The franchise of Borderlands has been published since 2009 known especially for its action role-playing and first-person shooter titles with its “Space Old West” style. However, in 2014 it was decided to bet on a graphic adventure called Tales from the Borderlands. It seems that the idea liked, because in 2022 Gearbox Studio Québec and 2K Games is released New Tales from the Borderlandsa title that we will talk about in this review, as well as its characters, additional content and whether it is worth acquiring or not.
To start, it should be clarified that New Tales from the Borderlands is not a continuation of Tales from the Borderlandyes In fact, it is a separate story that introduces its own characters, so it is not necessary to have played other titles in the franchise to enjoy it. Of course, there will be some references but nothing fundamental.
If you don’t know what a adventure game, you should know that it is a genre that is based more on conversations and player decisions that directly affect the development of the story. This doesn’t exempt these games from having some real-time action, but it’s not exactly their forte. Instead, elements like storytelling and character development weigh more.
Review: what is it about New Tales from the Borderlands?
Bearing this in mind, we can talk about New Tales from the Borderlands and its characters. Throughout the game we are going to be controlling three subjects who do not seem to be very sane or sensible. On one hand we have the doctora Anua scientist anguished to create an invention to stop the constant violence; Octavio, his adopted brother, who steals from the streets to survive but dreams of becoming rich and famous; Y Frana disabled but hot-tempered woman who owns a frozen yogurt place and who hired Octavio.
Relations between them are distant, but their lives come together when they are forced to flee and fight against companies that control the economic and military power of the region where they live. A) Yes, they have to ally not only as an excuse to survive, but also to achieve personal goals. Such goals will make them agree to crazy plans on which they will stake their integrity.
But neither plans nor objectives are fulfilled by themselves. Throughout the title the player will be forced to participate in decision-making that will affect the course of the story and the relationships between the characters. In each decision-making there will be up to four options and a limited time, so there will be an obligation to choose something (or not).
An interesting element of current games in the genre is the statistics of what other players have done. Since there is no right or wrong decision (just different outcomes), it is interesting to see how many people chose a specific path.
Beyond decisions there are quick time events that will help keep our characters safe during the action. This allows us to be waiting to press buttons in any conversation and never be distracted from what appears on the screen.
a very crazy story
It must be said that if what you are looking for is laughter, New Tales of the Borderlands has that item insured. Situations and conversations are often ridiculous to the extreme and often take the player by surprise. It is not necessary to look for too much coherence, because the protagonists, the secondary characters and even the villains lend themselves to absurd situations.
It should also be noted that you never know what is going to happen. This is probably one of the most attractive elements, since decisions and their consequences are often counterintuitive.. For example, shooting at a different target than the enemy or giving a morally “inappropriate” response can give us a satisfactory result and vice versa. This does not bother at all, but rather makes it very interesting and generates the expectation of what may happen next.
What is not so pleasing is that the characters of New Tales from the Borderlands be somewhat stereotypical: the scientist has social problems, the “dumb boy” improvises all the time and the “tough woman” always resorts to violence. The depth is given by the player with the decisions and the relationship that develops between them, but at first it feels that this formula is a bit repeated. Even so, the nonsense they commit all the time makes them forget this detail.
The pop culture references that are brought up all the time are really enjoyed. Some comments are just puns, but others make direct (and hilarious) references to games like a certain stealth classic too focused on hiding its protagonist in a box.
Other additional items
As extra elements, they explain to us that our characters can collect “fishcams”, which are nothing more than collectible figures capable of fighting against others to bet them and win more. As a funny element it is fine to participate once in a fight, but the game forces you to participate in said encounters a few other times that, in reality, do not turn out to be fun. These are so easy to win that they do not produce any interest or excitement.
A different topic is the outfits that can be put on the characters. These don’t change the gameplay at all, but buying them and changing the look doesn’t take much time and is fun. It can be an excuse to have money and be able to spend it (because it is not spent on anything else), but it is nice.
review of New Tales from the Borderlands: certain technical problems…
Finally, it must be said that, at least in the PC version, it may have some performance problems. Even with an NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB, 16GB RAM and low graphics, some graphics may take time to load. The worst thing is when the audio is suddenly out of sync, something that affects the experience quite a bit. This doesn’t happen all the time, but it can become a nuisance.
New Tales from the Borderlands It is a title that will guarantee you at least 12 hours of fun between absurd conversations, questionable decisions and humor made from references and puns. Without a doubt, it is a very colorful and entertaining graphic adventure.
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