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I love the shotguns in Borderlands 3.
They’re meaty, powerful, loud, and impressive. And unlike the earlier games in Gearbox’s long-running action series, the shotguns here are also tied directly into the physics model. They break down cover objects in the environment. They send rocks and dust flying into the air. And they blast enemies right off their feet and into elaborate movie-stunt cartwheels, before they topple to the ground.
All of this means that shotguns now expand your tactical flexibility as a player. You can use one to knock an enemy out of a fight by sending him tumbling to the floor or over the top of a barricade, then switch quickly to a faster weapon and take on the rest of the room. Their physics magic works at any moment, even against enemies who are mid-air in a jump, and they have limb-based hit reactions as well. You might clip the arm of an enemy who is about to get the drop on you, then run in and finish him off with a melee attack.
“It has a great shotgun” used to be the hallmark of quality for a first- person shooter. In a rare moment of modern design…
