Has Borderlands Gone To Cel-Shaded Graphics?

Those active on the forums know that some major stuff has gone down in the past 24 hours. First, came word that Gearbox has broken their long silence on Borderlands and is sharing details in an upcoming issue of PC Gamer.

Second came this image (thanks JohnnyMac). Although there’s no confirmation, the general consensus here and on the official Gearbox forums is that it is of Borderlands. I e-mailed Gearbox tonight to hopefully get some info.

The pic looks legit but comes as a shock. It's a radically different style than we’ve seen before. Previous screenshots depicted a gritty, rugged gameworld. The alleged new one is less realistic and more stylized. Reads a caption on the image: “Looks like a panel from a comic book. It's, in fact, a screenshot.”

Basically, it looks like the game has switched to cel-shaded graphics. For those not familiar with the term, Wikipedia’s definition.

“Cel-shaded animation is a type of non-photorealistic rendering designed to make computer graphics appear to be hand-drawn.”

The above image, from the Wikipedia article, gives you an idea of cel-shaded graphics on the right.

This would jive with something we heard earlier. Remember the Gearbox play tester that broke his NDA and tweeted about the game?

He compared the game to Crackdown. We were all like WTF? Where did that comparison come from. Crackdown used comic-book-esque semi-cell shaded graphics.

JohnnyMac and Stealth Pirate have already started up a pretty good conversation regarding their reservations on this direction. I’m going to withhold any judgment for now. First, I want confirmation that its true. Second, I want to see a lot more than one scan.

UPDATE A post from the Gearbox community manager Ennui on the official forums confirms the shift in the game's aesthetics. 

Ennui: Though there's always the chance some people could be turned off by the style, it was decided that, overall, it fits the game and creates a more visually interesting experience. Our concept art had this incredible, distinctive style and feel that fit so perfectly - the game has not become less detailed or washed out at all.

Rather, it retains the detail and style that's often lost when we move from concept art to 3D. It stands out, and makes the gray-and-brown bleak landscapes, while still bleak and inhospitable, memorable and recognizable. The entire world has life to it, from the creatures to the very rocks and dirty walls.

UPDATE 2

Gearbox got back to me on this story. You can see the quote from Randy Pitchford here. The game has not switched to cel-shaded animation but the artistic style has definitely changed.

For more updates on Borderlands, subscribe to our RSS feed here.