New Tales From the Borderlands
MSRP $39.99

“New Tales from the Borderlands’ story, characters, and visuals trump a lack of genre innovation.”

Pros

Hilarious story

Relatable and well-acted characters

Movie-quality cinematography

Cons

Minimal gameplay

No components improvements

Telltale Games, the developer that helped outline the choice-driven narrative journey recreation, shut down unexpectedly 4 years in the past. Now, we’re beginning to see follow-ups to a few of the titles that put Telltale on the map, as a number of firms (together with one additionally named Telltale Games) attempt to keep it up the previous developer’s legacy. The first of those video games to launch is the aptly named New Tales from the Borderlands, a successor to the narrative-driven Borderlands spinoff launched between November 2014 and October 2015. While it wasn’t one in all its most profitable video games, the unique Tales from the Borderlands was one in all Telltale’s finest video games as a consequence of wonderful comedic writing and a memorable solid of characters. Now, Gearbox Montreal is attempting to proceed the collection itself.
While New Tales from the Borderlands focuses on a solid of principally new characters, some former Telltale builders who labored on the unique got here on board to convey the sequel to life. The finish result’s a secure, however worthy successor to one in all Telltale’s most interesting works.
Motley crude
Though a pair recognized characters like Rhys reappear in supporting roles, New Tales from the Borderlands principally comply with three new characters. Anu is an Atlas scientist attempting to make a tool with the powers of a Siren. Her brother, Octavio, is attempting to get wealthy fast on the floor of the planet Promethea — and persistently failing. And Fran is a froyo store proprietor struggling to get by and take care of her anger. Their designs and quirky personalities all match proper in with the eclectic solid of Borderlands’ most important characters, and their respective voice actors all do a implausible job bringing them to life.
It’s a stable narrative that grapples with sibling relationships, how companies are likely to destroy greater than they create, and why individuals select the do the fitting factor.

The story begins in a manner that mirrors the unique Tales from the Borderlands, with Anu operating from the key company the place she works. This isn’t a The Force Awakens scenario the place the whole plot mirrors that of its predecessor. For instance, Anu is fired, not demoted, and escapes the Atlas area station after it’s attacked by a rival firm referred to as Tediore that can also be invading Promethea. From there, Anu finally meets up with Octavio and Fran, finds a mysterious crystal with therapeutic properties in a Vault, and tries to alter the world for the higher and take down Tediore with it.
It’s a stable narrative that grapples with sibling relationships, how companies are likely to destroy greater than they create, and why individuals select the do the fitting factor. In typical Telltale trend, the center of the story drags because the characters and story spun their wheels within the third of the sport’s 5 chapters. Still, there are tons of nice character and story beats in the previous few chapters that greater than make up for it — and we get the whole recreation without delay this time round slightly than dished out episodically. Anu, Octavio, and Fran are all relatable in their very own methods, which stored me invested … even after they’d drop a clunker of a joke.
Gearbox Software
This remains to be a Borderlands recreation, even when it trades in taking pictures for narrative decision-making, so there are a variety of violent and crude gags alongside the way in which. Not the entire jokes land — the subtler ones tended to be what made me snort essentially the most — however I used to be by no means delay from taking part in due to dangerous writing. Unless you outright hate Borderlands’ humor (which some individuals do), you’ll discover one thing humorous to chuckle at in New Tales from the Borderlands.
New Tales from the Borderlands risked ruining this collection by specializing in a totally completely different set of characters and probably not following up its predecessor in any respect. Thankfully, Gearbox Montreal proves that the Borderlands universe remains to be stuffed with distinctive and fascinating tales to inform, whether or not it does so in a first-person shooter or narrative journey recreation format.
Utilizing Telltale’s instruments
By the time the studio shut down in 2018, Telltale’s video games had settled right into a standardized components that was getting outdated. Its video games shuffle between cinematic confrontations and conversations the place gamers are often introduced with four-option decisions, quick-time occasions, and journey game-like segments the place gamers can stroll round and examine small open areas. New Tales From The Borderlands doesn’t do an excessive amount of to deviate from that components. In truth, it deemphasizes a lot of the gameplay. Segments the place gamers stroll round typically boil all the way down to a few apparent object interactions and button presses which can be even less complicated than in Telltale’s older titles.
I’d suggest New Tales from the Borderlands to followers of the unique and people craving for a really conventional Telltale-like expertise.

Hacking and gun-slapping minigames may even be skipped fully. The Vaultlanders dueling minigame tries so as to add some depth to the gameplay with its figurine battles, however it simply consists of mashing a button and dodging when a quick-time occasion pops up. New Tales from the Borderlands is intent on getting essentially the most out of the “narrative” a part of Telltale’s narrative journey components and doesn’t take any gameplay dangers. It’s a bit disappointing and off should you’ve performed many of those video games, because it doesn’t attempt to evolve or redefine the narrative journey recreation in any fascinating methods. That’s one space the place these Telltale successors must enhance in the event that they wish to keep related and entice new gamers.
Thankfully, it’s good at what it does. The cinematography of Tales of the Borderlands matches what one would count on from a great TV present or film, with inventive shot decisions that intensify the character or motion moments. There’s no want to fret about a few of Telltale’s signature technical points getting in the way in which due to a shift to Unreal Engine 4. While Telltale Games advised implausible tales, its proprietary Telltale Tool recreation engine made for some janky experiences. Its video games at all times had a little bit of a clunky really feel, with some tough animation and jitteriness when going from shot to shot. That’s all polished away right here, as Gearbox Montreal is as a substitute utilizing a recreation engine that’s even utilized by filmmakers.

New Tales from the Borderlands appears to be like identical to Borderlands 3, solely the way in which the gamers work together with the sport and world is far completely different right here. That’s simply fantastic, as technical issues are one a part of Telltale’s legacy that I’m OK with abandoning.
This recreation doesn’t push the needle ahead for the style a lot; most gameplay exterior of quick-time occasions is pretty negligible. Still, due to entertaining writing, sturdy characters and performances, and a special recreation engine that permits extra seamless cinematography, I’d suggest New Tales from the Borderlands to followers of the unique and people craving for a really conventional Telltale-like expertise. Hopefully, different Telltale successors like Star Trek: Resurgence, The Wolf Among Us 2, and The Expanse: A Telltale Series reside as much as the usual New Tales from the Borderlands units.
New Tales from the Borderlands was reviewed on PC with a code supplied by 2K Games.

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