fun game with a low enjoyment ceiling. Recommended because I had fun with it for a while and it works, but repetitive PvE matches, poor PvP matchmaking / empty lobbies, lack of weapon modding and repetitive character leveling means it's not worth the full asking price.
    Total size on my hard drive (base only, without the Season Pass content): 25GB.
    Battleborn is a game of two parts: PvE    Fun game with a low enjoyment ceiling. Recommended because I had fun with it for a while and it works, but repetitive PvE matches, poor PvP matchmaking / empty lobbies, lack of weapon modding and repetitive character leveling means it's not worth the full asking price.
    Total size on my hard drive (base only, without the Season Pass content): 25GB.

    Battleborn is a game of two parts: PvE and PvP.
    PvE
    First off, this is not a game for soloing. It can be done, but takes FOREVER. It's much better to try to find a match with other people. Unfortunately, this means the campaign is experienced in bits and pieces, frequently out of order. The story is episodic anyway, but any kind of sense to the story becomes hard to grasp. There's some guy Rendain who's trying to do – something – and our team of Battleborn, assisted by genius Kleese and the AI, Nova, are trying to stop him. Sounds good. The maps and levels flow well, the banter with Kleese and supporting characters is funny (the first few times), the graphics are colorful, and the combat has a good feel (wish sprint was faster, though Speed power-ups help). Bosses are suitably epic, but most enemies behave the same – and in many cases, ARE the same. PvE is best used to practice playing specific characters; expect it to get old fast – even with alternate dialogue for in-game transitions.

    PvP
    Several different modes with decent net-code – I didn't have many problems with lag (a few, but nothing catastrophic). There are the usual concerns (and complaints) about OP characters. Team-work and a balanced squad is rather more crucial than in other team-based games. Kill/death ratio has zero importance; work together to take down the enemy. If you try to go off on your own and rambo it, you'll die fast. Gearbox is still releasing new maps and characters at the time of this review, so there is some variety still to be had. The problem is that people just aren't playing Battleborn; the Steam “now playing” list indicates 800 people playing at once is a busy day. Out of the millions that log on to Steam every day, that's an incredibly small amount – and that's down from the 1,000 – 1,200 that showed up for a double XP weekend. This indicates that people do own the game, and play it for special events, but they have other things they'd rather play on a daily basis.

    Ten people are required for PvP; if you don't have them, you can't start the match. Two is the minimum for PvE, but there's no drop-in / drop-out. Character skills are leveled up in the middle of the match. Press 1 to open the skill menu, press Q, E, or F to choose a skill, the skill is upgraded and the menu closes. It happens in mere seconds and works well. But the very next match, I have to level my character all over again. Obviously I'm supposed to experiment with new ways to play a character, but once you've figured out the best way to play a character, the in-game leveling just becomes annoying. Equipping the load-out doesn't activate the gear in it; the gear has to be activated by accumulating enough shards to do so. Shards are acquired by searching the area for deposits; sometimes enemies drop shards as well. This isn't a problem in PvE with three players or in PvP. In PvE with the maximum of five players, though, there just aren't enough shards to go around. Add to this that the better gear costs more shards to activate, and that it helps to spend shards on building turrets and such, and PvE becomes a mad rush for shards.

    Gear can help with things like damage and shields, but it won't provide new weapons; all weapons are bespoke based upon which character you've chosen. I'm not sure if Gearbox was deliberately trying to make Battleborn different from Borderlands, but some simple weapon choices and alternatives would have helped add new ways to play beyond choosing a character. Instead, playing a specific way requires a specific character; it helps focus attention on the gallery of rogues Gearbox has assembled, but it felt limiting.

    I didn’t have much of an issue with PvP balancing (Benedict was OP, but his reload speed was recently nerfed, largely solving the problem). I had no issue with Battleborn’s graphical optimization, either - I also didn't try to max out the graphics and blame Battleborn when the game started stuttering (reduce Draw Distance, Particle Effects and Ambient Occlusion for starters). The cartoony art style of Battleborn might lead you to think you can max it out (like I could do with Borderlands 2), but don't be fooled. Battleborn is very demanding when maxed.

    Battleborn provides a good amount of entertainment, but needs more maps (both PvE and PvP), weapon customization, and a larger player base. Get it discounted so you don't feel too bad if / when you tire of it. Sounds harsh, but there really isn't that much to Battleborn.    … Expand
  9. madub06
    Aug 22, 2016
    9
    This is actually a great game. I'm not sure why it got so bad reviews. I will says that with the settings the game had preloaded, it was so laggy it was unplayable, but taking the two minutes to look up the problem and change the config file has the game running perfectly. The game has so much replayability with four different difficulties of campaign and three different types ofThis is actually a great game. I'm not sure why it got so bad reviews. I will says that with the settings the game had preloaded, it was so laggy it was unplayable, but taking the two minutes to look up the problem and change the config file has the game running perfectly. The game has so much replayability with four different difficulties of campaign and three different types of multiplayer. the leveling system is very smart and fun making it customizable each time you play and giving you more possibilities the more you play each character. I see myself playing this game for a long time. Great game!… Expand
  10. Jonathanwhiting
    Oct 12, 2016
    3
    The game was dead day one and now there is no one to play with so its sadly a waste of money. From what ive played at the beginning it seemed alright but sadly i will never know :(
  11. bigcountrylolz
    Aug 21, 2018
    7
    It was many things that I wanted in a game. Fun, Co-op vs. AI in a sort of adventure like setting, multiplayer matchmaking, and good bosses and fun levels. My only issue is that it didn't last long, and its been out for a long time, without new levels, or characters. It seems like the creators abandoned it relatively soon after release. The potential was there though, and it's stillIt was many things that I wanted in a game. Fun, Co-op vs. AI in a sort of adventure like setting, multiplayer matchmaking, and good bosses and fun levels. My only issue is that it didn't last long, and its been out for a long time, without new levels, or characters. It seems like the creators abandoned it relatively soon after release. The potential was there though, and it's still fun every once in a while.… Expand
  12. Nyakuya
    Jan 11, 2017
    7
    Es un juego que (a pesar de que no hago comparaciones) es mejor que overwatch, (no digo esto para iniciar discuciones ni conflictos, lo digo porque no entiendo como un juego como overwatch puede tener mas jugadores que Battleborn siendo que Battleborn tiene más contenido e incluso tiene modo historia).

    Es un juegazo en todos los aspectos posibles, TIENE MODO HISTORIA, algo que la gran    Es un juego que (a pesar de que no hago comparaciones) es mejor que overwatch, (no digo esto para iniciar discuciones ni conflictos, lo digo porque no entiendo como un juego como overwatch puede tener mas jugadores que Battleborn siendo que Battleborn tiene más contenido e incluso tiene modo historia).

    Es un juegazo en todos los aspectos posibles, TIENE MODO HISTORIA, algo que la gran mayoria de juegos online no tiene, y esto le da jugabilidad extra incluso si no hay gente con quien jugar, (porque encima se puede jugar la historia con gente).

    Es una lástima que tenga tan pocos jugadores, porque sinceramente es un gran juego. Por otro lado, no le doy un 10 porque su optimizacion es pésima, cuando otros juegos con mucha mejor grafica me andan a 60 fps en medio o alto, Battleborn con la grafica en medio o bajo me anda entre 40 y 0 fps, (si, porque cada tanto pega tirones y baja a 0 sin razón).

    Como ya dije, es un gran juego que se merece un 8, no un 10, pues si optimizacion es pésima, y esto repercute en la jugabilidad.    … Expand
  13. slyy
    Jan 25, 2017
    9
    While the game might seem like it needs more polishing, (Personally I enjoy it either way), Battleborn is simply what I'd wanted it to be, a traditional MOBA styled shooter that is actually good, the devs executed this very well and I like it, one might say Overwatch is better but Overwatch's gameplay is different because it doesn't even have PvE besides that one event that happened for aWhile the game might seem like it needs more polishing, (Personally I enjoy it either way), Battleborn is simply what I'd wanted it to be, a traditional MOBA styled shooter that is actually good, the devs executed this very well and I like it, one might say Overwatch is better but Overwatch's gameplay is different because it doesn't even have PvE besides that one event that happened for a limited time on Halloween, I play both Overwatch and Battleborn and I enjoy both, also lets talk about the game's price, you could buy it on Steam for 30$ but you could find it with a cheaper price like 5$, the lowest price Overwatch had is like 40$, So yeah, Its worth buying Overwatch but its also worth trying Battleborn.… Expand
  14. Laer
    Apr 7, 2017
    5
    Tenia pensado hacer un análisis largo y tendido, centrándome en varios puntos detenidamente, pero lo de este juego se puede resumir en:

    1º Muy parecido a Borderlans en muchos sentidos. Estética (no al cartoon pero si colorida), jugabilidad (falta conseguir distintas armas al añadido de más habilidades por personaje) y modo de contar la historia (tono gracioso en un trasfondo "serio").    Tenia pensado hacer un análisis largo y tendido, centrándome en varios puntos detenidamente, pero lo de este juego se puede resumir en:

    1º Muy parecido a Borderlans en muchos sentidos. Estética (no al cartoon pero si colorida), jugabilidad (falta conseguir distintas armas al añadido de más habilidades por personaje) y modo de contar la historia (tono gracioso en un trasfondo "serio"). Parece que se han acomodado y no salen de su zona segura.

    2º Una idea minimamente interesante, estropeada por intentar centrarlo demasiado en su apartado multijugador. El modo campaña se hace muy corto, se nota que esta puesto como calzador para intentar atraer a más publico y para decir "eh, hemos pensado en toda la gente".

    3º Un sistema de progresión al estilo juego gratuito (también llamado chino farmer) donde tendrás que jugar un montón de partidas para conseguir mejor equipamiento y aspectos, en un juego en el que, bajo mi punto de vista, no pintaba nada.

    Sinceramente me da pena, he disfrutado el modo campaña, pero la obligación de conectarte a un servidor cuando juegas en solitario y lo corta que es la campaña, han estropeado una posibilidad de hacer algo realmente interesante.

    Añadir que este análisis esta basado en el modo historia, no puedo opinar del modo multijugador, pues solo he jugado un par de partidas con un amigo, y a mi no me atrae lo más mínimo.

    Solo lo recomiendo si te atrae mucho y lo encuentras muy barato para echar una tarde.    … Expand
  15. CreepySlayer
    Dec 20, 2018
    10
    if it weren't for small playerbase that makes it impossible to find a online game i would probably have played 1000 hours+ already
  16. Heraldrick
    Apr 22, 2023
    7
    Battleborn was a fantastically written title and the only FPS MOBA that existed (while holding any sort of relevance in the genre.) It had spectacularly funny writing that kept matches and campaign missions fresh with each character. Every character was distinct not only in visual design and gameplay but personality with even the two COD Parody characters being some of the most charming inBattleborn was a fantastically written title and the only FPS MOBA that existed (while holding any sort of relevance in the genre.) It had spectacularly funny writing that kept matches and campaign missions fresh with each character. Every character was distinct not only in visual design and gameplay but personality with even the two COD Parody characters being some of the most charming in the cast. If you get the opportunity to try this game somehow in the future I would say it is worth a shot if only for the voicelines. They also have characters for those not accustomed to FPS shooting like the mage Orendi.

    It is sad that this game is dead now and a large part of that death was its direct competition to Overwatch. Mind you I bought the game mainly because I tried OW and despised the experience, but this was made up of everything I was missing from OW. It had a singleplayer campaign with a decent story attached to it. The characters were actual characters and not just generic archetypes that are better described as placeholders than anything else. The multiplayer was designed to be a MOBA which is a nice mix of PVP & PVE (rather than the PVP arena/hero shooters of the time) with the devs taking into consideration how to change around the map design to suit an FPS game. It was just what I was looking for but it didn't pick up the playerbase and had some really bad marketing (I didn't even realize it was a MOBA until it was out and I watched gameplay).    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

41
#41 Most Discussed PC Game of 2016
70
#70 Most Shared PC Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
69

Mixed or average reviews - based on 34 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 34
  2. Mixed: 19 out of 34
  3. Negative: 2 out of 34
  1. Games Master UK
    Jul 25, 2016
    62
    A chaotic, middling effort that should be low on your team-based shooter priority list. [July 2016, p.72]
  2. CD-Action
    Jul 21, 2016
    60
    Battleborn can be enjoyable, but only with friends and only for so long, especially when there’s a better alternative – Overwatch. [07/2016, p.52]
  3. PC PowerPlay
    Jul 6, 2016
    60
    Not enough content and too much grinding detracts from the great cast of characters and great presentation. [Issue#252, p.58]
See all critic reviews »