Following the occasions of Borderlands 3, Pandora’s moon, Elpis, smashed right into a beforehand veiled planet known as Kairos. There, the inhabitants exists underneath the oppressive rule of a dictator generally known as the Timekeeper, who assumes the function of the first antagonist in Borderlands 4. Throughout my time at Gearbox’s Frisco, Texas headquarters for our Borderlands 4 cowl 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 group.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 one – gamers nor builders – desires to have an affordable imitation of Good-looking Jack because the protagonist in a Borderlands recreation, so the group 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 the entire antagonists that we have had earlier than,” senior undertaking producer Anthony Nicholson says. “We attempt to enhance and diversify the way in which that they’re, so after we go maniacal loopy, possibly we do not try this for the subsequent one, as a result of there are quite a lot of tales that we are able to inform.”Nonetheless, 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 hundreds of years. The group 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 path or the opposite, served as a tenet for the group 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, ‘Once you take order too far, what sort of particular person does that create? What sort of particular person has to thrive in that area? After which, how does that particular person react when the system begins to break down and the chaos begins to be injected?’ And quite a lot of the railroad tracks simply type of fell into place at that time by way of the dialogue.”Constructing off that preliminary thought, the narrative group 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. “In case you take both of them to their excessive, it will possibly get bizarre and darkish,” Gearbox president and co-founder Randy Pitchford says. “In case you take the organized, skilled, mature facet of issues… the buttoned-up facet of issues, and take that to its excessive, you find yourself with this type of inflexible, virtually totalitarian, type of fascist, like, ‘That is the way in which,’ measured to the micron. Every little thing’s exact, and there isn’t any room for creativity or deviation. You’re taking the opposite facet to the intense, and it is anarchy and chaos, and quite a lot of unhealthy s— occurs as a result of we’re not taking care of issues. That is an fascinating spectrum.”
The Timekeeper’s stronghold metropolis, Dominion
In his efforts to protect his excellent imaginative and prescient of order, the Timekeeper cloaked the planet to forestall the surface universe from discovering them and put in Command Bolts to regulate the inhabitants. Â “His demeanor may 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 in opposition to 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 group 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 realize. Nonetheless, on the finish of the day, gamers ought to simply conclude that his method is much too excessive. “He is a management freak,” Winkler says. “He’s actually and metaphorically getting his fingers soiled on this planet of Kairos in a method that has made everybody unsettled and is stopping all of them from having peace. And I believe he is aware of it. He is aware of that he has this impact. He indicators off quite a lot of conversations with ‘I will be watching,’ and folks around the globe are trying over their shoulder. I wished this character to be somebody who is aware of the impact that he has on individuals. However he is additionally, on the similar time, a bit sufferer to his personal system. The bounds on him are very inflexible, as a result of he desires it that method; 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 attaining order, he is removed from the type of over-the-top character that previous villains within the collection have introduced. Throughout my hands-on expertise, I had the chance to listen to him a couple of occasions, and he remained true to how Nicholson describes him: cool, calm, and calculated. “Borderlands has undoubtedly turn into 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 quite a lot of his presence is tender contact. And he reaches out and screws with you very immediately. We wished to make it possible for he wasn’t simply speaking the speak, he was strolling the stroll, so the participant is pissed off at this man and needs to kick his ass.”And although Good-looking Jack evoked related emotions, he did so in a totally completely different method. “We actually wished to have somebody actually be a foul man and embrace the vibe of a foul 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 would not have that type of heat character that you may type of buddy as much as. He is only a unhealthy man. And it feels good to kill unhealthy guys, in order that was a giant deal. So, we simply wished to verify it was like, proper to the purpose, it is a unhealthy man. Once you begin the sport, you will see why he is a foul 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 area occupied by Kairos whereas the Timekeeper cloaked it. This resulted within the cloak being destroyed and Psycho masks raining down, giving start 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 type of ethical standing with the individuals of Kairos, we’ll be taught extra about his backstory via gameplay. “We’re getting into in media res for the Timekeeper’s story,” managing director of narrative Lin Joyce says. “He is been round on this place, so interested by, ‘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 fashion? Why does he maintain onto order so tightly?’ Then, solely in answering these questions can we problem and assist crack this excellent façade that he is constructed. However that is all spoilers, so I am not going to inform you!”I did not have too many interactions with the Timekeeper, however I did tackle one in every 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 certain to happen with the Timekeeper’s different followers and, ultimately, the Timekeeper himself. I’m already trying ahead to smashing via the Timekeeper’s order and injecting greater than a bit chaos when Borderlands 4 arrives on September 12.Â
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