Borderlands 3 Solo: My Greatest Challenge

***I decided to start my solo run as Zane the Operative***

It's September 2019 and I have finally been able to return home to Pandora. Gearbox Software has just released Borderlands 3.

I have a long history of vault hunting in Pandora, usually accompanied by a gunslinging, swear shouting, Psycho quoting companion or two. To be honest, I'm a bit afraid to find out how many hours I put into Borderlands and Borderlands 2 (I didn't personally put much time into the Pre-Sequel - I just wasn't feeling it.)

I played Borderlands 3 for just a couple hours before bed on September 12 when it launched early on the Epic Games Store. I immediately felt like I was reunited with an old friend.

Although I can no longer play Gaige to melt bandits with full anarchy stacks and some help from my companion Deathtrap, after just 2-3 hours of gameplay my mind went into full Borderlands mode. The next day I woke up to the following message:

As you can imagine, I couldn't wait for the weekend so I could dive into Pandora, kill some bandits, collect the loot, and see my good friends Lilith, Mordecai, and Brick among others. I was going to speed through the game on my first go so I can get to the REAL playthroughs.

At least that was the plan.

The plan did not work out.

I sat down on Sunday to start up a solo game and I have made absolutely no progress because I keep getting roped into Photo Mode. Let me start by saying Pandora is beautiful.

In single player, Photo Mode lets you freeze time and tweak settings to capture the perfect image of what is happening in the game.

As interested as I am in the Borderlands 3 story, I can't pull myself away. Every combat sequence I'm popping into photo mode to see if I can get a cool shot. Even during story dialogue, I find my mind wandering trying to get a good capture

There have been plenty of fights where I died because I thought it was more important to play the role of Peter Parker.

While the in-game Photo Mode is absolutely no Photoshop, it does provide several options including Field of View, Vignette, Filters, and even focus depth.

I shamefully admit that it took me a while to realize that it was taking a screenshot so the HUD wasn't automatically removed. I also had to figure out where the images were saving so I could preview them (/user/documents/my games/borderlands 3/saved/screenshots/ thanks Google search!)

Once I figured that out, the REAL fun and addiction began. I have always been interested in Photography. I went out and bought a DSLR, I experimented a bit, but never quite got the experiences I was into.

Being able to take the hobby into one of my favorite universes has been an absolute treat and I am so distracted that I don't expect I will ever finish the Single Player campaign.

Note: You can still use Photo Mode when playing multiplayer, but the action doesn't stop so better make sure you're somewhere safe!

Here is a gallery of some of my favorite shots

I love that it feels like I'm really taking pictures and that the captured images do so well in telling a story. I'd love to see someone come up with their own Borderlands stories using just the in game photo mode and some creativity.

I'm going to keep playing Borderlands 3, but it will definitely be at a snail's pace because Pandora is beautiful. There are MANY exciting moments to be documented and captured.

If you're looking to see my time in Pandora, make sure you follow me on Twitch and subscribe to the GetJolted channel on Youtube.

How are you liking Borderlands 3? Let me know in the comments section. Have you tried out the Photo Mode at all? If so, please share your shots I'd love to see them. Feel free