A Borderlands title with humour I actually enjoy? It can't be!
It’s no secret that I’m a bit joke-averse when it comes to the Borderlands franchise. Hell, I’m a bit gameplay-averse when it comes right down to it, something that’s kept me away from the franchise’s core trilogy and had me feeling a bit dismayed with spin-offs like Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands. Narrative-driven, visual novel-style titles, though? They’re right up my alley.
While I hadn’t played Tales from the Borderlands, I’ve heard nothing but great things about it; specifically, Telltale’s take on Gearbox’s world is known to generally to avoid the things I dislike about the franchise while providing a great in to it. Speaking to the developer behind New Tales from the Borderlands — the folks over at Gearbox Studio Québec this time around — I was told the same was true for this new iteration; no knowledge of the larger Borderlands world would be needed; the sequel-but-not was looking to forge its own path and not be a carbon copy of the shooter it’s known for. While that certainly applies to its gameplay loop, it does too to its larger sense of humour.
Set on the planet Promethea one year after the events of Borderlands 3 — not that I really knew that, nor do you need to — New Tales begins a very slow burn intro to get you acquainted with its three playable characters. Dr Anuradha Dhar, or Anu, is a brilliant yet repressed scientist who works for a major arms dealer but dreams of creating devices for pacifists. Her brother Octavio is a bit of a street rat, a quasi-slacker who dreams of fame and fortune while half-assing it at Fran’s Frogurt Shop. Our final protagonist is Fran of said establishment, a bitchin’ customer service representative with a freeze ray-powered wheelchair and a lot of anger management issues.
Long introduction short, they’re all having very terrible bad days.
After Anu’s terminated from Atlus, a rival corporation named Tediore not only commits a hostile takeover of the company, but an invasion of Promethea to boot. This turn of fate causes our heroes to band together and fight their oppressors, taking to Vaults, gameshows and more to fuel not only the rebellion, but their dreams. While the pacing of said adventures can sometimes fall flat — some sequences are recapped by an off-screen narrator before the characters themselves feel the need to drop a bunch of similar exposition — the sheer quality of New Tales‘ voice acting and on-screen animations mostly make up for the lulls.
New Tales‘ humour is largely polished, sharp and far less juvenile than anything I’ve experienced in a Borderlands tale to date. The only real exceptions to this are the Claptrap-like robots that — thankfully — never get as annoying or repetitive as the yellow monster, though a couple come very close. Side-character L0U13 — also the game’s cover star — is technically a robot but is dripping both personality and a campy, bitchy attitude that I could eat up with a spoon.
As a narrative-driven title, New Tales‘ actual gameplay loop is relatively simple. Most sequences will simply guide your playable character at the time to their next objective, with some light quicktime events popping up along the way. I didn’t have trouble playing on default settings; a prompt first appears to let you know that an input will soon be required, and then will consist of a directional prompt, a button press, a button hold, a repeated button press or some combination of those options.
Some prompts make perfect sense within the action taking place, though others still seem to just be inserted so you remember you’re playing and not just watching something. Like its pacing, there are some engagement peaks and valleys found within New Tales that could have been smoothed out for a more enjoyable experience.
New Tales does offer up accessibility options to those who require or prefer something different, and that same inclusive approach obviously extends to its cast of characters and mentalities. Incredibly simple to implement, yet meaning the world for the groups they represent, inclusive language and options were a highlight of Tiny Tina and remain so in this.
Other visual novels mainstays are of course present within New Tales too — you’ll occasionally be forced to make a decision at a fork in the road, and your choice will have some small impact on the way the story plays out. Other sequences will also have you exploring a small area of Promethea, generally with the ability to employ a scanner to help identify objects that you can interact with. While some objects are necessary for progression, others merely provide additional flavour to the world; others still provide Vaultlanders toys or the actual ability to engage in a Vaultlanders fight with an NPC.
Vaultlanders fights are silly, but not overly so — they’re relatively easy to take part in but are awash with humour and the ability to earn yet another shiny collectible for your mantle. Alongside the ability to slap your gun device, they largely round out the experiences you’ll be having.
While I certainly can’t speak as a Borderlands aficionado, I can earnestly say that I enjoyed the tale of Anu, Fran and Ock. I’m sure there’s more to be gleaned by those with an intricate knowledge of Borderlands 3, but Gearbox Québec was right in that this can certainly serve as a standalone. There’s a lot to love here for fans of the franchise and fans of the genre alike… provided you have room in your heart, and schedule, this time of the year.
New Tales from the Borderlands heads to Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, PS4, PS5 and Switch from 21 October.
New Tales from the Borderlands was reviewed using a promotional code on Windows PC via Steam, as provided by the publisher. Click here to learn more about Stevivor’s scoring scale.
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