A-Z Backlog challenge: Tales from the Borderland review


This is the best Telltale game I have played and I'm not the only one who think so. It's an enthralling adventure filled with beautiful scenery, interesting characters and moving moments. People are probably more familiar with A Wolf among us, Game of Thrones and Walking Dead but I think their writers excel when doing comedic tales such as this one and Back to the Future. Set in the Borderlands universe, the player controls two very different characters on their journey across Pandora and the Hyperion space station orbiting it. 


Reese is a corporate flunky who, after being screwed over by a rival for a promotion, sets off to Pandora to buy one of the fabled Vault keys. He is the quintessential fish out of water in a world filled with unimaginable dangers. Fiona is a street-smart con-woman who,along with her sister Sasha, is involved in trying to sell the fake vault key to Reese. 

There's a huge cast of characters to meet, brought to life by, for the most part, excellent voice actors such as Troy Baker, Laura Bailey and Patrick Warburton (who played David Putty on Seinfeld). The only characters I was disappointed by were two stereotypically butch, lesbian characters, one of whom was a mechanic with a really grating Australian accent.


I haven't played a lot of the RPG/FPS Borderlands games, but if you have you will also see a lot of wildlife that will be familiar to you. As usual with Telltale games, these will be dealt with or avoided through QTEs.


I imagine they must have had a much higher budget after the success of Walking Dead and Wolf Among us which has allowed them to have a larger number of backgrounds, many of which now include animations rather than just being still. 


There are also more cut-scenes or full motion videos than in previous entries. It seems like they wanted to keep the game at a similar length which means some gameplay elements have been cut or simplified. There is far less walking around and the puzzles, in terms of finding and combining and using items, are sparse. If you are someone who favours gameplay over narrative, this may be something to consider.


I really enjoyed this game and if you are a fan of the developers, this is a must-buy even if, like me, you were not a big fan of the games this was based on. 

Release Year: 
Rating; 88
Normal price:$24.99
Sale Price: $6.24 (-75%)

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