Borderlands 3 moves the franchise along, but it isn't a massive evolution of the ideas that have driven the series since the first game landed in 2009. Essentially, Borderlands 3 feels like a huge, late chunk of DLC for Borderlands 2.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing. Instead of building up online modes, Gearbox focused on expanding the narrative in Borderlands 3, adding depth to the universe in a literal way. The game introduces the Calypso twins, havoc-loving killers with a shared god complex and plans to harvest the life out of as many creatures as possible. To stop them, players have to go interstellar -- this is the first Borderlands game to include intergalactic travel, taking players outside of the Pandora system via hyper-drive. Home base in Borderlands 3 is a big ol' spaceship, where players can store extra loot, visit some favorite characters and display their trophies.

However, Gearbox isn't ready for people to go hands-on with Borderlands in Space just yet. The first, 90-minute demo for the game stayed securely on Promethea. This planet is the headquarters of Atlas Corporation, which is at war with fellow weapons manufacturer, Maliwan Corporation (more war means more guns, after all).

During the demo, I tried out two new heroes, the siren Amara and the soldier Zane. Every character in the game has three action skills to choose from, rather than the traditional two. Amara's are called Phaseslam, Phasegrasp and Phasecast. I picked Phasecast, an ability that shoots Amara's spectral form in a single direction, damaging any enemies in its path. Phasecast doesn't travel through objects; it stops once it hits a barrier or wall, encouraging players to move around the environments and find the best angles of attack.

With three guns, a handful of grenades and Phasecast in my back pocket, I found Amara to be an incredibly capable character. Borderlands revels in having players fight contained swarms of tenacious enemies, and she handled them deftly every time (except for the moment I blew her up with an ill-placed grenade).

Shooting in Borderlands 3 felt like butter. Gearbox added a ton of new weapons, including a gun that turns into a throwable turret upon reload, and some that switch between elemental-damage types, inflicting radiation poisoning one moment and incendiary pain the next, for example. Zooming in with any gun seemed to activate a subtle auto-lock feature, though the demo was contained to Easy mode, so it's unclear if that will carry across all difficulty levels.