There’s much to like about Gearbox’s Borderlands series. It’s one of the first to usher in the “looter shooter” genre, the cel-shaded post-apocalyptic aesthetic is instantly memorable, the writing is both hilarious and emotional, and at the end of the day, it’s just fun to shoot psychos in the face and get rewarded with weapons.
But perhaps the most surprising element about Borderlands that deserves more attention is how weirdly inclusive it is. In fact, it is arguably the most inclusive video game series ever.
It’s definitely not something you’d expect from a franchise that prides itself on making creative dick jokes and involves shooting things in the face over and over again.
Gearbox may have stuffed Pandora – the series’ primary setting – with oodles of weapons, loot and more psychedelic characters than a 60s party, but buried underneath all that blood and grime are several playable and non-playable characters that fill the entire sexuality spectrum.
There are straight people (too many to list), gay people (Athena, Janey Springs and Sir Hammerlock), bisexual people (Axton. Mr. Torgue), asexual people (Maya), pansexual (Moxxi) and folks who throw a wrench in the spectrum altogether (Tannis, who is seriously messed up due to a traumatic past, and Borderlands 2 antagonist Handsome Jack, who definitely wants to pork himself).
In Borderlands 3 alone you’ve got two of the playable characters (FL4K and Zane) who are pansexual, one of whom also identifies as nonbinary (FL4K). There’s also a non-playable character (Lorelei) who not only identifies as nonbinary but is considering transitioning and is even voiced by trans actor Ciarán Strange.
If Gearbox threw in a few rainbow flags, Borderlands would easily be mistaken for a loot-filled Mardi Gras parade.
Beyond sexuality, you’ve got characters from all walks of life. As you explore Pandora throughout each Borderlands game, you’ll come across tall people, short people (most of whom you end up shooting admittedly), skinny people, morbidly obese people, people with disabilities, people of colour and even the odd emotionally-needy robots.
Unlike a lot of games of films that go out of their way to tell you “hey, this character is LGBTQI+/diverse!” Borderlands also doesn’t call attention to all this diversity. It’s in there as normal as can be and no one ever bats an eyelid at anything, as it should be.
So if you’re thinking about visiting the world of Pandora in Borderlands 3, go for the loot but stay for how inclusive it is.
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