ActionRPG
Borderlands 3
Give it 3 hours
Gets good by 3h almost every game dips in hours 2–3
Reach the ending 37% of players who started
Started playing 94% of owners
Steam reviews 81% positive of 164,321
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours almost 1 in 2 reviews are negative (45%); after 20h it's 1 in 5 (18%).
- 37% of players who start reach the ending.
- The biggest drop-off is between “Welcome To The Crimson Raiders” (Complete mission “Children of the Vault”) and “So Long, Pandora!” (Complete mission “Taking Flight”): from 98% to 76% of starters.
- 94% of owners got the first achievement.
When it gets good
Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.
before it gets good opening up fully opened up
Based on all 165,128 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 299 reviews: 26.9h for positive, 17.2h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.
Where players quit
Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (94.1% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
- Started playing 100%
- Welcome To The Crimson Raiders Complete mission “Children of the Vault”. 98% −2
- So Long, Pandora! Complete mission “Taking Flight”. Most players quit here 76% −23
- NOG It Off Complete mission “Hostile Takeover”. 66% −9
- I Mustache You A Question Complete mission “Atlas, At Last”. 55% −11
- Gone From My Sight Complete mission “Beneath the Meridian”. 52% −2
- That Was Cold Complete mission “Lair of the Harpy”. 48% −4
- Heir To An Empty Castle Complete mission “Cold as the Grave”. 42% −5
- Cross The Streamers Complete mission “Blood Drive”. 41% −1
- Apocalypso! Complete mission “The Great Vault”. 39% −2
- I Am A Goddess, A Glorious Female Warrior Complete mission “In the Shadow of Starlight”. 38% −1
- Bye, Felicia! Complete mission “Divine Retribution”. 37% −1
story milestone ending biggest drop-off
Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.
All achievements (81)
story milestone ending side
- You Got Skills Reach level 2. 100%
- Welcome To The Crimson Raiders Complete mission “Children of the Vault”. 98%
- Barreled Right Over Them Kill an enemy with an exploding barrel. 86%
- So Long, Pandora! Complete mission “Taking Flight”. 76%
- Star Bound Reach level 10. 73%
- NOG It Off Complete mission “Hostile Takeover”. 66%
- Florida Man Down yourself by grenade or explosion. 62%
- Feelin' A Little Stabby Kill an enemy, knifing them with a gun blade. 62%
- I Mustache You A Question Complete mission “Atlas, At Last”. 55%
- Gone From My Sight Complete mission “Beneath the Meridian”. 52%
- Vaulting Your Way To The Top Reach level 25. 50%
- Bolt-Ons Unlock 10 Character Heads or Skins. 50%
- That Was Cold Complete mission “Lair of the Harpy”. 48%
- Dropping Loads Win a live grenade at a Slot Machine. 45%
- Heir To An Empty Castle Complete mission “Cold as the Grave”. 42%
- Stay Away From The Light Revive another player. 42%
- Cross The Streamers Complete mission “Blood Drive”. 41%
- Apocalypso! Complete mission “The Great Vault”. 39%
- On Fleek Equip purple-rated gear or better in every slot. 38%
- I Am A Goddess, A Glorious Female Warrior Complete mission “In the Shadow of Starlight”. 38%
- Damn, Gina Get all Vault Rewards. 38%
- Bye, Felicia! Complete mission “Divine Retribution”. 37%
- À La Carte Complete 20 Side Missions. 32%
- Biggest Badass In The Borderlands Reach level 50. 29%
- Tips Appreciated Tip Moxxi. 29%
- Stay Golden Use a Golden Key. 28%
- Mechani-Cool Unlock 10 Vehicle Parts via hijacking. 28%
- Tales From The Eridian Slab Decipher all of the Eridian Slabs. 26%
- I Hope You Didn't Tea-bag Win a duel. 24%
- Stick It To 'Em Kill two or more enemies with a single sticky grenade. 22%
- A Proper Hand-Off Complete mission “All Bets Off”. 17%
- Party's Still On! Find the party. 17%
- Stone Cold Killer Complete mission “Blood from a Stone”. 17%
- My Name Is Earl Buy 20 cosmetic items from Crazy Earl. 16%
- Meat and Greet Complete mission “Enter the Psychoscape”. 16%
- It's A Wash Complete mission “The Name of the Law”. 16%
- Older Than The Trees Kill the Wendigo. 15%
- The Blast and the Furious Defeat Evil Lilith. 15%
- Getting Off Track Complete mission “Off the Rails”. 14%
- Love Is The Fifth Dimension Marry your friends. 14%
- Bounty: Hunted Complete mission “Where It All Started”. 14%
- Ruin On The Horizon Complete mission “Riding to Ruin”. 13%
- Brain Pain Train Slain Defeat Locomöbius. 13%
- Trauma Center Defeat Dr. Benedict. 13%
- Red Wrath and Beyond Defeat Psychoreaver. 12%
- Exoarchaeolo—You Get The Gist Discover all named locations on Nekrotafeyo. 11%
- In the Eye of a Murdercane Win a round of Arms Race. 11%
- Scovillain Destroy all of Mr. Torgue's hot sauces. 11%
- Shoe Money Tonight Get a 21 in the blackjack minigame. 10%
- Don't Be A Stranger Return for a chat with the Clapstructor. 10%
- Firebug Sabotage all statues for Ember. 8.8%
- Got Big Game Defeat all of Hammerlock's Legendary Hunts. 8.0%
- Zer0ed In Defeat all of Zer0's Targets of Opportunity. 7.8%
- Rewards Card Earn a Loyalty Package from each weapon manufacturer. 7.7%
- Gun Pals! Send an item to a friend. 6.8%
- Blood Sucking Freak Defeat Hemovorous the Invincible. 6.2%
- A Hunter, Through And Through Find and kill all four rare spawns. 6.1%
- 100-Proof Clear all the Eridian Proving Grounds. 5.6%
- Killer Look Complete the Mayor's outfit. 5.4%
- Master Of All You Survey Discover all named locations. 5.2%
- Helpful Hunter Complete all side missions on Gehenna. 5.0%
- Slaughterhouse 3 Complete all the Circles of Slaughter. 4.9%
- Complex Made Simple Explore the entire Stormblind Complex. 4.7%
- Good Against Remotes Is One Thing Get a perfect score at the Firing Range on any difficulty. 4.7%
- Demysteriouslierified Solve all murder mysteries for Ava's podcast. 4.6%
- Industrious In The Face Of Cosmic Terror Complete all Crew Challenges and Side Missions on Xylourgos. 4.5%
- A Hundred Names For Sand Discover all named locations on Pandora. 4.3%
- City Slicker Discover all named locations on Promethea. 4.3%
- Swamped Discover all named locations on Eden-6. 4.1%
- Ye Who Enter Open the gates to Vaulthalla. 4.0%
- Fustercluck Off Complete all side missions and crew challenges in Krieg's Mind. 3.8%
- Getting A Little On The Side Complete all Side Missions. 3.1%
- That's Quite Challenging Complete all crew challenges on Gehenna. 3.1%
- Who Collects The Collector? Defeat the wandering Debt Collector. 3.0%
- I'm Floudering Up Here Listen to 25 fish jokes. 2.7%
- How The West Was Done Complete all plot missions, side missions, and crew challenges on Gehenna. 2.7%
- Whispers On The Wind Collect all ECHO logs on Xylourgos. 2.1%
- Good One, Babe Watch Deathtrap kill 50 enemies. 1.9%
- Treat Yo Self Extract 100 pieces of gear from Arms Race. 1.8%
- Might Beyond Sight Destroy 50 mysterious Eridium piles. 1.8%
- Ultimate Vault Hunter Unlock all Borderlands® 3 Achievements! 1.8%
Steam page Updated: 2026-10-21.