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Borderlands helped make the looter-shooter formula recognizable and popular, but it was not the first game to mix gunplay with action-RPG progression and loot. For a historical deep cut, start with Hellgate: London; for a later, more story-led take shaped by earlier loot games, consider Outriders. They are interesting for different reasons, and neither should be assumed to play exactly like Borderlands.
What makes a looter shooter worth revisiting?
“Looter shooter” describes a family of games, not one fixed recipe. The useful question is what each game asks you to do between firefights: chase randomized gear, tune a character build, follow a campaign, or return to a persistent online world. A recommendation also needs to account for perspective and play structure: a first-person action RPG can feel very different from a third-person campaign or a shared online experience.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
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Borderlands 3 Ultimate Edition - Nintendo Switch | $19.93 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
![Borderlands 4 Standard - PC Steam [Online Game Code]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51gpM4oUSEL._SL160_.jpg)
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Borderlands 4 Standard - PC Steam [Online Game Code] | $35.00 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
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POP Funko Games: Borderlands 4 - Claptrap | $13.61 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
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Borderlands: Game of The Year Edition - PlayStation 4 | $13.51 | Buy on Amazon |
- Perspective and combat: Is the action first-person or third-person, and does it emphasize direct shooting or broader action-RPG systems?
- Play structure: Is the experience designed around a solo campaign, cooperative sessions, or persistent online play?
- Progression: Does loot meaningfully change a build and moment-to-moment combat, or mainly raise numbers?
- Story and tone: Is the narrative central, and does the game lean comedic, serious, or somewhere between?
- Access: Can you still get a supported edition, play offline if needed, and use the features the game depends on?
Those distinctions matter more than treating the label as a promise that every game will reproduce Borderlands.
Borderlands popularized the formula; it did not begin the whole conversation
An Epic Games Store interview describes Borderlands as the game that defined the looter-shooter, and points to Borderlands 2 (2012), Destiny (2014), and The Division (2016) as major drivers of its popularity. That is a claim about recognition and influence, not proof that no earlier game combined shooting and loot-driven RPG systems.
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A separate retrospective on Hellgate: London places an earlier hybrid in 2007. The two ideas fit together: a game can explore a combination early, while another makes that combination broadly legible to players. Destiny and The Division are useful reference points for the genre’s range, but their importance does not by itself make them forgotten recommendations.
Hellgate: London is the historical deep cut
Why it belongs in the conversation
Hellgate: London is described as an early action RPG playable in first-person, with loot-driven design. That combination makes it a useful precursor for anyone curious about how shooting and equipment-focused progression came together before the genre label became familiar.
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- BE A BADASS: Become an unstoppable force of battle, blasting through enemies with an all-new arsenal of outrageous weaponry. Move across the Borderlands like never before—double jumping, gliding, dodging, grappling, and more—dealing death from every direction. Explode each encounter with devastating Action Skills that unleash your Vault Hunter's unique abilities. Craft your perfect build with branching skill trees and a deep, rewarding loot chase full of wild weapons and powerful gear.
- FIGHT SOLO OR CO-OP: Wreaking havoc across Kairos is awesome alone and even better with friends in 2-player splitscreen or up to 4-player online co-op.** Borderlands 4 is designed for co-op from the ground up; whether you're hunting for loot, tackling missions, or wandering freely, level scaling and individual difficulty keeps the party together and having fun.
- LESS BORDERS, MORE LANDS: Freely explore a vast and dangerous world rife with warring factions. Hop on your hover bike and ride through lush fields, towering peaks, and deadly deserts full of fearsome enemies, dynamic events, and engaging quests with unforgettable characters. Unite the people of Kairos and ignite a revolution, tackling this adventure however you see fit in a seamless Borderlands experience.
Why the label needs a qualification
It is not a clean match for the modern idea of a looter shooter: its class system and melee elements complicate the “shooter” description. Its historical interest also should not be mistaken for a claim that it feels polished by current standards. Treat it as a fascinating ancestor, not a guaranteed substitute for a contemporary favorite.
Check access before buying
Older games can have changing platform support, store listings, editions, and online requirements. Those details have not been established here for Hellgate: London, so check the current listing and the specific edition’s requirements before spending money or planning a multiplayer session.
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Outriders offers a different design case
Outriders is worth considering as a later, more story-led shooter-RPG rather than as another forgotten origin point. In a developer interview, its team discussed studying loot systems in games including Borderlands and The Division while shaping its own approach. That gives the game a documented place in the design conversation: it drew on established examples while pursuing its own balance of story, shooting, and loot.
The interview supports that development context; it does not establish current online support, platform availability, or whether Outriders will suit every player. Check the current edition details and requirements, particularly if you are choosing it for solo play or cooperative features.
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- Bazillions of guns: rocket-launching shotguns, enemy-torching revolvers, smgs that Fire Lightning rounds, and tons more.
- Radical art style: traditional rendering combined with hand-drawn textures give Borderlands its iconic style.
- Intense vehicular combat: behind the wheel, engage in frenetic vehicle-to-vehicle combat.
- Co-op frenzy: online or together on the couch, tear through enemies as a Crew of up to 4.
- With improved character models, weapons, textures, and more, Borderlands shines on a 4K display.
Choose by the experience you want
| Game or reference point | Why it matters | What to keep in mind |
|---|---|---|
| Hellgate: London (2007) | An early first-person action RPG with loot-driven design. | Class and melee systems make it an imperfect fit for a strict shooter label; current access and edition details need checking. |
| Borderlands 2 (2012) | A major part of the series associated with the genre’s rise in popularity. | Useful as a familiar reference point, rather than a forgotten pick. |
| Destiny (2014) | A major genre reference point identified alongside the popularization of looter shooters. | Use it to compare the genre’s range; check the specific game and edition’s present-day requirements. |
| The Division (2016) | Another major reference point in the genre’s broader popularity. | Its inclusion as a comparison does not establish current service details or make it a forgotten recommendation. |
| Outriders | A story-led shooter-RPG whose developers studied loot systems in games such as Borderlands and The Division. | The cited interview does not establish current platform availability or online support. |
If you want to explore the genre’s early experiments, investigate Hellgate: London with realistic expectations and verify that a supported version is available to you. If you prefer a later design conversation with an explicit story-led angle, Outriders is the more relevant case. If you want a benchmark for how the formula became widely recognized, compare either against Borderlands 2, Destiny, or The Division rather than assuming they all deliver the same kind of play.
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