So, this is a strange situation indeed. 2K Games, citing “security concerns” over Borderlands 3, only gave a handful of review copies to select outlets. Or rather, they didn’t…
Turns out, these “copies” were actually housed in special Epic Games Store accounts, and access to these accounts were what reviewers got. Instead of a retail copy, this version of Borderlands 3 was a “work-in-progress” that was, reportedly, littered with severe bugs.
Only a few publications, such as Polygon, even made a note of this. The situation seems to go beyond the usual review scenario. Even when debug copies of games were normal for reviewers, they weren’t as unfinished as this build was.
What’s the point of even reviewing that?
Sources: https://www.kotaku.co.uk/2019/09/09/borderlands-3s-review-situation-sure-is-strange
https://www.polygon.com/reviews/2019/9/9/20852642/borderlands-3-review-pc-ps4-xbox-one