10 Video Game Prequels Nobody Asked For

The playfully meta title at least indicates the developers were entirely aware of how redundant this prequel - or rather, interquel, given that it's set between the first and second game - actually is.

Still, irony alone can't hand-wave the fact that Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel just feels like a pallid, ersatz imitation of its two mainline predecessors.

This is likely due in part to the fact that development was farmed out to 2K Australia, who prior to tackling this game were largely known as a support studio for other teams' projects.

While definitely not without its neat additions to the overall mythos - particularly further development of the beloved baddie Handsome Jack - The Pre-Sequel too often feels like perfunctory filler: a stop-gap title until Gearbox finally released Borderlands 3 in 2019.

Charged at a full retail price despite feeling more like a DLC expansion to Borderlands 2 than a full-fat game in its own right, it just lacked the verve, wit, and energy that made the first two games such singular delights.

It was, dare one say, business as usual for a franchise which is mostly anything but usual.