Following the occasions of Borderlands 3, Pandora’s moon, Elpis, smashed right into a beforehand veiled planet referred to as Kairos. There, the inhabitants exists underneath the oppressive rule of a dictator often known as the Timekeeper, who assumes the position of the first antagonist in Borderlands 4. Throughout my time at Gearbox’s Frisco, Texas headquarters for our Borderlands 4 cover story, my time interacting with the Timekeeper was extraordinarily restricted, solely listening to his voice occasionally, however his menacing demeanor and obsession with preserving order in any respect prices led me to hunt extra data from a number of members of the Borderlands 4 growth crew.
For the reason that launch of Borderlands 2 in 2012, Good-looking Jack has been the high-water mark for villains within the Borderlands franchise. Within the eyes of many, the franchise has struggled to discover a villain as charismatic and hateable as Jack. No person – gamers nor builders – desires to have an affordable imitation of Good-looking Jack because the protagonist in a Borderlands recreation, so the crew took a distinct method with the likes of the Calypso Twins in Borderlands 3.
When Elpis crashed into Kairos, it shattered the order the Timekeeper craves and set the occasions of Borderlands 4 in movement
“We’re very happy with all of the tales and all the antagonists that we have had earlier than,” senior challenge producer Anthony Nicholson says. “We attempt to enhance and diversify the best way that they’re, so after we go maniacal loopy, perhaps we do not try this for the following one, as a result of there are plenty of tales that we are able to inform.”
Nevertheless, whereas Borderlands 3 featured twin cult leaders bent on the destruction of Pandora, Borderlands 4 appears to be revisiting the dictator antagonist idea with the Timekeeper, a person who has been on Kairos, the brand new planet on which Borderlands 4 takes place, for 1000’s of years. The crew at Gearbox arrived on the Timekeeper as the principle antagonist very early within the growth of Borderlands 4, as they wished to discover themes surrounding a personality like him.
Taking part in with themes of order and chaos as opposing concepts, and discovering what occurs when you go too far in a single course or the opposite, served as a tenet for the crew as they started work on Borderlands 4. “We knew very early on that we wished this to be a narrative about order and chaos and the spots in between the place the gamers would function,” narrative director Sam Winkler says. “It began as form of a logical endpoint of, ‘Whenever you take order too far, what sort of particular person does that create? What sort of particular person has to thrive in that house? After which, how does that particular person react when the system begins to break down and the chaos begins to be injected?’ And plenty of the railroad tracks simply sort of fell into place at that time when it comes to the dialogue.”
Constructing off that preliminary thought, the narrative crew started working on a villain that would exemplify a kind of excessive edge circumstances. The consequence was a dictator who craved management and order a lot that he would cease at nothing to protect it. “When you take both of them to their excessive, it may well get bizarre and darkish,” Gearbox president and co-founder Randy Pitchford says. “When you take the organized, skilled, mature aspect of issues… the buttoned-up aspect of issues, and take that to its excessive, you find yourself with this sort of inflexible, nearly totalitarian, sort of fascist, like, ‘That is the best way,’ measured to the micron. All the things’s exact, and there isn’t any room for creativity or deviation. You are taking the opposite aspect to the acute, and it is anarchy and chaos, and plenty of dangerous s— occurs as a result of we’re not taking care of issues. That is an attention-grabbing spectrum.”
The Timekeeper’s stronghold metropolis, Dominion
In his efforts to protect his good imaginative and prescient of order, the Timekeeper cloaked the planet to forestall the skin universe from discovering them and put in Command Bolts to regulate the inhabitants. “His demeanor could be very calm,” Nicholson says. “He likes issues very neat, he likes issues very orderly. He is unrattled. You will not get him flying off the deal with as a result of he is very assured in why he is doing what he is doing. As Vault Hunters, we have to uncover what that’s and, in the end, push again towards it as a result of we are able to see the chaos that this order is bringing in each area on the planet.”
The narrative crew labored to make sure the Timekeeper’s mission had a level of believability and understanding for why he would need the purpose he is hoping to attain. Nonetheless, on the finish of the day, gamers ought to simply conclude that his method is way too excessive. “He is a management freak,” Winkler says. “He’s actually and metaphorically getting his arms soiled on the planet of Kairos in a manner that has made everybody unsettled and is stopping all of them from having peace. And I feel he is aware of it. He is aware of that he has this impact. He indicators off plenty of conversations with ‘I will be watching,’ and other people world wide are wanting over their shoulder. I wished this character to be somebody who is aware of the impact that he has on folks. However he is additionally, on the identical time, a bit sufferer to his personal system. The bounds on him are very inflexible, as a result of he desires it that manner; he desires the whole lot to be inflexible. And as we begin chipping away at these boundaries, I actually appreciated displaying off how he responds to that and the way it turns into a really private factor for him.”
Although he is clearly unhinged in his method to reaching order, he is removed from the sort of over-the-top persona that previous villains within the sequence have introduced. Throughout my hands-on expertise, I had the chance to listen to him a number of instances, and he remained true to how Nicholson describes him: cool, calm, and calculated. “Borderlands has undoubtedly grow to be recognized for the character that calls you up and tells you you are an assh—, and we wished to strive a personality that was a bit bit extra reactive and a bit bit extra ominous,” Winkler says. “He is very current, however plenty of his presence is gentle contact. And he reaches out and screws with you very straight. We wished to ensure that he wasn’t simply speaking the discuss, he was strolling the stroll, so the participant is annoyed at this man and needs to kick his ass.”
And although Good-looking Jack evoked related emotions, he did so in a very completely different method. “We actually wished to have somebody actually be a nasty man and embrace the vibe of a nasty man otherwise,” artistic director Graeme Timmins says. “Whereas Good-looking Jack was a little bit of a smartass and he had a humorousness, we wished to method this man with a bit extra like, ‘No, he is only a badass.’ He is actually about management. He does not have that sort of heat persona that you can sort of buddy as much as. He is only a dangerous man. And it feels good to kill dangerous guys, in order that was a giant deal. So, we simply wished to ensure it was like, proper to the purpose, this can be a dangerous man. Whenever you begin the sport, you will see why he is a nasty man, and you will be on the trip for the remainder of the sport.”
Although the Timekeeper has stored his thumb on Kairos and its inhabitants for an prolonged stretch, the phantasm began to fade following the occasions of Borderlands 3 when Lilith teleported Pandora’s moon, Elpis, into the house occupied by Kairos whereas the Timekeeper cloaked it. This resulted within the cloak being destroyed and Psycho masks raining down, giving delivery to a brand new faction of Kairos denizens who ripped out their Command Bolts to regain their free will at the price of mutilating their our bodies and minds.
Although the Timekeeper has clearly misplaced any sort of ethical standing with the folks of Kairos, we’ll be taught extra about his backstory by gameplay. “We’re coming into in media res for the Timekeeper’s story,” managing director of narrative Lin Joyce says. “He is been round on this place, so serious about, ‘Who’s he proper now for the participant?’ but additionally for us, ‘How did he get there? What was his journey as much as that time? Why is he this manner? Why does he maintain onto order so tightly?’ Then, solely in answering these questions can we problem and assist crack this good façade that he is constructed. However that is all spoilers, so I am not going to let you know!”
I did not have too many interactions with the Timekeeper, however I did tackle considered one of his followers, whom Winkler calls the Timekeeper’s “number-one fanboy” in Idolator Sol. That battle was extended and frantic, and it set a excessive bar for the escalation that’s positive to happen with the Timekeeper’s different followers and, ultimately, the Timekeeper himself. I’m already wanting ahead to smashing by the Timekeeper’s order and injecting greater than a bit chaos when Borderlands 4 arrives on September 12.