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Borderlands 3 creative director says he's borrowing from Borderlands' character designs for his new co-op shooter

A new co-op shooter from Ruckus Games, founded by a former Borderlands 3 creative director, draws inspiration from Borderlands' character designs and focuses on everyday hero characters with RPG progression and unique abilities in a currently underserved market.

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The Borderlands series is known for many things, but one perhaps underappreciated aspect of the games is its character designs—something one Borderlands 3 developer has taken inspiration from for his upcoming co-op shooter.

If you haven't heard of Ruckus Games, that's not too surprising as it's a fairly new studio. But with a team boasting talent from the likes of Bethesda and Gearbox, it's a name you'll probably start hearing more often as the as-yet-unnamed co-op shooter they're working on comes closer to fruition. 

One developer who has made the jump from Gearbox is Paul Sage, former creative director of Borderlands 3, and he's keen to ensure that some of that Borderlands magic goes into the character designs of Ruckus' upcoming title. "One of our big things has been the everyday hero angle. I believe in giving people heroes that have some backstory." Sage begins. "So if you imagine the characters have a little bit of background like the characters in Borderlands do, you assume the role of those characters."

Another important aspect of characters, for Sage, is the abilities they have, how they pertain to each character, and how the characters grow throughout a game. "Also note that they will grow. It is RPG growth - they will have different skills that they can use. There's a reason they have these skills even though they don't know it right away."

For Sage and the team at Ruckus, co-op games have been a largely underserved market in recent years, something he credits as a major factor in the success of Helldivers 2 this year. With $19m of funding already secured, Ruckus Games' in-development title is certainly one for co-op fans to keep tabs on.

*If you're looking for some classic co-op action, check out our list of the best Borderlands games. *