https://www.techpowerup.com/329839/borderlands-4-trailer-quashes-returning-vault-hunter-speculation-reveals-large-scale-conflict-and-pod-racers
 
As expected, a new trailer for Borderlands 4 officially launched at The Game Awards this week, and, although it has poured cold water on speculation of the return of Gaige, the DLC vault hunter from Borderlands 2, there are some intriguing details in the trailer. For starters, we got a look at what looks to be the next Borderlands villain—or maybe even villains—and it looks like the inter-faction conflicts will play a much larger role in Borderlands 4, with larger-scale conflicts at least being part of the lore, if not the actual gameplay.

The new Game Awards trailer picks up where the previous teaser trailer left off, as teased by Gearbox CEO, Randy Pitchford, but it turns out the robotic arm didn't belong to Gaige, the mechromancer, as previously suspected. Instead, the character picking up the mask at the start of the new trailer appears to be the cruel leader of some sort of robotic bandit militia preparing to do battle against an army of soldiers or drones, who bear some similarities to the Eridian from past Borderlands games and are being led by a single general, who also seems to be a main villain in the game—perhaps some invading force looking to exploit the planet. The resulting conflict between the two rival factions is on a larger scale than we've seen in previous Borderlands games, although there have always been inter-faction conflicts in Borderlands games. Of course, new enemies and factions aren't the only details included in the new Borderlands 4 trailer.
 
The Game Awards Borderlands 4 trailer also confirms that Borderlands 4 doesn't take place on Pandora, which also gives Gearbox a chance to introduce new a new aesthetic, different enemies, and new environments that are much more in-line with what's expected from a modern RPG. Along with the other new elements, we're also apparently getting new vehicles, akin to the pod racers of the Star Wars universe, and a grappling hook, suggesting that Borderlands 4 will again build on the improved mobility and verticality of Borderlands 3.
 
Gearbox also gave us a look at our next group of rag-tag heroes, and the four-person vault hunter formula seems mostly undisturbed, although there's not much to go by in the trailer, aside from a handful of clips showing the character designs and a few moments giving us a glimpse at their abilities.
 
The game looks interesting.