For the vast majority of the 2010s, Telltale Games was largely known as a narrative adaptation developer, bringing the worlds of comic books and TV shows into interactive episodic experiences that featured dialogue choices that shaped the story and plenty of quick-time events. From its critically-acclaimed first season of The Walking Dead to later projects that revolved around Batman, The Wolf Among Us and Game of Thrones, Telltale had seemingly found a way to bring the simple joy of point and click adventure games into the modern era. The team also tried its hand at a few adaptations of other video games, including Minecraft: Story Mode andTales from the Borderlands, which drew in fans that saw the appeal of those respective worlds but didn’t click with the survival or RPG shooter gameplay of the games that inspired them. While the Gearbox-developed Borderlands stories may be known for their crude humor and shouting characters, Telltale’s take on the vault hunters of Pandora brought that same reliance on comedy while also employing deeper characterization to create a surprisingly fun adventure for Borderlands veterans and newbies alike.
Although fans of Tales from the Borderlands were hopeful to one day see the return of Rhys, Fiona and the rest of the gang, thebankruptcy of Telltale Games in September 2018led to the cancellation of several projects, including second seasons for The Wolf Among Us and Game of Thrones, and seemingly erased any chances that other Telltale adaptations would be able to continue or wrap up any loose storylines. Fortunately, 2K Games, the publisher for Gearbox Studios, managed to acquire the property in early 2021 and returned it to the developer that created the Borderlands universe, which led to theannouncementof a spiritual successor, fittingly titled New Tales from the Borderlands, in April of this year. Despite the new game featuring a new trio of, as Gearbox refers to them, “lovable losers,” Rhys is confirmed to make an appearance, and the full adventure will almost certainly feature other notable characters from the core Borderlands games and extended universe. Plus, several key members of the original game’s development team were hired by Gearbox to see this project through to completion and ensure that it retains the same charm and knack for storytelling that helped Tales from the Borderlands become a cult classic.
New Tales from the Borderlands takes place a year after the events of Borderlands 3 on the planet of Promethea, where a new group of vault hunters attempt to survive the threats of the dangerous creatures that inhabit the planet and the Tediore agents also pursuing this mysterious treasure. Players will control the fates of Fran, a frogurt store owner who is used to taking care of everything herself, Octavio, a self-obsessed nobody who dreams of fame and glory, and Anu, a brilliant scientist who creates inventions in the hopes of lessening the bloodshed on this war-torn planet. Each character brings their own ability to the table as well, with Anu’s high-tech scanning glasses, Octavio’s hacking skills, and Fran’s hoverchair which can also freeze enemies in their tracks. Alongside other eccentric personalities with names like Diamond Danielle, Stapleface and Hank, this dysfunctional trio must learn to work together if they want to achieve their personal and shared goals.
Unlike the first game which took nearly a year to finish its five episode season, New Tales from the Borderlands will keep the episodic structure, but will release all five chapters at once when the game launches on October 21 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, Switch, PS4 and Xbox One. Even with the returning Telltale developers, the fact that the long-awaited sequel will be developed in-house does inspire some concern, as it was Telltale’s novel take on the Borderlands universe that made the original story feel like a breath of fresh air while still retaining the series’ trademark humor. But if this new narrative team can recapture that same broad appeal and emotional heart of the first game, then the wait for a potential third season would likely be far shorter, and could allow this spinoff series to serve as a nice reprieve in between major Borderlands titles. For now, it’s welcome to have this narrative Borderlands experience back in our lives in the near future, but it remains to be seen if New Tales from the Borderlands will take full advantage of its second chance at life.
