Telltale Games’ interactive stories became one of the most successful trends in the video game industry a decade ago. The extinct and resurrected American studio reached its peak in works such as The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us or Tales from the Borderlands. Now, eight years later, the narrative spin-off of the famous Borderlands action shooter looter saga returns with a sequel that comes directly from the hands of Gearbox, the creators of the main franchise. We have already been able to play it and we will tell you what we thought of it in our review of New Tales from the Borderlands for Xbox Series X.
One story, three protagonists
New Tales from the Borderlands takes us to the planet Promethea and tells us the story of three characters linked to each other and who are living the worst day of their lives. The Dr Anuradha Dhar, Anu for friends; his brother Octavio Wallace-Dhar; Y Fran Miscowicz. The first of them works as a research scientist in the arms company Atlas, directed by Rhys, protagonist of the first Tales from the Borderlands. She detests violence and her intention is to change the world with a non-violent combat device. Octavio lives on the streets of Promethea as a small-time thief, without many lights and helping the killer robot L0U13, pronounced Louie, in his bloody task. Fran is the owner of a frozen yogurt shop, the lowest rated on the planet, and tries to deal with her pent-up anger issues.
Due to a series of events that we will not reveal to avoid spoilers, the three characters simultaneously live the worst day of their lives, which will force them to join forces to survive and defeat Tediore, another weapons company with evil plans in mind. This premise is stamped like a charm in a fantastic first episode, the best of the entire game, and which, unfortunately, sets the bar too high for the rest of the title, which teeters between the player’s indifference and lack of direction. .
Our feeling, again without going into spoilers, is that between episodes two and four New Tales from the Borderlands enters a phase where don’t know where to go. The situations become monotonous and uninteresting and it doesn’t come back until a fifth chapter that helps to close the video game in a dignified way. The final scene, yes, compensates for the hours invested in the game and leaves the door wide open to a third installment that, without a doubt, we will be happy to play if one day it happens.
Ideas with lights and shadows
When you play New Tales from the Borderlands you can sense the care that the Gearbox team has put into the product so that it reaches the levels of quality of the first installment, very difficult to match, to tell the truth. All this can be glimpsed with different creative decisions, game ideas and mechanics that we can find here and there during the adventure. However, not all of them work at the same level.
Throughout the game (and also in the main menu from the moment we unlock this feature in the main story) we will have the opportunity to participate in fights of camerafisher, which are still miniature figurines of some great emblematic characters from the Borderlands saga. The idea was good, but winning is so extremely simple that it ends up getting boring once again being forced to face a rival in this minigame. We just have to press a button to attack and dodge on the opponent’s turn. Sew and sing. If Gearbox had made winning a little more difficult or we could adjust the difficulty of the fightsanother rooster would have crowed.
New Tales from the Borderlands works like any other Telltale-like narrative game: based on decisions and quick time events. There are no big surprises in this regard, beyond the lack of commitment required of the player. Quick time events are insultingly easy to hit. Without any kind of problem you can finish the game without having failed a single one. And it is that even if you make a mistake with the button you can correct it and press the appropriate one while you have the time to do it. It is true that a game with a comic and light character like this does not need excessive difficulty, but it would have been appreciated if the failure was possible. It is not.
Something similar happens with decisions. The most important thing to keep in mind is that the relationship and coordination between the leading trio It is key to overcome certain situations in the cleanest way possible, so our job is to make them have a healthy and comfortable relationship. Leaving this aside, New Tales from the Borderlands never puts us in the position of the typical impossible decision. There is no ‘do you prefer mom or dad?’ No choice will get on your nerves or require you to throw your hands over your head trying to choose one or the other. It’s a pity, because the game was for that to be the case, like any other title in the genre.
The secondaries, in the second row
At the time of writing this text and having completed New Tales from the Borderlands I still do not understand why the killer robot L0U13 is not the fourth playable character of the Gearbox title. His prominence at the level of minutes on screen compared to Anu, Octavio and Fran is not too far away and he is probably the most inspired of them all. A sly robot forced to kill by his programming and who does not stop taunting his friends because he is not capable of saying anything that is not exactly what goes through his head (or the cables, rather ). During many moments of the game I have thought that I should be controlling him and not just letting the story itself give him a little space.
Something similar happens with other secondary characters they are not the main trio. The game makes an effort and forces us to spend a few minutes getting to know several of them. That is precisely why it is not understood that he then leaves them completely apart. Some have a testimonial role much later. Others simply They are not here, nor expected. It’s a shame and not only because of the time spent building them and presenting them to the player, but also because some of them had great potential that has been totally wasted. At least we can not say that the three protagonists are lazy. I mean, it’s not Rhys and Fiona, but Anu stands up to expectations and Octavio and Fran have their moments too.
Conclusions
New Tales from the Borderlands feels like a Lost opportunity. Eight years of waiting for a sequel to the acclaimed title from Telltale Games should have given much more of itself, especially considering how the first part surprised even users completely unrelated to the Borderlands franchise. Anu, Octavio and Fran are an interesting leading trio, with some moments of inspiration and success. However, the game gets lost in a story with a great beginning and a good ending, but with a immense void of insipidity in the middle.
Decisions like L0U13 not being a playable character or the strange treatment of secondaries add to the insulting ease of QTEs and the little pressure that the game exerts on the players when making decisions. New Tales from the Borderlands is a nice return to this spin-off of the successful looter shooter, but far from its first part and from the hopes that fans had placed in it, although it is certainly a entertaining and easy to play adventure.