Borderlands 4 roadmap: Pearlescents, cross‑saves and level cap increases planned for 2026

On January 29, Gearbox pushed a major Borderlands 4 update across PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC and published a 2026 roadmap that teases several significant additions, including level cap increases and cross-platform saves. The January 29 patch adds a long-requested photo mode alongside a host of tweaks, changes and fixes.

The new photo mode lets players capture cinematic images of combat and the game’s open world. In a blog post, Gearbox reconfirmed that Pearlescents — a higher loot rarity from past games — will be added when the first expansion, "Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned," arrives in March.

Gearbox said players will be able to find Pearlescents without buying the DLC, and the expansion will also add a new Vault Hunter called C4SH. Gearbox also said it is working on three highly requested features that will arrive in 2026, though the studio did not share release dates: level cap increases for “all players,” cross-platform saves to allow switching between platforms without restarting a character, and an option to share open-world progression (backpack slots, discovered Vault Fragments, vehicle unlocks) across characters.

The studio promised more free events and additional endgame content, including a new raid boss and a super-hard Takedown mission slated for Q2 2026 (previously teased for Q4).

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