The game, a full game promises Pitchford, is being written by Gearbox writers including Anthony Burch along with a team of writers in Australia.
Because the game isn't Borderlands 3, there is less of an emphasis on new technology and a new look, and more of one on the game's story, Burch said.
"I thought, OK, well what's a story that exists within our current universe that will make sense?' and we found this by space between Borderlands 1 and Borderlands 2," he said. "Why not tell Jack's story in a way that makes him a little bit more sympathetic and maybe the hunters from the other two games a little bit less sympathetic to sort of push the game's dark tone a little bit further because for all of its jokes, not taking itself seriously, the Borderlands games are kind of about not super awesome people. Like, they're dudes who murder people and take stuff from their bodies, and we laugh about it because it's funny and it's a dark humor kind of world, but we thought, Well, OK, if we're going to do something that's this gen rather than next gen, that gives us license to take more risks.'"
That mix of writers, Burch said, will also hopefully produce a wider variety of comedy in the game.
"It's Australian gags for the most part, which is a very different sort of sensibility, a very English sensibility compared to our very westernized, farts and screaming at the player kind of thing," Burch said.
The team decided early on that it would also be fun to essentially make the inhabitants of the moon Australians.
"That just became the rule," Pitchford said.
Among the voice talent the 2K Australian team brought on is Bruce Spence, the New Zealand actor who is best known for his role as the gyro pilot in Max Max 2 and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.
"We definitely have a lot of Australian culture to tap into, and the Borderlands world is kind of perfect to do that," 2K Australia's Lawrence said. "There's definitely that kind of variance of the American humor, British humor, Australian humor, and there's also Dickensian kind of side missions in there. There's cricket side mission in there."
