14 DAY TRIAL // 
Gearbox Software does not have a spotless track record, their biggest success remaining the Borderlands series, the OG looter shooter. It seems like the variety show led by Randy Pitchford learned the harsh lesson of Battleborn and instead of risking something completely new, the developers added enough of a spin to their most successful formula to pass it on as a fresh, new experience.
Because make no mistake, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is a Borderlands game through and through, with an ironic take on tabletop games, just enough to dust off the looter shooter formula. This means that the game delivers the quality level you are already used to if you are a fan of the series, but also comes with the same shortcomings, bugs and frustrations you experienced while hunting for vaults on Pandora.
But that also means that you will have the same good time in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands exploring a whacky story, with familiar characters while hunting for better equipment. It continues the idea of a Borderlands 2 DLC, that puts the annoying teenage girl with a dangerous fetish for explosives in the dungeon master chair, spinning a pseudo-medieval tale filled with guns and mayhem.
The new game expands on the original concept, and does it much better, replacing the doom and gloom dungeon crawling with a shiny and colorful tabletop experience, that has more shades than the rainbow. As a result, Bunkers and Badasses the game you will be part of does not rely in any way on Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon's Keep, except the basic idea. It is full of the irreverent humor you got used to in Borderlands with even more obvious references and even wackier guest appearances.
But every journey starts with a first step, in case of a classic RPG that being the character creation. The process in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is unexpectedly detailed, the game offering plenty of customization options for the looks of your hero, as well as six classes, several back stories and different abilities to support different play styles. The classes are trying to mock the classic rules with names like Brr-Zerker, Stabbomancer or Graveborn.
Each of the six classes is a quite interesting mix of the classic tabletop roles. For example, the Clawbringer can be best described as a combination of fighter and ranger. Their most important stats are Strength that increases the critical damage and Constitution, that increases max HP. At the same time, she comes to the party accompanied by a Wyvern companion, that can become a true master of disaster on the battlefield since it benefits from the fire and lightning elemental affinity of the class.
Your class choice will have an influence on your playstyle: Stabbomancer is the one for those who prefer stealth, while the Brr-zerker is the true melee class. At a certain point in the game, you will be able to take on a second specialization that will allow to mix and match the passive and active skills of the six classes.
The result gives a lot of flavors to the basic formula of shooting everything that moves and then gathering the loot. Still, this does not do wonders for co-op: there are no real synergies among the classes, and they are not associated with any specific roles that could complement each other.
The gameplay is almost exactly the same as Borderlands, fans will be right at home. The biggest difference is the presence of the Overworld, which is a Borderlands style representation of the tabletop game world, that you will be able to completely explore as you advance in the story and discover new special abilities that allow you to see invisible bridges or pass-through fire walls. Exploring the world full of giant cheese puffs, bottlecaps, random encounters and dungeons is a truly fun addition to the game.
Once you enter an encounter you know what to expect: you will be mainly shooting at anything that moves using an arsenal adapted to the imaginary game of the world. For example, assault rifles fire arrows instead of bullets, the shield is replaced by a magic wand and special abilities are substituted by dark magic spells.
The usual upgrade process was kept in place as well: you have to gather more and more money so you can unlock extra inventory space, extra ammo carrying or extra bank slots. Some of these weapons continue with the crazy ideas of Gearbox: like the weapons that in the moment of reloading turn into fairies hitting your enemies with magic missiles.
The weapons remain one of the best features of the game. When you find you really like it will be hard to let it go when you discover one with better stats. And you will find plenty of them, since despite its fantasy setting, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is a looter shooter. The classification of the items remained the same, ranging from white commons to golden legendary weapons and armor. They also kept the mechanic from Borderlands 3 where you can recover the dropped rare and better items at your base that you missed while being busy navigating the surrounding mayhem.
There are also some changes that ease your life, like the ability to teleport anytime back to the capital city to sell or stash your loot. Using a conveniently places portal than you can go back right to the point where you left from to continue the action.
Most of the main locations are even bigger than the ones in Borderlands 3, and with the same scarcity when it comes to placing vending machines, this feature comes in extra handy. The only exception are the random encounters in the Overworld where you are tasked with eliminating a certain number of opponents, that you cannot leave until you finish them, or you die.
Being so similar to Borderlands that means the game inherited the same shortcomings: the shooting in looting in huge environments can become a bit repetitive, and sometimes you will feel the need for a break. Still, it will need north of 20 hours to finish the main content, and that number more than doubles if you want to do everything that it has to offer.
Also, the cell shaded graphics and the loud colors are not doing the best job covering up the fact that the engine is quite old, and the animations seem outdated. Under the new skins of the enemies and the weapons you will recognize the style that started with the first Borderlands in 2009.
The Good
- Very good voice acting
- Solid story and whacky quests
- The Overworld is a welcome new mechanic
The Bad
- Annoying glitches and technical issues
- Random encounters become boring very quick
- The graphic engine needs an overhaul
Conclusion
The voice acting is the best up to date, with a tremendous performance from actors like Will Arnett. Tina’s voice is Ashly Burch, who gives a very different performance here compared to Horizon’s Alloy. Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands has plenty of issues and there is room for improvement, but it is a good game with plenty to keep you entertained.
Review code provided by the publisher.
