Since the developer studios and the publisher keep a tight lip about Borderlands, there aren't many details know about the Unreal Engine based action game which is supposed to be released in 2009. That's what we know: Borderlands uses a heavily modified Unreal Engine 3 and some features of DirectX 10 (like Virtual Texture Management and Geometry Shader). Lighting and shadows are supposed to benefit a lot from that. Furthermore it seems like the game will support GPU accelerated Physx.

New style: Cel-Shading
Now the developers took a bold step in matters of the graphics: Instead of the realistic and dark look of the Unreal Engine the game will be realized with Cel-Shading. This rather looks like Prince of Persia and not like the comic style of XIII. Nevertheless the characters appear to be a little overdone. Take a look at our comparison below to judge for yourself.

Click to select the Borderlands graphics

Borderlands before Borderlands after

Unfortunately the Cel-Shading games Prince of Persia and XIII weren't very successful: XIII never got a sequel and apparently Prince of Persia wasn't selling very well although both games were quite good in matters of gameplay. Are Cel-Shading graphics bad for the commercial success for a game? What do you think of the new look? Use the comments to give your opinion.

Update June 9, 2009:
At the E3 new screenshots were presented. They show in-game scenes from the Ego perspective and characters you will meet in the game and partly control yourself. The new pictures can be found in our gallery.

Furthermore developer Gearbox revealed to shacknews.com that Borderlands will be released in October 2009. The open world shooter was originally planned for 2008 but Take Two postponed the release to 2009.