Set between the first two titles in Gearbox Software's popular shoot-and-loot series, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! tells the story of Handsome Jack's rise to power, and puts gamers in charge of one of his four henchmen. Players can choose from the Gladiator Athena, the Enforcer Wilhelm, Nisha the Lawbringer, or Claptrap, the wisecracking Fragtrap robot, and guide them around Pandora's moon Elpis. As always, up to four gamers battle hordes of enemies, collect scores of different weapons and shields, and upgrade their characters as they gain loot and experience.

The cold, low-gravity environments of Elpis and the Hyperion Corporation's Helios space station enable a variety of new gameplay features in The Pre-Sequel!. Characters possess an oxygen tank when outside of regularly oxygenated areas, and the tank slowly depletes, forcing players to seek out oxygen geysers, generators, or canisters that drop from fallen enemies. The low gravity also means gamers can travel much further when leaping, albeit rather slowly, and they can even vent their oxygen tanks to get a jetpack-like boost. Other new features include laser weapons, a Cryo elemental damage modifier that freezes enemies, and ground pound melee attacks.