Platform: PC

Developer: Telltale Games

Publisher: Telltale Games

Release Date: November 25th, 2014

Genre: Adventure

Nerd Rating: 9.5 out of 10

 

Pandora. Full of mystery. Full of adventure. Full of the craziest and most ruthless treasure hunters the world has ever known. But to see Pandora through the eyes of those who aren’t “Vault Hunters?” Well…that’s another tale… Telltale Games presents Tales From The Borderlands.

Hyperion Company Man, Rhys, (that’s you!) had been cheated out of the promotion he so rightfully deserved by none other than his rival, Hugo Vasquez. Vasquez, (who sounds just like Joe Swanson from Family Guy) also has a secret. He had arranged to obtain a vault key, the most valuable treasure to obtain next to being the one opening a vault. Vaults are said to hold many treasures and technology beyond the wildest of dreams. The only way to get back at Vasquez for stealing Rhys’ promotion is by ruining his career, and stealing the vault key for himself and his two friends, Vaughn and Yvette.

Con Artist, Fiona (that’s also you!) and her sister, Sasha, along with their adopted father, Felix, lived on Pandora all their lives. Stealing and ripping off others to get by. Their latest plan was going to set them all up for life. Sell some sap a fake vault key. What could possibly go wrong?

Let me just say that this game was very nicely put together. The voice acting was great, the animation and style of humor matches any other Borderlands game in the franchise, and the story is interesting enough to get me excited for the next episode!

Did I mention that Telltale Games is making this?

Tales From The Borderlands is an episodic game where every choice you make can affect the outcome of the story. The setting is the period after antagonist, Handsome Jack, died trying to use an ancient being, called The Warrior, to wipe out the residents of Pandora.

I’ll tell you what the game is about, but I won’t spoil it for you…I promise.

 

Episode 1: “Zer0 Sum”

This episode runs you through all the characters and each of their problems. You control what Rhys and Fiona do and learn about who they are. The story starts with the two of them recounting what had happened between them. What their crazy luck (if you can call it that) lands them into is the long forgotten Gortys Project. It is said that this project was headed by an ancient company known as Atlas. Atlas was the first to colonize Pandora. Later got shut down due to lack of support. Hyperion headed out to the #1 slot in the end.

 

Episode 2: “Atlas Mugged”

Hugo Vasquez is out for blood. Angered that Rhys stole his opportunity, he calls for moonshots. Moonshots are basically missiles  fired on Pandora from the Hyperion heaquarters, Helios. Rhys starts seeing a ghostly king, longing to regain his crown. It acts like a sort of devil on Rhys’ shoulder. Everyone involved in the vault key scandal starts catching up to Fiona and company. Felix is nowhere to be seen. Where is Loader Bot when you need him?!

 

Episode 3: “Catch a Ride”

Now, this episode just came out. I couldn’t write an honest review without first playing through it, could I? So, one quick play through later, I learned a lot in this episode. The Gortys Project turns out to be a lot more useful than originally portrayed. Gortys leads everyone to an Atlas upgrade to help open the vault. The phantom devil on Rhys’ shoulder is getting comfy inside Rhys’ head. Things are getting from bad to worse in this episode. It’s got me on the edge of my seat wanting more. There’s satisfaction, but does leave you with quite a cliffhanger.

Like I promised…not one spoiler. Am I good? Or am I good? Why am I so dang good?

The game is available on Steam right now. You can play through these three episodes and get the rest of the story (which is believed to be two more episodes), when they come out, for $24.99.

If I could think of any negative thing about the game…well, I can’t. But I can say that I don’t really appreciate the absurd waiting time between episodes. Telltale Games has become a teensy bit notorious for saying that an episode will be out in one month…and we end up waiting three months for it. But hey! That’s certainly not enough to break my spirit!

I guess the point I’m trying to make here is, I love the Borderlands series! If I wasn’t a nerd (or couldn’t read…) I’d think the game was made by the exact same people that made Borderlands. I very highly recommend this game to anyone that can handle Borderlands humor and blood (yes, there’s… *sigh* there’s a lot of blood…which is awesome!).