Borderlands 4 will cut back on the toilet humour and meme references says narrative director

Borderlands 4’s narrative director has said the game plans to cut back on toilet humour and overreliance on meme culture.

Borderlands 4 is planned for release next year. The game’s latest trailer was shown off during The Game Awards last week.

“Borderlands 4 is our most ambitious game yet,” said Sam Winkler, Borderlands 4’s narrative director.

“In service of that, I’m happy to say I’ve gotten to work with some of the funniest people I know as contract writers.”

In reply to a fan, Winkler went on to say that while he was “not at liberty to talk much about the content of Borderlands 4,” he “remains firm in (his) criticism of Borderlands 3 overabundance of toilet humor.”

“I’m not gonna say there’s no toilets but if the word skibidi ships in the game under my watch I’m gonna cry real tears,” said Winkler. Paul Tassi joked that we were gonna have a gun called Hawk 2A and a fellow dev asked me if it was real and I wanted to put my hand down the sink grinder.”

“Skibidi,” is a reference to Skibidi Toilet, a series of viral YouTube videos which were largely made using assets from Valve‘s Gary’s Mod. “Hawk 2A,” is a play on “Hawk Tuah,” a viral meme based on an interview given by Haliey Welch.

While Borderlands 3 reviews praised the gameplay, most reviews highlighted the dated humour and “cringe” characters. When the Borderlands franchise began, it was praised for its inclusion of topical internet humour.