'Battleborn' Is Gearbox's New 'Heroic' Shooter

Battleborn is a new 'heroic' shooter from Borderlands 2 developer Gearbox.

CEO Randy Pitchford describes it thusly: 'Battleborn is: FPS; hobby-grade coop campaign; genre-blended, multi-mode competitive e-sports; meta-growth, choice + epic Battleborn Heroes!'

The game is set in a distant future where 'the only hope for the last star in a dying universe is a new breed of warriors, who must put aside their differences to drive back an unstoppable menace. Choose from a myriad of powerful heroes and fight together alongside your friends in an intense co-operative campaign, or battle against them in fast-paced competitive multiplayer matches.'

It won't be a retread of Gearbox's hit franchise Borderlands either, according to the company.

'If Borderlands 2 is a shooter-looter, Battleborn is a hero-shooter,' Gearbox President Randy Pitchford said in a press release. 'As a genre-fused, hobby-grade, co-operative and competitive FPS exploding with eye-popping style and an imaginative universe, Battleborn is the most ambitious video game that Gearbox has ever created.'

The game is slated for a release anytime before the end of Take-Two's fiscal year 2016.

According to Game Informer-Battleborn is the magazine's newest cover story-the game blends elements from the MOBA genre (think League of Legends) with first-person-shooter mechanics. This is somewhat reminiscent of Respawn's Titanfall, though frankly Battleborn looks a lot more interesting...and colorful.

I've had my gripes with Gearbox in the past, particularly over the controversial art-style of Borderlands, but I'm curious to see where this project goes. And curious to see some actual gameplay as opposed to just attractive cinematics that look like they could have been taken from a DreamWorks movie.

If the color and humor of the Borderlands games can translate into an interesting co-op/competitive shooting experience, it could be a lot of fun. I admit I'm not a huge fan of MOBAs and I've had a hard time getting into many first-person shooters lately, but that may just be gamer fatigue on my part. Maybe Gearbox can amaze and astound us.