The forgotten experiment: how Borderlands Online could have changed the series and why it was remembered again in 2025
The once-ambitious Borderlands Online project, which was supposed to be an MMO shooter for the Chinese market only, is back in the spotlight - almost 10 years after it was closed. Thanks to the efforts of EpicNNG enthusiast, players saw a working build of the game for the first time and were able to assess its potential, which was never realised due to the closure of 2K China in 2015.
Here's What We Know
Borderlands Online was announced at the end of 2014 as an exclusive for China with a free-to-play model, PvP modes, and familiar characters from the series. Players were offered to become treasure hunters who choose one of four classes after the accident on Pandora: Siren, Soldier, Berserker, or Hunter. The game planned to return NPCs like Claptrap and Dr Zod, familiar locations (Skag Gully, Tombstone), three PvP modes (Last Man Standing, Team vs Team, Capture the Flag), a weapon creation system, and guilds.
The project was developed by 2K China and Shanda Games and was supposed to launch on PC and mobile devices in 2015. However, a year after the announcement, the studio was closed and the game was cancelled due to financial risks and doubts about profitability. For the majority of Borderlands fans, this story remained almost unknown, as the Western market had hardly heard of the game.
The situation changed in 2025: modder and dataminer EpicNNG found a working build of Borderlands Online, restored the character creation screen, and shared the first footage. Although the game currently freezes after customisation, the enthusiast plans to make the project available to the community under the name Borderlands Offline, add support for uncapped FPS, FOV, and English localisation.
This unexpected "comeback" allows us to evaluate for the first time what Borderlands Online could have been like, and in the meantime, fans are waiting for the release of Borderlands 4, which, by the way, will be released on 12 September.
Here is gameplay of the Character Creator in Borderlands ONLINE, running for the first time since it got shutdown.
- EpicNNG (@EpicNNG) 29 April 2025
Customisation for each character is pretty limited, but cool regardless.
So surreal to have access to this in 2025. pic.twitter.com/8ga6U1gpe8
Source: @EpicNNG
