As I was playing Borderlands 4, which launches on September 12 on consoles and PC, I stumbled across an area that made me do a double-take. In the western part of the game’s massive open world is a location marked as “Embracer’s Bluff.” Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Okay, so a little bit of history to help explain why an area named Embracer’s Bluff in a newly released Gearbox game caught my attention. Feel free to skip this paragraph if you know the story. For everyone else: Starting around 2019, the company that bought up THQ’s remains, began a wild acquisition spree and, in the span of three years, bought up game studios like Gearbox, Aspyr, and Saber while also nabbing control of franchises like Tomb Raider, Saints Row, and The Lord of the Rings. Embracer quickly became one of the largest publishers in the industry, though it also canceled projects and laid people off in the process. And then it all collapsed around them in late 2023 after a massive deal fell apart. Since then, more games have been canned, more people have lost their jobs, some studios died, and a lucky few escaped the maw of the company formerly known as Embracer. Gearbox was one of those lucky few. In March 2024, Embracer sold Gearbox and Borderlands to 2K for less than half of what it paid originally.
So now you know why a location named Embracer’s Bluff caught my eye. Bluff can mean a few things, including lying or being dishonest about something. Bluffing in poker means betting as if you have a better hand than you really do. So the combo of Embracer with bluff raised my eyebrow.
So what’s at Embracer’s Bluff in Borderlands 4? Well, you’ll find a small, ramshackle town that is squeezed into an area near some constantly spawning creatures that fly about and attack you. It’s not a nice place to be. The town itself has two side quests connected to it. One involves a vending machine that kills a person trying to buy something from it. Another one involves an evil, AI-powered talking toilet that everyone hates. During that quest, as you help the town get rid of it, you talk to Embracer’s Bluff’s king mayor, who is a weird dude chilling in a hot tub, located in a room that contains a large crown and some sex toys. And in the middle of the town is a big trash pile that people dig through.
I’ll let you connect the dots and make assumptions about whether this location is a jab at Embracer or its name is just an interesting coincidence. Kotaku has contacted Gearbox about the location.
To be clear, Borderlands 4′s map is massive and filled with named locations, but not all of them have side quests, let alone two. And none of them share a name with a company that previously owned Gearbox. And let’s also not forget that Gearbox CEO and co-founder Randy Pitchford has claimed that Embracer’s ownership of the studio directly inspired the game’s story about an evil, powerful god-like figure that controls everything and hates freedom. So all I’m saying is: Hmmmmmm.