When does Borderlands 2 get good?

Give it 3 hours. In the first 2 hours almost 1 in 3 reviews are negative (29%); after 20h it's 1 in 12 (8%). Fully opens up by hour 20.

How many players finish Borderlands 2?

34% of players who start reach the ending.

All games

ActionRPG

Borderlands 2

Sep 17, 2012 Steam: Very Positive

Give it 3 hours

Gets good by 3h almost every game dips in hours 2–3

Fully opens up by 20h rated like by long-time players

Reach the ending 34% of players who started

Started playing 90% of owners

Steam reviews 90% positive of 312,894

What the data shows

In the first 2 hours almost 1 in 3 reviews are negative (29%); after 20h it's 1 in 12 (8%).
Fully opens up by hour 20.
34% of players who start reach the ending.
The biggest drop-off is between “First One's Free” (Completed the mission "My First Gun") and “Dragon Slayer” (Completed the mission "Best Minion Ever"): from 100% to 80% of starters.
90% of owners got the first achievement.

When it gets good

Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.

before it gets good opening up fully opened up

Based on all 313,616 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 247 reviews: 35.7h for positive, 10.1h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.

Where players quit

Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (89.5% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.

Started playing 100%
First One's Free Completed the mission "My First Gun". 100%
Dragon Slayer Completed the mission "Best Minion Ever". Most players quit here 80% −20
A Road Less Traveled Completed the mission "The Road To Sanctuary". 74% −6
New In Town Completed the mission "Plan B". 71% −3
An Old Flame Completed the mission "Hunting The Firehawk". 66% −5
No Man Left Behind Completed the mission "A Dam Fine Rescue". 58% −7
Wilhelm Screamed Completed the mission "A Train To Catch". 52% −6
Sky's The Limit Completed the mission "Rising Action". 51% −1
Can See My House From Here Completed the mission "Bright Lights, Flying City". 49% −2
Farewell, Old Girl Completed the mission "Wildlife Preservation". 44% −5
Got The Band Back Together Completed the mission "The Once and Future Slab". 42% −2
Identity Theft Completed the mission "The Man Who Would Be Jack". 40% −2
An Angel's Wish Completed the mission "Where Angels Fear To Tread". 38% −2
Bombs Away Completed the mission "Toil And Trouble". 35% −3
Knowing Is Half The Battle Completed the mission "Data Mining". 34% −1
Cool Story, Bro Defeated Jack. 34%

story milestone ending biggest drop-off

Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.

All achievements (75)

story milestone ending side

First One's Free Completed the mission "My First Gun". 100%
Not Quite Dead Reached level 5. 89%
Dragon Slayer Completed the mission "Best Minion Ever". 80%
A Road Less Traveled Completed the mission "The Road To Sanctuary". 74%
New In Town Completed the mission "Plan B". 71%
Better Than You Were Reached level 10. 70%
An Old Flame Completed the mission "Hunting The Firehawk". 66%
No Man Left Behind Completed the mission "A Dam Fine Rescue". 58%
How Do I Look? Unlocked 10 customization items. 56%
Better Than Money Purchased 5 items from the black market. 55%
Friendship Rules Revived someone from "Fight for Your Life!" that is on your friends list. 53%
Build Buster Killed a Constructor without it ever building another bot. 52%
Wilhelm Screamed Completed the mission "A Train To Catch". 52%
Token Gesture Redeemed 25 tokens. 52%
Sky's The Limit Completed the mission "Rising Action". 51%
Can See My House From Here Completed the mission "Bright Lights, Flying City". 49%
Bounty Hunter Completed 20 side missions. 49%
Farewell, Old Girl Completed the mission "Wildlife Preservation". 44%
Got The Band Back Together Completed the mission "The Once and Future Slab". 42%
Always Improving Reached level 25. 42%
Identity Theft Completed the mission "The Man Who Would Be Jack". 40%
An Angel's Wish Completed the mission "Where Angels Fear To Tread". 38%
Well, That Was Easy Completed the mission "Shoot This Guy in the Face". 35%
Bombs Away Completed the mission "Toil And Trouble". 35%
Knowing Is Half The Battle Completed the mission "Data Mining". 34%
Cool Story, Bro Defeated Jack. 34%
Sugar Daddy Tipped Moxxi $10,000. 29%
Cute Loot Killed a Chubby. 29%
Up High, Down Low Gave Claptrap a high five. 24%
Urban Explorer Discovered all named locations in Sanctuary, Opportunity, and Lynchwood. 24%
I Totes Planned That Boss Slew Mister Boney Pants Guy. 20%
Feels Like The First Time Opened the chest at the bus stop in Fyrestone. 20%
High-Flying Hurler Killed a flying enemy with a thrown Tediore weapon. 19%
Went Five Rounds Completed Round 5 of any Circle of Slaughter. 18%
Sabre Rattler Killed 100 enemies with the Sabre turret. 18%
Phased and Confused Phaselocked 100 enemies. 18%
Yaaaaaay Introduced thyself to the White Knight. 18%
Capped Out... For Now Reached level 50. 18%
They Was All "Hey That's Mine" Unsheathed 5 swords from Immortal Skeletaurs without leaving the area. 17%
Shorty, You So Best Completed thy quest by rescuing yonder queen. 15%
Goliath, Meet David Allowed a goliath to level up four times before killing him. 15%
Treasure Hunter Completed the mission "X Marks the Spot". 15%
Explosive Completed the mission "Long Way To The Top". 14%
Decked Out Had Purple-rated gear or better equipped in every slot. 13%
Tribute To A Vault Hunter Got an item from Michael Mamaril. 13%
Keep Rollin' Rollin' Rollin' Demonstrated your skill, or lack thereof, at rolling the magical treasure orb of many sides. 12%
What does it mean? I can't even capture it on my camera. 11%
Thresher Thrashed Defeated Terramorphous the Invincible. 11%
Definitely An Italian Plumber Killed Donkey Mong. 9.8%
Face Off Completed the mission "The Fall of Nakayama". 9.7%
Highlands Explorer Discovered all named locations in The Highlands, Thousand Cuts, and Wildlife Exploitation Preserve. 8.9%
Girl's Gotta Eat Fed thy noble queen 3 times during one visit to her quarters. 8.5%
Anyway, Here's "Firewall" Activate the Backburner's firewall. 8.3%
It's Like That One Video Showed thine worst enemy, the abomination known as "The Darkness", who is the nerdiest of them all. 8.0%
Unseen Predator Remained in Zero's Decepti0n mode for ten seconds straight. 7.0%
3 or Bust Complete the mission "Paradise Found". 6.4%
Arctic Explorer Discovered all named locations in Three Horns, Tundra Express, and Frostburn Canyon. 6.0%
Make it Raaaaaid Vanquished the Ancient Dragons of Destruction. 5.8%
Obsessed Collected 10 pictures of Moxxi in Campaign of Carnage. 5.6%
So Much Blood! Gunzerked continuously for 90 seconds. 5.5%
Blight Explorer Discovered all named locations in Eridium Blight, Arid Nexus, and Sawtooth Cauldron. 5.4%
Chocolate Chip Confirmed Allow Tiny Tina to arm the moonshot cannon. 5.4%
Hmmmmm Wielded the Mysterious Amulet. 4.4%
World Traveler Discovered all named locations. 4.2%
Decrypted! Defeat the Dark Web. 4.1%
Dang Girl You Ace At This Game Won the most challenging round in Murderlin's Temple. 3.8%
Did It All Completed all side missions. 3.1%
Completionist Completed all Pirate's Booty side missions. 2.9%
Been There Discovered all named locations in Hammerlock's Hunt. 2.7%
Gadabout Discovered all named locations in Oasis and the surrounding Pirate's Booty zones. 2.6%
Spicy Boy Defeat Haderax the Invincible. 2.6%
Motorhead Completed all Campaign of Carnage side missions. 2.5%
Done That Completed all Hammerlock's Hunt side missions. 2.3%
Challenge Accepted Completed level 1 of all non-level-specific challenges with a single character. 2.1%
Painbow Connection Equip effervescent-quality gear in all slots (except class mod). 1.3%

Steam page Updated: 2026-10-21.