Tales from the Borderlands - Episode 1 Review

Telltale’s history of adaptation and adoption of fictional universes is well-documented. From Sam and Max to Fables to Jurassic Park, the adventure game studio used material from graphic novels, movies, and even other video games to craft its choose-your-own-adventure games. But Tales from the Borderlands represents something different for the studio. In the first episode of the new, five-episode series featuring the world Pandora and Hyperion, Telltale attempts to collaborate with another developer in order to help carve out the world, lore, and tone of an existing - and, more than likely, still ongoing - series.

I think there was a fear - I really don’t think I can be alone here - that we might be Telltale-d out by the end of this year. After taking the solid, but unimpressive rides offered by The Wolf Among Us and The Walking Dead: Season Two, I think many fans wondered how much of the episodic, choice-based gameplay one could really enjoy in a single year. While both of the year’s previous efforts were decent, they boasted the technical hiccups which continually nagged the studio’s titles and became sideways movement for a studio still growing after its break-through success with the first season of The Walking Dead.

The Borderlands franchise isn’t so different in its trajectory. After the smash-hit success of Borderlands 2 and its copious amount of DLC content, things had kind of cooled off for the sci-fi western series. Borderlands The Pre-Sequel came out earlier this year to mixed reviews, the hype weighed down by the fact it was released on previous-gen consoles. It begged the question if more of the series was really necessary so soon.

All of this doesn’t set a very comfortable stage for Tales from the Borderlands, and yet the debut episode, “Zer0 Sum”, rises above the presumably low expectations with zippy dialogue, devilish and deviant characters, and the wacky, violent fun one would expect from a Borderlands game. Telltale doesn’t really shake up its formula in Tales from the Borderlands, but it plays with the established formats enough to keep you interested throughout.

The best part about Tales from the Borderlands is seeing Telltale get back to some comedic writing. For the past couple of years now, the studio has bogged itself down with the self-serious stories of The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us; seeing Telltale really indulge in the humorous side of Borderlands is a welcomed change of pace, and Tales from the Borderlands has its share of laugh-out-loud moments. Borderlands is a world of the bizarre and the humorously grotesque. Telltale embraces this with open arms, and fans are bound to enjoy seeing Psychos, Loader Bots, and other series staples in a more interactive setting.

When writing comedy, you also need people who have the comedic timing to vocally perform it. Unfortunately, Tales from the Borderlands is a bit more mixed in this department. Troy Baker voices Rhys, and maybe it’s just been too much of Troy Baker lately, but his delivery doesn’t always land in the smarmy, fast-talking way one would expect. The cast also features the talents of staples such as Nolan North and Chris Hardwick, but the laughs are most often found in the game’s spot-on visual gags, rather than delivered by the voice cast. That being said, Partrick Warburton plays a much-hated Hyperion executive, who absolutely steals one of the game’s opening scenes.

In the first-person shooter Borderlands games, there isn’t much opportunity to really explore the world and its people. Sure, there are plenty of quest-givers and places to return to, but the most common way you interact with the world of Pandora is by shooting it. While the shooting is plenty of fun, it doesn’t particularly make for an interesting world. Telltale takes some steps to flesh out Pandora and Hyperion in Tales from the Borderlands and the end result makes the virtual setting even more interesting. You might make friends with characters you previously only pelted with bullets, the faceless drones of Hyperion will seem like real people, the crazies of Pandora become a little more human; it makes the world of Borderlands a far more interesting place.

The biggest shake-up in the Telltale formula with Tales from the Borderlands is the way the perspective switches between two characters. First there is Rhys, a Hyperion employee who finds himself screwed over and looking for vengeance; then there is Fiona, the Pandorian native who is hungry for a big score. The story bounces between the two perspectives, keeping things fresh. The metal world of Hyperion is nicely contrasted to the shoot-first-ask-questions-never world of Pandora. In fact, the two-character perspective gives the story a nice twist about halfway through.

Tales from the Borderlands is also one of the first Telltale games which gives you something to do between all the talking. After the talk-a-thons of The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us, Tales from the Borderlands focuses a little more on action sequences. These sequences still boil down to a handful of quick-time events, and the adventure game part of the equation is still as miniscule as ever, but it's still nice to have some exciting action to play through. There are also a few ripples to the gameplay added in, which change between characters. Rhys boasts a cybernetic eye which allows him to hack computers and scan materials. Meanwhile, Fiona’s world is all about getting money and spending it in the right places. Toss in a loader bot selection screen and you have more gameplay creativity that we’ve seen in a while for a Telltale game.

The title also marks the first time a Telltale production has been available on next-gen platforms the day of release. It is a much needed evolution for the studio. After years of dropped audio, frozen frames, and eternal loading screens, it is nice to finally see these games snap along as they were designed. The animations of the older engine are a little janky, but Tales from the Borderlands has hardly any technical mishaps and it keeps the whole experience moving at a good pace. I think it is this technical growth which allows Telltale to experiment more with their quick-time sequences, allowing for more reaction-based gameplay because you’re not dealing with glitchy scenes. It’s nice to see Telltale finally clear this hurdle - it’s been a long time coming.

Tales from the Borderlands isn’t a revelation in Telltale’s well-established style. In the end, it's more variations on the same experience, with a five-episode structure, dialogue choices, and quick-time events. But it’s a good experience, and people who are fans of either Telltale or Borderlands are bound to find plenty to enjoy. The improved action sequences, the well-written comedy, and the technical evolutions of the series makes it a fun two-hour episode that explores a world of greed, violence, and pure craziness. To say that Tales from the Borderlands makes Telltale or Borderlands relevant again might be hyperbole, but suffice it to say the episode makes me more interested in either entity than I have been in a long time.