A Tale Worth Telling
Review
Tales from the Borderlands,
Telltale Games (PS4)
Abstract: Tales from the Borderlands
is fresh and exciting. Telltale flourishes in their return to comedic
storytelling. Original characters feel at home in the Borderlands universe and are some of the best Telltale has ever
done. The writing is sharp, witty, and often laugh-out-loud funny. Decisions
made in Tales from the Borderlands feel
meaningful, both within the game’s self-contained plot and in the Borderlands universe at large. Tales from the Borderlands is a wild
ride and a raucously good time. If you’re looking for something clever, funny,
fun, or enthralling look no further than Tales
from the Borderlands. It’s not only one of the year’s best, but one of
Telltale’s best games to date.
Telltale has become somewhat
of a staple in my household. Overwhelmingly positive word of mouth led to my
acquisition and subsequent playthrough of the turns-out-everyone-was-right-and-this-game-is-incredible
The Walking Dead. The way in which
the team at Telltale explored human relationships and allowed the player to
personalize their character and their world through choice made the first
season of The Walking Dead an
impressive & memorable experience. The game’s strong narrative propelled
the now fiancée and I through, and created a hunger for a type of gaming
experience that (to the best of our knowledge) only Telltale could provide.
From that point forward we picked up every new Telltale release. The Wolf Among Us, The Walking Dead Season 2.
I wrote a bit about why I love playing these kinds of games here.
We are also huge fans of the Borderlands universe. Borderlands 2 was a game the two of us
played for easily 200+ hours together, spanning three playthroughs and 4
different characters. Much like Telltale games, we loved the universe &
characters Borderlands built for
itself. Being a Vault hunter and exploring, shooting, and looting everything in
Pandora was a blast. The dialogue was charming. We even got into the lore of
the Vaults and the corporate history centered on Vault hunting. Again, ever
since Borderlands 2, Justine and I
were hungry for more.
What we never expected,
however, was that Telltale’s chocolate would mix with Borderlands’s peanut butter. Announced during VGX, Tales from the Borderlands appeared to
be the perfect fusion of our recent gaming interests. But it also filled me
with a lot of doubt. Mechanically speaking, the two styles of games appeared
immiscible. How would Telltale get across the feeling of being on Pandora, where shooting things is how you spend
your day to day? What about the tone of the game? The Walking Dead and The Wolf
Among Us were both dark, gritty stories about loss, evil, and what people do
with their back against the wall. Borderlands
isn’t all love and hugs, but everything there is steeped in dark humor. Tales from the Borderlands would have to
be funny in that uniquely Borderlands
kind of way. It was with trepidation that we dipped into the first episode of Tales from the Borderlands. But in doing so I was met with my biggest
surprise yet: not only does Tales from
the Borderlands perfectly fuse Telltale narrative & gameplay with Borderlands’s humor & world, but it
might be Telltale’s best game to date. It’s really, really good.
You play as two protagonists
in Tales from the Borderlands. You
have Fiona, the scrappy orphaned thief from Pandora, and Rhys, the quippy pencil
pusher from Hyperion (the largest corporate arms dealer in the galaxy). Fiona
and Rhys are highly ambitious. They both put plans into action to rise above
their stature. Plans that, inevitably, force the two plucky characters to cross
paths. And what is this bold, crazy plan? The surreptitious sale of a Vault
key. That’s right, a key to what everyone on Pandora seeks—a way to locate, and
open, a Vault. The same Vaults that adventurers from around the universe travel
to Pandora for. The sale goes…poorly, leading Rhys & Fiona to join forces
against psychos, monsters & corporations alike to unravel the mystery of
the ‘Vault of the Traveler’ and (hopefully) stay alive while doing so. The
story takes a bunch of twists and turns that kept me engaged throughout all
five episodes. It’s a fun action-adventure heist told with a thick layer of comedy.
Exactly what I’d want from a Telltale Borderlands
game.
Where Telltale really
succeeds is in creating extraordinary characters. Over the course of Fiona
& Rhys’s journey they form an eclectic group of funny, strange, and
thoroughly memorable characters. This was one of my biggest concerns coming
into Tales from the Borderlands. Borderlands had already established such
great characters. Creating new ones that felt like they belonged was a
gargantuan undertaking. On the other hand, relying too strongly on series
staple characters would feel unambitious. Tales
from the Borderlands perfectly straddles that line: most of the cast is
brand-new to the universe, with franchise veterans playing only small,
supporting roles. I cannot emphasize enough how much I loved the characters here. Rhys is the perfect mix of inept, cocky,
goofy & endearing. Fiona is at once scary, tender, sarcastic and badass.
Vaughn, Loader Bot, Gortys, Sasha, Vasquez, August. Everyone. Everyone was
fantastic. Saying too much more would go into spoiler territory, but I really
want to emphasize how distinct and memorable the cast of characters is in Tales from the Borderlands. Many evolve
over time, growing alongside the player as your actions becoming increasingly
bombastic. I’d love to see Tales from the
Borderlands’s cast come back again in the future and, if the ending is any
indication, I think I just might.
Narratively, Telltale
deserves special commendation as well. The studio nails its return to comedy in
Tales from the Borderlands. Jokes
felt effortlessly funny, supported by great dialogue and goofy physical comedy.
Sure, a lot of what actually happens in Tales
from the Borderlands is pretty dark, but Telltale approaches the subjects
with the franchise-established lightness and wit. Tales from the Borderlands also allowed Telltale to play with their
storytelling. For the first time in their modern suite of titles, Tales from the Borderlands is told from
two different perspectives. Seeing, and playing, two sides to the same story
felt fresh. Two protagonists also allowed for a more ‘epic’ journey. You could
be doing two totally different (and insane) things at the same point in the game’s
timeline because you controlled both Fiona and Rhys. It enhanced the feeling of
the player’s importance to the game’s narrative, making my choices feel even
more meaningful. On that note, too, Tales
from the Borderlands is also the Telltale game in which your choices have
the biggest impact on the actual plot of the game. Usually, your choices don’t
really affect the overall outcome of the story but rather act as a way to
define your protagonist. Your decisions influence the way they see & interact
with their world (thereby affecting the story because of how they react to the set events). But in Tales from the Borderlands the decisions
you make have profound implications. Not only do they define much of your
experience in the game’s final chapter, but they also have tremendous
consequences for the world of Borderlands.
Your decisions dramatically alter the fate of Pandora. As a newcomer to the
franchise, it might not mean much, but to a longtime fan it will be interesting
how the events of Tales from the
Borderlands will affect future Borderlands
releases. They pretty much have to.
If you’ve played a Telltale
game before, you will know what to expect from gameplay. During conversations,
you’re able to choose one of four dialogue options and characters react
accordingly. Between conversations, Tales
from the Borderlands lets the player walk around in small areas, talking to
other characters or moving towards the next objective. Quick time events (QTEs:
quickly pressing a button after a specific prompt appears on screen) are used
for the game’s many action scenes. It’s what Telltale has done for a while, but
it works. Layered on top of the old gameplay are some new systems, though. As
Rhys you can use your robotic eye to scan your environment, which is used for
both world building and comedy. Fiona can loot containers for money, which can
then be used to customize her outfit or vehicle. Gameplay isn’t particularly groundbreaking,
but it’s fun, functional, and supports the game’s strong story and characters.
QTEs galore, but they work well. Don't forget to dodge. |
One of the most striking
elements of Tales from the Borderlands
is how Telltale plays with their own narrative and gameplay conventions. Perhaps
the comedic nature of the source material prompted the studio to experiment, often
offering tongue-in-cheek commentary on their standard practices. Narrative-wise,
Tales from the Borderlands toys with
the concept of the unreliable narrator. Neither Fiona nor Rhys are the best,
most honest people you’d ever meet, and that comes across in their
storytelling. Much of the game’s story is told via the two characters recalling
their experiences. Heroic moments are embellished, nitty-gritty details are
omitted. It’s sometimes hard to know what exactly
happened. It’s a very cool feeling. Further, while Telltale gameplay systems
are kept the same in Tales from the
Borderlands, how they’re used is
worth writing about. There are moments where the standard ‘choose one of four
options’ only offers one choice to make. Another moment plays with how
ridiculous video game shootouts can be, and how even more ridiculous it is to
do with using only QTEs. A final moment plays with the idea of a QTE, asking
the player to perform a Mortal Kombat
like series of inputs. These tweaks, as small as they may be, made playing Tales from the Borderlands feel fresh and
exciting.
I still think back to my time
with Tales from the Borderlands. It
was one of my favorites this year. Telltale fan or not, Borderlands fan or not, please play this game. Comedy, characters
and silly fun don’t get much better. Tales
from the Borderlands is a delight.
Tales from the Borderlands
5/5
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