Recs.
Updated
Borderlands: The Handsome Collection consists of Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel with all of their DLC included. Both games are FPS's with RPG elements and loot collection.
SpecsUpdate
Pros
Pro Complementary classes that emphasize teamwork
While Borderlands can be played solo, the game's different classes are designed to work well together, promoting teamwork. One player might be a tank, drawing enemy attention on the battlefield, giving the sniper character some breathing room to take down a boss, for instance.
Pro Great variety of character classes
Both games in the collection have 6 character classes (12 total). Each one has unique abilities that are affected by the skill trees, allowing you to further specialize your character to suit your playstyle. You can choose the support skills to help your teammates, defensive skills if you like being in the middle of the action, or offensive skills to quickly destroy enemies at the cost of increased risk. There's enough variety to keep it fresh across multiple playthroughs of two very similar games.
Pro Really good value for its price
The Handsome Collection contains Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: TPS with all of their DLC included, which gives you more than 100 hours of exciting content. Before this collection was released you'd have to spend more than $100 to get all the DLC for these 2 games.
Pro Awesome co-op experience
Borderlands is a lot more fun when you play it together with your friends. It's not just due to the excitement of going on an adventure together, it's also because the teamwork feels rewarding and meaningful.
The various characters and guns have their strengths and weaknesses, so you can cover for each others weaknesses. It creates an experience where you learn to rely on each other and forge a stronger bond as a result.
Pro 1080p and better textures over the original console versions
The Handsome Collection is an HD remaster of two previous-gen games, Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. Because it's a remaster, it's now in 1080p and offers better textures and effects than the original games.
Pro Exciting loot collection
Every time you kill an enemy or open a chest an item can drop. There are millions of possible combinations, each with their unique appearances and stats, so you never know what you'll get. It can be a really weak but rainbow-colored rifle, or an exceptionally powerful golden shotgun. The potential to find the best loot in the most humble locations makes killing enemies and finding chests incredibly exciting and satisfying.
Pro Low gravity effects in the Pre-Sequel gives better playability to the sniper class
The new low gravity effects work quite well, giving players more of a chance to put distance between themselves and their targets. This makes sniping a lot more viable than in previous Borderlands titles.
Pro Overlevel
Probably the best feature for grinding-lovers. Since the collection includes the Ultimate Vauld Hunter add-on, players now have a cap of 72, instead of 50, and go through a short skill test proposed by Tannis up to 8 times to increase the level of the loot found throughout the game, meaning that maxing out the overlevel stat would make mobs drop level 80 loot.
This also means enemies will get sadistically stronger. Some of them will even be higher than 80 (for example, a level 82 Bullymong, now called Demong) and will deal massive amounts of damage. It's pretty much like Hell but 8x worse.
Cons
Con Not really great for short pick-up games
The Borderlands games are super long, with dozens of missions to do between them, not to mention classes to grind and loot to find. If you're wanting a quick, pick-up-and-play type game, Borderlands isn't great for that. It wants more of a commitment.
Con You can't change splitscreen settings in Borderlands: TPS
The screen is split vertically when you play 2 player coop, creating massive blindspots on the sides. This is really inconvenient when playing FPS games since you won't see enemies trying to flank you.
Con Can get repetitive over long play sessions
The gameplay is very simple at its core - you get a new mission, shoot/beat up everyone, loot items, rinse, and repeat. After doing this multiple times it can start feeling a bit dull, especially at the lower levels when your character doesn't have many abilities unlocked to keep it interesting. It might be better to stick to short play sessions, which could prevent you from burning out.
Con Loot feels limited in the Pre-Sequel
The loot in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel feels very limited compared to earlier games in the series. Legendary items are almost impossible to find in chests or from enemies; it’s more likely you will find them in an item shop. This means you may have to spend hours grinding for cash in order to purchase the best weapons, because they'll never drop in the wild.