Borderlands 4 has had a complicated launch. Initial critical response was fairly positive, but some sites—including PC Gamer—didn’t receive pre-release code and were unable to offer their own opinions at launch. And once the clock hit go time, early Steam reviews were dominated by reports of performance issues and crashes that we experienced in our own early performance analysis.
While it looks like Borderlands 4 still has a few kinks to hammer out, it does serve up one of the better features we’ve seen in the series: A chance to finally, mercifully silence Claptrap—and only Claptrap.
Yes, Borderlands 4 has a volume slider specifically for its flagship failure robot, letting you completely mute the shrieks, shouts, and general insufferability Claptrap has forced us to endure since 2009. Technically, this isn’t the freshest news: Some had noticed the slider during prerelease demos. But it’s about time. Society has evolved beyond the need for Claptrap.
I’m just not sure we deserve that peace.
Part of me thinks that the bespoke Claptrap slider doesn’t go far enough—that we should instead be given a Claptrap equivalent of an arachnophobia mode, replacing him with a featureless orb. Or like, a mild-mannered guy named Mark, with pleasant and agreeable mannerisms. There wouldn’t be any evidence that Claptrap was there, or indeed ever had been. There’d just be Mark, who is pleasant and speaks with an indoor voice.
While I think it would be a boon for all our psyches, I’m not convinced it’s spiritually appropriate. I haven’t enjoyed Claptrap’s presence in roughly 16 years, but in that time I’ve come to understand him as a form of karmic penance. By suffering these cognitive wounds, we atone for debasing ourselves with the gluttony of slavering over 16 quintillion guns or whatever.
That’s simply too many guns. The debt must be paid, and Claptrap is the terrible price. If we mute him, what greater costs might we incur?
I should note, though, that our Harvey Randall—who’s been playing a bit of Borderlands 4—says that Claptrap is pretty alright in this one. Maybe that slider’s not necessary to begin with. Either way, it’s a good bit.
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