14 DAY TRIAL // 
Borderlands holds a special place in my heart, as the hundreds of hours sank into each episode proves it. But one of the best games of the franchise was not even developed by Gearbox, but by Telltale. The adventure game developed by the kings of interactive experiences had all the right ingredients: catchy story, interesting characters, unexpected plot twists all masterfully placed in the world of vault hunters. Now Randy Pitchford is back to once again reproduce success, by copying someone else’s homework.
This time I can’t even be really angry at him, since all the things that happened with Telltale made it very unlikely to see a sequel for Tales from Borderlands. Still, the first trailer from the new game left me with mixed feelings and a bittersweet nostalgia for the original cast. After finishing New Tales from Borderlands, I am glad that I gave the game a chance. Read on to find out what works and what will turn the hardcore fans into raging jabbers.
First and foremost, we have to admit that this game is not in any way or form related to the previous one. The designers made some inexplicable choices, the dialogue is not as witty as was in the case developed by Telltale, the humor definitely took one for the team and some scenes feel superfluous. Yet, as a whole the new game can stand on its own and has plenty moments when it actually is fun and immersive.
From the very first cutscenes that bring back Marcus two things become obvious: the developers know their audience, but they do not know that one of the most important aspect of jokes is timing. Hearing Marcus narrate another story will make every fan feel cozy, warm and gooey inside, but at the same time will make us miss the excellent pacing of the first Tales from Borderlands.
When the story finally takes off from the ground you will realize that the characters themselves are not bad at all and while at first glance they may seem the perfect candidates for a PC campaign – no, it is not about computers – they actually have personalities that will grow on you and the interaction between them is not ruined even by the often-mediocre script. It is refreshing that the developers thought not only of the main characters, but also the secondary ones are more detailed than one would expect.
Another thing that deserves credit is the idea of shaking things up a bit, by inserting in the unending sequences of dialogues and QTEs a few areas that can actually be explored by the player. The execution of this idea though is a bit shaky, only giving you the opportunity to discover collectibles, money needed to buy cosmetics and some short extra dialogues, that with a few exceptions seem lazy.
And while we are talking about laziness, we really have to mention the ton of QTEs that don’t actually add anything. They often feel forced and out of place, especially since they are signaled beforehand on the screen. In order to give a meaning to smashing the buttons in time, the developers invented the so-called Skateboard Score, that influences which of the 5 possible endings you will get. And so do your choices in the dialogue scenes, that influence the relationship between the three main characters.
Being a Gearbox game, there needed to be some collectibles and also cosmetic items. Once again, the keyword seems to be lazy: while the figurines are a true fanservice, the minigame of battle between the most iconic characters of the franchise is nothing but basic, way too simple and lacking any originality. As are the cosmetic items: the developers designed only three variants of clothing for each hero, but by changing the color scheme they ended up creating an entire wardrobe.
The game itself is not very long, even players who want to discover everything will finish this in around 12 hours. It’s a shame that a big part of this is just scenes that feel like filler, unnecessary QTEs, and game mechanics that just don’t feel completely thought out or well-integrated. Yet, at the end New Tales from Borderlands manages to be much better than many other visual novels.
On the visual part things are much better than one would expect from a game using cell-shaded graphics. The motion capture is pretty good, the facial expressions are convincing, and the different locations are full of details. A big round of applause goes out to the actors who bring the characters to life, both visually, and by lending their voices.
The Good
- Great voice acting
- The story is not too shabby
- Graphics look better than expected
The Bad
- Much of the humor is forced or badly paced
- Freedom of choice is just an illusion
- Superfluous QTE and game mechanics
Conclusion
It is like they did their best to distract us from something they felt they needed to hide. And it is a shame really, since the game, leaving aside all the unnecessary distractions, is not bad at all. It is worth exactly one playthrough, more risking to be a waste of time.
Review code provided by the publisher.
