New Tales from the Borderlands - Review Thread

[ethomaz]

Well.

New Tales from the Borderlands

New Tales from the Borderlands for PC game reviews & Metacritic score: Take a stand against ruthless corporate overlords in this narrative-driven adventure! Within the perpetually war-torn metropolis of Promethea, you'll control An...

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New Tales from the Borderlands Critic Reviews

Visualize New Tales from the Borderlands's reviews and see how it stacks up against othe games on OpenCritic. With 29 critic reviews, it currently has a 'Strong' rating and ranks in the 60 percentile.

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Gamespot - 7/10

New Tales from the Borderlands manages to accomplish many of the narrative highs of its predecessor by providing a glimpse into how normal, everyday people handle the outrageous going-ons of the Borderlands series. The story is helped along by the narrative arcs of its three main characters, each of which feeds into and builds on one another. The narrative momentum stalls mid-way through the story, but New Tales from the Borderlands manages to finish strong, delivering a charmingly fun space western adventure.

IGN - 7/10

New Tales from the Borderlands successfully recaptures a lot of Telltale's original magic with a fresh, funny, and affable new set of main characters, but unfortunately it also introduces new problems – both in the story and in some half-hearted game mechanics – that gum up the works. You don't need to have played the first Tales in order to enjoy this one, but if you're going to choose one or the other, stick with the original and circle back to this pseudo-sequel with tempered expectations if the first one grabs you as much as it grabbed me.

GameInformer - 7/10

Still, by the time my 10-hour journey in New Tales From The Borderlands ended, I was happy to have experienced it. There's good in there, but it's sometimes muddled by dated mechanics that feel more obligatory because Telltale did them in the previous game rather than something necessary to its enjoyment. The cast is excellent, and as a character-driven experience, this game excels. I just wished Gearbox propped them up with a story as strong as their individual arcs.

Destructoid - 3/10

If you're asking my opinion, don't play New Tales of from the Borderlands. Or maybe pool your money together with your friends and do it in like an ironic, The Room-style playthrough. Thankfully this game won't detract from my enjoyment of the original Tales, but it's a real shame to think of how this could have built on that first game. Unlike its predecessor, I don't think New Tales from the Borderlands is a title I'll ever be returning to.

Press Start - 6.5/10

New Tales from the Borderlands, as a spiritual successor to Telltale's series, is a cavalcade of peaks and valleys. It expands on the franchise's complex lore with a terrifically produced five-episode stint that will, for most, be a one-and-done experience that sadly fails to iterate on or improve the tired formula these types of games all rode into the ground.

GamesRadar+ - 4/5

It's hard to do anything but recommend New Tales from the Borderlands with a toothy grin and a hearty backslap. Everything you loved about the original Telltale game is here only bigger, better, and this time, there's a vengeful talking gun. Seriously. What else do you need?

Hardcore Gamer - 4/5

As stated in the opening, New Tales from the Borderlands doesn't top the amazement of the original game. That still doesn't stop it from delivering an impressive adventure game in its own right, however, filled with an enjoyable story about family, a lot of great bits of comedy, a deeper look into different parts of the Borderlands universe, and of course, the sheer joy that is L0U13. New Tales from the Borderlands ends up being a mostly worthy successor to one of the all-time greats…now here's hoping we just don't have to wait another seven years for a sequel.

Wccftech - 5/10

The best thing you can say about New Tales from the Borderlands is that it makes you appreciate just how good the folks at Telltale Games were at what they did. While Gearbox's latest is more technically impressive than Telltale's series, stale, irritating characters, a slapdash plot, and choices that don't feel like they matter turn the game's brief runtime into a slog. These Tales are new, but they're definitely not improved.

Polygon:

New Tales From the Borderlands is eager to please. Its script, excellently delivered by the game's voice cast, maintains a cadence of jokes that rivals Veep for sheer frequency. In the roughly 10 hours it took me to complete the game, I lost count of the pop culture references somewhere between Babe and OnlyFans. You might not like all of the jokes (I, for one, did not care for a particular fart joke), but by golly, there are enough of them here that some just have to land.

Rock Paper Shotgun:

Look, I know making almost any game is a labour of love, but I spent like a week being sad and not knowing why, until I finished this game and realised I was happy because I didn't have to play it every day after work anymore. All this does is prove that Gearbox cannot be trusted with their own IP anymore. The very existence of New Tales From The Borderlands is a more effective critique of corporate structure and the pitfalls of capitalism than any of the content of any Borderlands game. Apart from the best one. Just play Tales From The Borderlands.

Washington Post:

"New Tales from the Borderlands" is exactly what it should be: A completely new story from the world of Borderlands, but something we haven't yet seen much of. The characters felt real; in a series like Borderlands, it's interesting to see how common folk survive in a crazy, violence-filled futuristic world. 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.