SDCC 2015: Taking aim with Battleborn's Marquis

Battleborn is preparing to take up arms later this year, with 2K and Gearbox Software having previously shown the MOBA-inspired first-person shooter during the weeks leading up to E3 2015 and also at the show itself. By now, the E3 demo should look more than familiar to anyone that has been following the game's development. It also looked familiar to Shacknews when we went hands-on once again during San Diego Comic-Con, but this time around, we took to the battlefield with the general public.

While there were no major differences in terms of the content shown, there were some subtle differences that were observed. For one thing, the public generally got the hang of the game quickly and quickly grasped the concept of leveling up every couple of minutes. The MOBA similarities were not lost on them. In fact, the only issue that public players faced were with the game's map and objectives, as there were a few instances where they hit a standstill before realizing where they needed to go next.

The other item to note was that the public generally got the idea of teamwork, but even when acting individually, they were able to make short work of the game's foes. In fact, the Varelsi Conservator was far easier this time around than it was before. While 2K reps noted that the difficulty was toned down, it was still jarring to see just how much easier this big-time foe was to take down than before. A lot of that can likely be attributed to how quickly the public users were able to acclimate themselves to Battleborn's mechanics.

For the purposes of this demo, we grabbed our trusty sniper cane and took to the field as the deadly Marquis d'Caliber. Check out our full playthrough, direct from San Diego Comic-Con, below.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?