Borderlands 2 getting full-scale PlayStation VR port December 14

Fan-favorite FPS franchise Borderlands is getting the full-scale VR treatment with today's announcement of Borderlands 2 VR, launching on Playstation VR December 14.

Unlike limited VR-focused spin-offs such as Doom VFR and Serious Sam VR, this $50 revamp aims to bring the entire 2012 shooter to virtual reality, a la Bethesda's release of Skyrim VR last year. That includes all four original character classes, the full world of Pandora, and the Borderlands-standard "87 bazillion guns." But this version of the game will be a strictly single-player experience, and some character abilities have been modified to account for the lack of co-operative play.

The biggest change to the Borderlands gameplay formula in VR seems to be "Bad Ass Mega Fun Time" (aka BAMF Time), a time-limited take on Matrix-style bullet time that the developers say will "give you the speed and reflexes of a rabid skag, allowing you to dodge bullets, pull off 360 no-scope headshots, and even use your Action Skill to fight off hordes of bandits, bullymongs, and whatever else Pandora might throw at you." Skill trees will include BAMF-specific modifications and improvements as well.

The VR port will allow for movement via standard joysticks or pointed teleportation, with a new VR-tuned menu layout designed for Move controllers and a series-first first-person vehicle navigation system (including the ability to aim a vehicle's weapon with the headset).

2K's announcement puts Borderlands 2 in rare company (alongside Skyrim) as one of the few epic first-person games from the pre-VR era to be ported relatively directly to the virtual reality playspace at scale. And while the game is only being announced for the two-year-old PSVR headset currently, note that Skyrim VR made its way to Windows headsets less than five months after its PSVR-exclusive debut late last year.

Since the release of 2014's surprisingly meaty Borderlands: The Pre-sequel, the closest thing we've gotten to details of a true Borderlands 3 is a Unreal Engine 4 tech demo shown at GDC 2017. Despite that game's no-show at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, though, rumors abound that we'll somehow see an early 2019 release for the still-shadowy sequel. Hope springs eternal, we suppose.