ActionRPG
Borderlands Game of the Year
Give it 10 hours
Gets good by 10h then rated almost like by veterans
Fully opens up by 20h rated like by long-time players
Reach the ending 34% of players who started
Started playing 82% of owners
Steam reviews 90% positive of 31,939
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours 1 in 4 reviews are negative (25%); after 20h it's 1 in 14 (7%).
- Fully opens up by hour 20.
- 34% of players who start reach the ending.
- The biggest drop-off is between “Paid in Fyrestone” (Completed 5 missions in the Arid Badlands) and “Paid in New Haven” (Completed 5 missions in the Rust Commons): from 100% to 52% of starters.
- 82% 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 31,969 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 290 reviews: 24.6h for positive, 21.8h 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 (82.3% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
- Started playing 100%
- Paid in Fyrestone Completed 5 missions in the Arid Badlands 100%
- Paid in New Haven Completed 5 missions in the Rust Commons Most players quit here 53% −47
- Destroyed the Destroyer Killed the Vault Boss 34% −18
story milestone ending biggest drop-off
Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.
All achievements (80)
story milestone ending side
- Paid in Fyrestone Completed 5 missions in the Arid Badlands 100%
- Ding! Newbie Earned level 5 94%
- Discovered Skag Gully Discovered Skag Gully 91%
- Ding! Novice Earned level 10 82%
- Pyro Killed 25 enemies with incendiary weapons 73%
- Discovered Sledge's Safe House Discovered Sledge's Safe House 69%
- Master Exploder Killed 25 enemies with explosive weapons 67%
- Get A Little Blood on the Tires Killed 25 enemies by ramming them with any vehicle 66%
- Rootinest, Tootinest, Shootinest Killed 5 Rakk in under 10 seconds 66%
- Discovered Headstone Mine Discovered Headstone Mine 63%
- You call this archaeology? Applied an elemental artifact 62%
- There are some who call me...Tim Equipped a class mod for your character 62%
- Fence Sold 50 guns to a shop 62%
- Ding! Expert Earned level 20 60%
- Wanted: Sledge Killed Sledge 59%
- Paid in New Haven Completed 5 missions in the Rust Commons 53%
- 1.21 Gigawatts Killed 25 enemies with shock weapons 52%
- Weapon Aficionado Reached proficiency level 10 with any weapon type 49%
- Discovered The Scrapyard Discovered The Scrapyard 49%
- Group LF Healer Rescued a groupmate from death in a co-op game 48%
- There's No "I" In "Team" Completed 15 missions in co-op 46%
- Ding! Hardcore Earned level 30 43%
- Discovered Krom's Canyon Discovered Krom's Canyon 43%
- Facemelter Killed 25 enemies with corrosive weapons 42%
- Wanted: Krom Killed Krom 42%
- Pandora-dog Millionaire Earned $1,000,000 41%
- 12 Days of Pandora Mastered the technology of Pandora 41%
- Made in Fyrestone Completed all missions in the Arid Badlands 40%
- Discovered Trash Coast Discovered Trash Coast 38%
- Destroyed the Hive Killed the Rakk Hive 37%
- Discovered Crimson Lance Enclave Discovered Crimson Lance Enclave 35%
- Wanted: Flynt Killed Flynt 35%
- Discovered Eridian Promontory Discovered Eridian Promontory 35%
- Destroyed the Destroyer Killed the Vault Boss 34%
- United We Stand Defeated the Rakk Hive, the Vault Boss, Sledge, Krom, or Flynt in a co-op game 34%
- Truly Outrageous Killed an enemy with the Siren's action skill 33%
- Down in Front! Killed 15 enemies with the Soldier's action skill 33%
- Careful, He Bites Killed 15 enemies with the Hunter's action skill 31%
- Duel-icious Won a duel against another player 28%
- And They'll Tell Two Friends Gamed with fame 28%
- Ding! Sleepless Earned level 40 28%
- House of the Ned Completed the "House of the Ned" mission 27%
- Making a Monster Built the New Car: Monster 25%
- Jakobs Fodder Completed the "Jakobs Fodder" mission 23%
- Made in New Haven Completed all missions in the Rust Commons 22%
- Ned's Undead, Baby Killed Ned. Again. 22%
- Night of the Living Ned Killed Ned...sort of 21%
- Duelinator Won a duel without taking damage 21%
- Athena, Out Rescued Athena 20%
- Reckless Abandon Killed 15 enemies with the Berserker's action skill 17%
- Depot Demolition Destroyed the Lance Depot 16%
- Fully Loaded Rescued enough Claptraps to earn 42 inventory slots 15%
- Ding! Champion Earned level 50 15%
- Speed Kills Destroyed a Lancer while in a Racer 14%
- My Brother is an Italian Plumber Killed an enemy plumber-style 14%
- Ding! Overleveled Reached Level 51 14%
- Knoxx-Trap Knoxx is at rest...finally 13%
- Steele-Trap The Commandant is dead-trap 13%
- Ned-Trap Killed Ned... again and again and again 13%
- Muerte la robo-lución Defeated the Interplanetary Ninja Assassin Claptrap 13%
- Ding! Overleveled to 11 Reached Level 61 10%
- It's so realistic! Collected 5 3D glasses 10%
- Small Tournament Completed the Prove Yourself mission 9.7%
- You're on a boat! I bet you never thought you'd be here. 8.4%
- Braaaaaaaaaaaaains! Completed the "Braaaaaaaaaaaaains!" mission 8.4%
- The Collector Completed Tannis' crazy request 8.0%
- Can't We Get BEYOND Thunderdome? Emerged victorious from an arena match 7.4%
- Sneaky Little Buggers Killed each of the loot midgets 6.4%
- Speedy McSpeederton Raced around the Ludicrous Speedway in record time 6.3%
- Vincible Killed Crawmerax the Invincible 6.1%
- Sucker born every minute Paid for a worthless tour of the world's largest bullet 4.5%
- Tourist Read all 6 claptrap statue placards 4.0%
- Completionist Completed all missions in Secret Armory 3.3%
- The Gully Reached the end of the larger challenge in The Gully coliseum 3.0%
- Hell-Burbia Reached the end of the larger challenge in the Hell-Burbia coliseum 2.8%
- The Angelic Ruins Reached the end of the larger challenge in The Angelic Ruins coliseum 2.8%
- Big Tournament Reached the end of each of the 3 larger challenges with one character 2.7%
- The Lubricator Found 25 claptrap oil cans 2.7%
- Bobble-trap Collected 15 claptrap bobbleheads 2.7%
- What a party! Collected 3 panties, 5 fish in a bag, and 15 pizzas 2.7%
Steam page Updated: 2026-10-18.