finally finished this game after years of putting it off. quite possibly the most mid experience of my life, it put me to sleep at least twice, but i also weirdly empathize with the dev studio? they were given a relatively unfair task of "make a compelling handsome jack origin story", which is already never going to work (what do i need to know about the guy who enslaves his daughter that's going to wildly change my opinion of him). and gameplay-wise, it feels like maybe 3 borderlands 2 DLCs strapped together in terms of length and mechanical variety. and god, i know complaining about borderlands humor is such a "you do it to yourself, you do, and that's why it really hurts" situation, but man. and the new space mechanics are more tedious than fun. sure, jumping around willy nilly can make traversal less droll, but then you get to the god awful first-person platforming sections and wonder why the hell you're even playing the game anymore.

i feel like giving this a 3.0/5.0 is overcorrecting for my immediate and very obvious bias against this game, because it's not exactly bad, but it's also just such a nothing game. i barely remember most of what happens and who the characters are, and i ran through the game twice getting the platinum. it all feels by the numbers despite the different dev team, and maybe it's just borderlands being doomed to be a mid series. the skinner box surely must run out of juice eventually. haven't played 3 yet, still planning on tackling the DLC(s?) for this one in the near-ish future, but man. why do i feel so melancholy for a game that made me feel nothing?