New Tales from the Borderlands review: Rocky writing with a brilliant lineup of characters

New Tales from the Borderlands is a choice-based graphic adventure video game developed by Gearbox Studio Québec and published by 2K. The game allows players to finesse their way through situations via the use of dialogue and quick-time actions.

Given that each dialogue alters long-term consequences, there's a lot of depth involved, from how friendships are crafted to the game's ending. In short, every spoken word matters.

New Tales from the Borderlands: Good characters - bad decisions

New Tales from the Borderlands can best be described as a graphic adventure, with the classic Borderlands take on every situation; sarcastic Voice lines, slapstick humor, and, of course, Marcus, who just so happens to be the narrator (no surprise there).

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However, as you peel back the layers of the game, there's more to it than just another graphic adventure; sadly, not all of it is well-written or executed. While I am a “fanboy” of the franchise, New Tales from the Borderlands felt somewhat off in many ways.

Anger management personified (Image via 2K/New Tales from the Borderlands)

To start, the characters and their backstory are supposed to take prominence in-game. However, out of the three protagonists (not counting LOU13), only one truly struck a chord. If you've guessed Fran, you're absolutely right. Throughout the duration of my 12-hour playthrough, she has been consistent in not just character build-up but writing as well.

From the moment you meet her to her sad demise (in my playthrough), you can't help but feel connected to her in some way. Be it her approach to anger management issues or inappropriate dialogue options in-game; there's something for everyone to look forward to.

The reunion (Image via 2K/New Tales from the Borderlands)

No doubt Anu and Octavio's voice actors did a brilliant job voicing their respective characters, but their brother-sister backstory and dynamic felt bland. Sometimes I just wanted their dialogue exchange to end, while at others, I wished there was a skip option to bypass lousy writing.

That said, there were a handful of heartfelt moments, but they were few and far between to have any real impact on the player's perspective of the characters. Characters like Stapleface, LOU13, and Badass Superfan (yes, that's his name) had me gravitate more towards them throughout my playthrough.

Thankfully, apart from the main characters, the story itself sparked enough interest to make me want to finish the game and see what lies at the end. Although things start rather slowly, they pick up mid-way and smoothen as things progress.

First impressions and gameplay

I'll be honest, the moment the game booted up, I was preparing myself for an unadulterated Borderlands experience - which is exactly what I got. The slapstick humor at the beginning with Anu, Phuong, and the escaped Jabbers was a hoot. This was followed by Octavio and his introduction to the storyline.

Shortly after this, players encounter their first in-game puzzle, which I found unnecessary throughout my playthrough. To put it into perspective, if a puzzle can be skipped, why add it in the first place?

Press "E" (Image via 2K/New Tales from the Borderlands)

I understand the need to break the monotony of dialogues every now and then, but why add something that makes no sense? Not having them in-game would be a better option as it won't disrupt the narrative of the storyline. They aren't difficult to complete at all, but they can be confusing the first time.

It wasn't until LOU13 came into the picture that things became interesting. Helping him assassinate an individual by getting them to say their name was classic Borderlands. However, the real gameplay (at least for me) began with Fran.

Fran is an absolute sweetheart! (Image via 2K/New Tales from the Borderlands)

Her larger-than-life personality (no body shaming pun intended), on many levels, is what made me want to play New Tales from the Borderlands. Her character and writing stand out from the crowd and oozes a classy Borderlands feel.

There was never a dull moment with her, and I felt absolutely terrible about not being able to save her in the end. Then comes her hover-chair. The gizmo is filled to the brim with devices capable of helping Fran create an amazing Froyo as well as freeze and/or sucker punch opponents into the nether realms.

Freeze! (Image via 2K/New Tales from the Borderlands)

Mashing buttons to execute combat moves with Fran during quick-time events felt beyond satisfying. However, I must admit that other quick-time events revolving around Anu using her Healing Device (which is definitely not a gun) were also enjoyable.

That said, I cannot understand the logic behind the Vaultlander duels. The first time it occurred after leaving the vault, it was fun. Something new to try out, but after a certain point, it becomes weird. The only thing that kept me glued to these battles was waiting to hear the dialogue exchange between the characters and Badass Superfan (once again, yes, that is his name).

I LOVE THIS DUDE! (Image via 2K/New Tales from the Borderlands)

Coming to the game itself, it looks beautiful. The limited amount that I got to walk around and explore areas felt amusing. While it's nothing compared to the other FPS looter-shooter IPs in the franchise, it felt good to be able to do so in New Tales from the Borderlands.

Every cut scene was filled to the brim with detail, and there was a lot to take at every turn. This one particular level that had the characters explore a vault was really enjoyable. Anu tried to search for clues, with Octavio running from a vault monster and Fran asking if anyone needed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

They don't make vault monsters like they used to (Image via 2K/New Tales from the Borderlands)

Speaking of monsters, I wasn’t quite convinced with Susan Coldwell as the main antagonist. While she did play the part, the entire plot of stopping her evil schemes felt a bit too convenient. For a corpo-supervillain, she didn’t put up much of a fight one would come to expect, given the storyline.

Sadly, towards the tail end of the game, things stagnated. Once the vault entity took over, it was dialogue after dialogue that felt like more of a memory game than a decision-making graphic adventure. The fast pacing that was relatively prominent after Tediore invaded Promethea was in reverse gear. Although a lot of soul-searching was done, which created a redemption arc of sorts, it felt rather...well, boring.

Guns on legs? Why not! (Image via 2K/New Tales from the Borderlands)

By the time the main plotline had come to an end, I was left with more questions than emotions as one should feel after crashing into a planet. On that note, I do wish I had been able to save LOU13 and Fran; perhaps then the ending would have felt more wholesome.

Performance

New Tales from the Borderlands, provided by 2K, was played on the system with the following configuration:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
GPU: RTX 3070 8GB
RAM: 32 GB

Personally, the game worked like a charm. There was zero lag and no visible stutter. However, I did encounter issues with GeForce Experience. For some reason, the game was not registering on the application, due to which I missed out on taking some amazing screenshots now and then.

In conclusion

Despite all the flaws and some not-so-over-the-top writing for certain segments of the game, I must admit that I had a great time playing it. Do I wish that Anu and Octavio were written better? Absolutely, but are they insufferable? Perhaps not, but the game has a lot to offer regarding replayability.

With each dialogue option dictating the outcome of scenarios, players can spend a lot of time perfecting a playthrough (or Google it for quick-time achievements).

62% skateboard is not bad (Image via 2K/New Tales from the Borderlands)

Truth be told, I'm itching to have another go at it and see the outcome of different choices, but I think I've had enough of New Tales from the Borderlands, at least for now. With all that said, the game falls very far from the Borderlands' tree on many fronts, but it still manages to be good for what it sets out to be.

Nevertheless, I, for one, look forward to a sequel. Seeing the characters continue their journey of healing the world, fighting off vault abominations, and getting 10/10 skateboards from LOU13 would hit the spot.