Borderlands 2 isn’t “wimpy”, with around 60 hours of gameplay

It seems that when Borderlands 2 drops it’s going to keep us entertained for quite some time.

In a recent interview with Digital Spy, Gearbox vice-president Steve Gibson said (with utter disrespect to the English language): “The last one was giant, this one is more gianter”.

Gibson went on to highlight the length and content within the game, saying: “If you do core missions, ignoring side missions, you could probably plough through it in 20 to 30 hours in one playthrough. If you do side missions, you’re looking to get close to doubling that.”

He also explained that there is six-times as much story and writing than there was in Borderlands 1, which should mean that the story takes much more of a front-seat this time around.

“When you guys play the full Borderlands 2, we worked really hard to reintroduce all of the characters. It’s a standalone game. But if you did play the first one, you will certainly see a lot of things that would be even funnier to you.”

Borderlands came out in 2009 despite being “sent to die” according to a very-wrong Michael Pachter, as the game went on to be one of the best-selling and highest-rated games of the year.

“The way we felt was that three years ago, when we did Borderlands, we stuck our neck out pretty far,” Gibson recalled. “We did what was seen as a bizarre blending of genres, a bizarre art style and a bizarre sense of humour.”

“We didn’t just want to do a wimpy sequel. We wanted to do a full, ambitious, giant sequel, and part of that is the new feeling of experience, and that happens with new character classes.”

“We thought we could either churn out a sequel in a year or two, or we could be crazy all over again – stick out our necks again. That was the decision at Gearbox.”

Borderlands 2 is set for release in September 2012.