New Tales from the Borderlands

Gearbox's New Tales from the Borderlands successfully recaptures the charm and humor of Telltale's original adventure-game spinoff of the Borderlands first-person shooter series, but its attempts to stretch out the gameplay and the story don't fare as well.

Gearbox Studio Québec's follow-up to Telltale Games' Tales from the Borderlands is a fun space western, featuring a story with a compelling start and strong conclusion.

Gearbox has tried to match the pace and storytelling style of Telltale's Tales from the Borderlands but falls short with a rushed story and uninspiring characters.

I genuinely liked New Tales From the Borderlands and its characters. I only wished their stories had a little more time to breathe.

Simultaneously both full of heart and unapologetically in-your-face, it takes everything you loved about its predecessor whilst gently – almost invisibly – buffing the things you didn't like so much, too. What a treat.

Ultimately, New Tales From The Borderlands feels like more of the same and fans of the first are likely to enjoy this, but given it’s been nearly eight years since that first one, I wanted more of an evolution.

Much like my time helping the original cast of “Tales from the Borderlands” find their meaning in life, I enjoyed the experience of helping Anu, Octavio and Fran change the world.

You wait 8 years for a sort-of sequel to your favourite Borderlands narrative adventure game and when one finally turns up it's an unfunny disappointment

If you’re asking my opinion, don’t play New Tales of from the Borderlands.

We can scarcely recall an occasion where we were more disappointed by a sequel than New Tales from the Borderlands. We wanted to love this. We'd have accepted liking it. But we hate this game. This is a ten-hour narrative adventure that feels four times as long as it needs to be, with dreadful characters, and appalling, relentlessly unfunny jokes. It's a spectacular misfire, its only success to speak of being the rare example of a sequel so bad that it ruins the original, too.