How Long It Takes to Beat Every Borderlands Game Before BL4 Releases

The Borderlands series has been ongoing for over 15 years, and the upcoming release of Borderlands 4 shows that the franchise still has many fresh ideas to offer. Its somewhat humble beginnings have expanded into an interplanetary journey with a diverse array of characters, and Borderlands 4 seems to take features of the series’ past to the next level.

Borderlands 4 is set to release on September 12, 2025, giving players plenty of time to catch up on the series, whether they’ve played some of the games before or are complete newcomers. How long it would take to beat each game can also depend on whether one plays Borderlands in co-op, on their personal experience, and their playstyle. Some may only want to play through the main story, whereas others may want to experience all the content each game offers.

How Long It Takes To Beat Every Borderlands Game

Borderlands

As the first in the series, Borderlands does a great job of setting up the franchise and preparing players for the bizarre adventures ahead of them. Many of the series’ recurring characters first appear here, so players wanting to make the most of the series’ story shouldn’t skip this game. Compared to later games, it is much more toned down, telling a more serious story. Since Borderlands 4 is adjusting the series’ humor, it’s possible that it may have more in common with the original Borderlands game than its eccentric sequels.

The game’s main story should take around 20 hours to beat, allowing players to experience the major plot elements to prepare them for the later games in the series, but playing through all the game’s content – including each of Borderlands’ DLCs – could take over 75 hours.

Borderlands 2

Borderlands 2 is where the Borderlands series truly found its voice, establishing a tone that later games would follow. Its modernized gameplay still holds up over a decade later, making it one of the best in the franchise. This game took the looter shooter genre to new heights and helped to establish a fanbase that would follow the franchise through.

The main story of Borderlands 2 is longer than its predecessor, taking around 30 hours to see from beginning to end. However, it features much more side content for players to enjoy in the base game. Some of Borderlands 2’s DLC expansions can take less than an hour, even for completionists, but others offer hours of additional content. Players wanting the whole Borderlands 2 experience should expect the game to take them upwards of 130 hours to finish.

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel

As the name implies, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is mostly set before the events of Borderlands 2, despite being released after. Players can choose to play this game before Borderlands 2, but this would spoil some of the plot elements of the second game and could risk players missing out on some references and context.

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is the shortest of the mainline Borderlands games, taking only 18 hours to finish. Players hoping to complete all the game’s content 100% should expect to exceed 59 hours of total playtime, especially considering that the Claptastic Voyage DLC alone offers 10 hours of additional content.

Tales from the Borderlands

Tales from the Borderlands is a spin-off of the series. Developed by Telltale Games, it is a story-driven episodic game where choices matter, as opposed to the fast-paced gunfights of the mainline games. Despite this, it still shouldn’t be skipped, as the new characters Tales from the Borderlands introduces reappear in later titles.

Its shorter runtime makes Tales from the Borderlands a nice change of pace that can be experienced in a few sittings. Each of the game’s episodes takes around 2 hours to beat, with a few optional character interactions for players to find if they want to experience all the game’s content.

Borderlands 3

Returning to the looter shooter genre, Borderlands 3 makes some changes to the series’ formula. The gameplay is a huge improvement over past games, with faster movement and alternative fire modes on weapons to keep interactions feeling fresh. This title sets the bar for what players should be able to expect from Borderlands 4.

Borderlands 3’s main story is the lengthiest in the series, taking around 23.5 hours to beat at minimum. However, there is still plenty to explore throughout the open world and side missions to complete, adding to the overall playtime. Additionally, each of Borderlands 3’s DLCs can take up to 11 hours to see all the way through. Players wanting to see all that Borderlands 3 has to offer should expect the game to take around 107 hours or more.

Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands

Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is another spin-off game, but it maintains the looter shooter formula. Framed as a tabletop RPG, the player must loot and shoot through a fantastical world. Fans who played the Borderlands 2 DLC of Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep or its standalone equivalent will find this game’s setting very familiar.

Despite its spin-off status, it still offers a full Borderlands experience, taking 16 hours to beat the game’s main story. It also has four additional DLC stories, which each add around 20 minutes of playtime for those wanting to experience the story, but can take 3 hours for completionists. Experiencing everything Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands has to offer could take players just over 50 hours.

New Tales from the Borderlands

The latest game in the series before Borderlands 4 is New Tales from the Borderlands. Like its predecessor, New Tales from the Borderlands is a story-focused experience split into five distinct chapters. The game features three new playable characters, but also includes NPCs that players will be familiar with after playing each previous game.

New Tales from the Borderlands is the shortest game in the series. The main plot takes 9.5 hours to see through. However, the game does have some extra content players may want to find, including five unique endings, meaning 100% completion could take 13.5 hours.