Gearbox Software finally dropped the teaser at Opening Night Live, and the internet basically melted. But amidst all the frame-by-frame analysis of Eridian runes and Handsome Jack's possible (if unlikely) return, a weirdly specific term started bubbling up in the EchoNet: Borderlands 4 cricket jumping.
It sounds like a glitch. Or maybe a new movement mechanic? Honestly, if you’ve spent any time in the speedrunning community for Borderlands 2 or The Pre-Sequel, you know that "jumping" in these games is never just pressing a button. It’s an art form. It’s physics-breaking madness.
Let's be clear: Gearbox hasn't officially put a "Cricket Jump" button in the settings menu. However, the community is already dissecting the teaser's physics and the history of "grenade jumping" to predict how verticality will work in the fourth installment.
The History of "Jumping" the System
Movement has always been the secret sauce of the franchise. Remember the "clamber" mechanic in Borderlands 3? It changed everything. Suddenly, we weren't just clunky vault hunters hitting invisible walls; we were parkour masters. But the hardcore players wanted more. They wanted speed.
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Enter the concept of the "cricket jump." In gaming lingo, specifically within high-mobility shooters, a cricket jump usually refers to a specific type of rapid, directional leap that mimics—you guessed it—a cricket. It’s about low-profile, high-velocity bursts.
In the context of Borderlands 4 cricket jumping, the speculation stems from a few frames in the announcement trailer where we see what looks like advanced traversal tech. Look, the Borderlands engine has always been a modified Unreal setup. We’ve seen "pogo jumping" with launchers and "drunk jumping" with the Grog Nozzle. If Borderlands 4 introduces a native "cricket" style dash-jump, it would likely be a refinement of the slide-jumping we saw in the previous game.
Why Everyone is Obsessed with Movement Mechanics
Gamers are tired of slow walking. We want to fly.
If you look at the current state of hero shooters and looter shooters, movement is the skill gap. Apex Legends has tap-strafing. Destiny 2 has well-skating. If Gearbox wants to keep Borderlands 4 relevant in 2026 and beyond, they need a "breakout" movement mechanic.
Borderlands 4 cricket jumping represents that hope. It’s the idea that we can use the environment and our character's innate physics to bypass the boring parts of a map. Think about the scale of the planets we've visited. Pandora is huge. Promethea is dense. Having a way to "cricket jump" across rooftops would fundamentally change how we approach combat encounters. It’s not just about getting from A to B; it’s about the "Death from Above" bonuses and the kinetic energy you bring into a fight.
Is it a Mechanic or a Glitch?
Usually, these things start as bugs.
Take "Salvador Rocket Jumping" from the second game. Gearbox didn't explicitly design the Badaboom to launch you across the Thousand Cuts map. But once they saw people doing it, they didn't patch it out. They embraced it. That’s the "Borderlands Way."
If Borderlands 4 cricket jumping turns out to be a deliberate mechanic, we’re likely looking at a gear-based system. Maybe a specific Oz Kit-style relic? Or a class-specific perk for a character who thrives on agility? We’ve had sirens who fly and assassins who vanish. A "Cricket" class—someone small, twitchy, and capable of massive leaps—would fit the chaotic energy of the series perfectly.
Breaking Down the Physics
Let’s get technical for a second.
In most modern shooters, "jump height" is a fixed variable. To achieve a cricket jump, you need a "variable impulse." This means the jump isn't just a vertical move; it’s a vector. If you’re moving at 15 meters per second and you initiate a jump while crouching, the engine has to decide how to conserve that momentum.
In the teaser, there’s a moment where a mechanical arm picks up a Psycho mask. The physics of the debris falling around it looks more refined than anything we saw in the previous engine. If the environmental physics are more reactive, it stands to reason that player physics are too.
How to Prepare for Advanced Traversal
If you're planning on mastering Borderlands 4 cricket jumping the moment the game drops, you need to start practicing your "slide-canceling" and "air-strafing" in the older titles.
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Here is the thing: Gearbox likes to iterate. They don't just throw away old code; they build on it. The slide-jump from Borderlands 3 was a huge leap (literally) from the static jumping of the original games.
- Experiment with low-gravity zones in The Pre-Sequel to get a feel for air control.
- Revisit the 'Slippery When Wet' mechanics in various DLCs to understand momentum.
- Watch the speedrunners. They are the ones who will find the "cricket jump" first.
Honestly, the "cricket jump" might just be a nickname given by a specific group of testers, but it’s caught fire. It symbolizes a shift away from the "boots on the ground" feel toward something more kinetic.
The Gearbox Response
While Randy Pitchford and the team have been relatively tight-lipped, they’ve dropped hints about "unprecedented scale." You can't have unprecedented scale without the means to navigate it. If the maps are three times larger, we can't just be jogging.
We’ve seen vehicles, sure. But vehicles are loud and they get stuck. A personal movement tech—something that feels like a cricket’s snap—is much more suited for the "looting" part of the game. Imagine seeing a legendary chest on a high ledge and, instead of looking for a staircase, you just "cricket jump" off a nearby barrel and snag it.
That’s the dream, right?
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Why the Name "Cricket"?
It’s all about the legs.
In the lore, we’ve seen plenty of cybernetic augmentations. The "Cricket" might be a brand of leg augments manufactured by Tediore or Vladof. "Tediore Crickets: Cheap, Fast, and Guaranteed to Snap!" It sounds exactly like a line of flavor text you’d find on a rare piece of loot.
Actionable Steps for the Borderlands Community
Don't just sit there waiting for a new trailer. If you want to be ahead of the curve when Borderlands 4 cricket jumping becomes the meta, do this:
- Monitor the Unreal Engine 5 movement showcases. Since Borderlands 4 is widely expected to utilize UE5, any "jump-dash" mechanics native to the engine are likely to show up in the game.
- Analyze the "Mantle" speed. In BL3, the speed at which you grabbed a ledge was tied to your movement speed. If the new game allows you to "cancel" a mantle into a jump, that’s your cricket jump right there.
- Check the character reveals. Look for the "Small Guy." There’s always one character whose entire kit is built around not getting hit. That’s your primary candidate for the jump.
- Join the Discord servers. The "Borderlands Science" community is already looking at the code of the recent updates to see if any movement variables have been shifted in preparation for the new engine integration.
We're looking at a release window that feels ages away, but the mechanics are being baked in right now. Whether Borderlands 4 cricket jumping is a literal button or a clever use of physics, it’s going to be the difference between a casual player and a Vault Hunter who truly owns the wasteland.
Stay twitchy. Keep your FOV high. And for the love of everything, stop just walking everywhere. The "cricket" is coming, and you don't want to be the one left crawling in the dust of Pandora.