For a game with so many strong personalities, Battleborn somehow lacks a cohesive identity. Every facet from the characters to the progression to the visual presentation feels overloaded with ideas–some good, some bad, some just confusing. Because it throws so much against the wall, the end result is a scattered grabbag of manic gameplay, complex leveling, and cartoony humor. It vacillates wildly between excitement and predictability, innovation and routine, inspiration and incomprehensibility. In short, Battleborn is fun but messy, and while I appreciate its hyper-stimulating approach, parsing the experience underneath can be maddeningly tricky.

The best example of Battleborn’s deep-seated identity crisis is its massive 25-character roster. Though technically a first-person shooter, the game’s heroes utilize all sorts of preset weapons, abilities, and roles that pull from every influence imaginable. There’s a longbow-wielding wood elf, a penguin piloting …