11 years after it shut down, the Borderlands MMO is playable once again due to fan efforts

Credit: EpicNNG Published Oct 5, 2026, 12:35 PM EDT Simon is a Computer Science BSc graduate who has been writing about technology since 2014, and using Windows machines since 3.1. After working for an indie game studio and acting as the family's go-to technician for all computer issues, he found his passion for writing and decided to use his skill set to write about all things tech. Since beginning his writing career, he has written for many different publications such as WorldStart, Listverse, and MakeTechEasier. However, after finding his home at MakeUseOf in February 2019, he would eventually move on to its sister site, XDA, to bring the latest and greatest in Windows, Linux, and DIY electronics. Sign in to your XDA account Summary Fans restored the cancelled Borderlands Online and made an English playable build. They redid graphics for English localization; expect bugs but offline play is possible. Team warns of many bugs and server issues; claims no generative AI was used. Remember the good ol' days when you and your friends would play the Borderlands MMORPG for hours on end? Me neither; in fact, I'd be surprised if anyone reading this article had heard of it, let alone played it. However, you can now fix that by playing this fan-made restoration of an MMO that people didn't have much of a chance to play. The Borderlands MMO is now unofficially back, in English this time It's still a little buggy, though As spotted by GamesRadar, the MMO that got canned 11 years ago, Borderlands Online, has been unofficially restored by fans. If you don't remember such a title ever existing, there's a good reason for that; it never made it to market, and was developed entirely in Chinese. From what I could see, there were a handful of closed betas, meaning there's a chance that someone, somewhere, managed to play this title before it was scrapped. It never made it to release. Back in 2026, EpicNNG announced on X that they had gotten their hands on a build for Borderlands Online. Fast-forward to today, and they have managed to get Borderlands Online up and running with an English translation, including having to redo all the graphics to fit the new language. EpicNNG warns that people should expect a ton of bugs, broken stuff, and server problems, but they do say you can play it offline if you prefer that. They also claim they used no generative AI, which is surprising, given the sheer number of ports and remixes we've seen of classic games thanks to LLM coding. If you'd like to learn more, head over to the unofficial Borderlands Online website for all the details, including a link to the project's Discord server.