I am a moderate “Borderlands” fan, my gateway into the franchise wasn’t even one of their tentpole titles, but in fact my love of games developed from Telltale Games and their release of “Tales From The Borderlands” back in 2014. Since then, Telltale has been going through a bit of turmoil to say the least, but that didn’t stop Gearbox from wanting another go at their spin-off series. Speaking of spin-offs, I got to review Gearbox’s previous title “Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands,” be sure to check it out HERE. So, with no more Telltale to make a story/narrative driven game, Gearbox took it upon themselves to copy the magic of the first with a brand-new story in “New Tales From The Borderlands.” Did they succeed in capturing said magic? For the most part, I’d say so.
This completely new story comes with its own set of completely new characters. There are three main protagonists you get to control; Anu, her brother Octavio, and a funny frozen yogurt shop owner who is stuck in a hoverchair named Fran. Embarking on a new planet these characters are after a vault, pretty much like any story in the franchise, but along the way zany comedy ensues, with some really well-done characterization and an overall fun journey to be had. Not to get into spoilers, but the last chapter of the game wasn’t really my favorite, kind of went a little more out there than I was hoping, but even though narratively it didn’t quite stick the landing, it was still an overall fun ride.
Just like in the first Tales game, this is also divided into five episodes, but unlike the first where we had to wait nearly a month or so in-between episodes, here we get the full-on Netflix binge special and it’s all here for us to enjoy at once. From my time with past Telltale games, I somewhat enjoyed the wait and anticipation for the next installment. With a game that primarily consists of just cutscenes, dialogue options, and QuickTime events, playing for more than a couple hours at a time can be a little exhausting. I am glad they did separate the story into the episodic format, which gives the player a good spot to take a break and continue on later. With each episode taking nearly two hours to complete, it was fairly exhausting for me personally to binge it all to get this review out sooner than later. Depending on your playstyle, consider maybe doing a single episode an evening.
I must say though, Gearbox did a great job mimicking Telltale’s style, but also improving upon it internally. As much as I love their games, Telltale was notorious for having a buggy gameplay experience and frames dropping left and right. With “New Tales From The Borderlands” the experience was nearly 100% clean, I loved it. There isn’t a whole lot to say about this title. You have your usual four dialogue options in conversations, you can sometimes be able to move your character around the map and pick up currency off the ground. Currency in the game is not that essential at all, you can buy some cosmetics with it and that’s about it. There are also some mini-games such as hacking thrown in to try to mix up your experience, but ultimately, they were always super easy and felt like a waste of time. Your choices here also feel less consequential, which was also a bit of a bummer. I don’t think it quite got to the heights of the original, which I still prefer over this one, it still gets pretty up there. With an unfulfilling final episode, it can easily hinder your overall opinion on the game. For me, I still had a great time with this cast of quirky people, if you end up clicking with these characters as well, I’m sure the overall journey will be worth going on.
7.5/10
For more information, please visit newtalesborderlands.com.
Related: Reviews by Nick Navarro
Gaming since I was given an original Nintendo as a kid. I love great storytelling and unique ingenuity. When both collide in a single game, I'm a happy gamer. Twitter/IG @NickNavarro87
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