Telltale has secured quite the lock on story-driven adventure games in recent years, and it’s in no small part due to their fantastic Walking Dead adaptations that began back in April of 2012. Of course, Telltale had been slowly ascending to the top for years and years prior, handling such properties as Sam & Max, CSI, and even Homestar Runner as they slowly built a reputation. I’m no Borderlands junkie, but I have a feeling news of Telltale-delivered episodic content in the Borderlands universe is the kind of news that can activate involuntary, excitement-induced bodily functions amongst die-hard fans. I know this because just thinking about a similar scenario occurring with my own favorite franchises sends gleeful tremors down my spine, and that’s just my imagination talking. The ambition behind Tales from the Borderlands is a big deal, and fans know this.
My time with Tales from the Borderlands was hands-off, but frankly it makes very little difference for this sort of game. In fact, it’s almost preferable. Telltale PR director Jon Stauffer was on-hand to run about 30 of us through the first hour or so of the game, and though he noted multiple times that it’s only reached 80% of final polish, to me it seemed quite nice. As a non-Borderlands player who thoroughly enjoys narrative-heavy videogames, I found the presentation style highly engaging.
So just what exactly was shown, then? Well, the plot of Tales from the Borderlands concerns two main characters — the con-artist Fiona, and the data-miner Rhys. Both are new, but their insertion into the existing Borderlands fiction is far from arbitrary. With the way Telltale’s new game is structured, it allows almost complete creative freedom for deep-diving into what we do and don’t already know about Borderlands’ world. Simultaneously, Telltale is working with Gearbox Software to make plenty of references to existing games, push their respective plots along, and flesh out new characters and plotlines in the process. It’s easier said than done, but according to Mr. Stauffer, Telltale has never felt more confident.
Essentially, the premise is that Rhys and Fiona are each recounting their versions of events that have already unfolded, involving the highly-illegitimate scheme of Rhys and his pals to acquire a Vault Key. Rhys is your typical, cocky hotshot who thinks he deserves better than he’s been dealt, which is precisely why he wants to undercut the new Handsome Jack (name Vas, and voiced by Patrick Warburton) to both teach him a lesson and demonstrate his own self-prescribed worth. Fiona, conversely, is a more level-headed type who is highly skilled, but has a tendency to hide her true motives. Most of what I saw during the demo was focused on Rhys and his coworker buddies, so I’m definitely looking forward to hearing more from Fiona in the future.
As a plot-driven adventure, gameplay was expectedly scant, but I was surprised to find a fair amount of quick time events scattered across the game’s first hour. Call it personal preference, but I’ve never been a fan of these — mashing a button to trigger some relevant occurrence is hardly more immersive than simply watching it unfold, and in some cases it’s less so. Still, there were exceptions, like when Rhys had to actually aim and fire projectiles from a summoned robot, and that’s something I was completely fine with. If Telltale wants to get serious about including minigames or puzzle elements, then more power to them; I’d just rather they avoid QTEs entirely. This is unlikely to happen, and again, it’s only personal preference.
The screenshots for Tales from the Borderlands look gorgeous, but in its 80% state of completion I hardly felt the E3 demo looked as convincing. Blurry textures and herky-jerky animations appeared occasionally, and in some cases facial expressions weren’t quite syncing up with dialog properly either. I point it out only because to me, some of what I saw seemed a bit more problematic than a mere 20% of remaining polish. On top of that, Telltale’s method of story delivery, though effective, is beginning to show its age, and I can’t help but feel that serious improvements or even a revamp to their engine ought to happen sooner rather than later. I trust the end product will turn out just fine, but there’s no knowing until the first episode officially releases. Mark the aforementioned points as a wait-and-see for now.
If you play and love Borderlands, you’re going to want to check this out; it’d be crazy not to. When Rhys and his crew descended to Pandora and were forced to deal with the horrors Borderlands players are already all-to-familiar with, it was an impressive “worlds colliding” type of moment that only a spinoff such as this can provide. The feeling was quickly elevated to sheer ridiculousness when Rhys literally tore out the beating heart of key-seller August (voiced by Nolan North), only to be promptly called out on his embellished fantasy by Fiona in the present day. The dynamic between those two is already fascinating, and I expect it will only increase as things unfold.
All in all, my biggest takeaway from Tales from the Borderlands at E3 comes down to one sentiment; we have to trust Telltale. While not a show-stopping presentation, the game shows promise, and if you factor in Telltale’s track record and a personal love of Borderlands if it applies to you, it’s tough not to be overwhelmingly excited for what this game may ultimately contain.
