Tales from the Borderlands

Lore & Background

Tales from the Borderlands is set some time after the events of Borderlands 2, centering on Hyperion employee Rhys and Pandoran con-artist Fiona as they team up to find and open a Vault. The game follows the episodic format used in Telltale's The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us, where player choices and actions have somewhat significant effects on later story elements. The story explores common events from the perspectives of both protagonists, described by Telltale's Kevin Bruner as the 'Big Fish version of what happened.'

The game features a loot system similar to the mainline Borderlands series, allowing players to collect cash to purchase items. Gameplay revolves around reacting to on-screen prompts, quick time events, and conversation trees with non-player characters. Rhys has a cybernetic eye that enables him to scan items in the environment. The graphic style is similar to other Telltale titles.

Tales includes original characters such as Vaughn, Hugo Vasquez, Sasha, August, and the robot Gortys, as well as returning characters from the main Borderlands games, including Handsome Jack (appearing as an artificial intelligence in Rhys' mind), Mad Moxxi, Marcus Kincaid, Scooter, and Claptrap. The game was pulled from sale after Telltale's closure in 2018, but 2K Games acquired the property and republished it starting in February 2021.

Reader's Guide

Tales from the Borderlands is notable for its critical acclaim despite financial underperformance relative to Telltale's other properties like The Walking Dead. According to co-director Nick Herman, about halfway through the series' release, Telltale's management considered pulling the series to reassign staff to more lucrative projects, but the project leads retained a skeleton staff to complete the final episodes. Eurogamer's Jeffrey Matulef noted that the last episodes seemed to be Telltale's best work, likely due to the committed skeleton staff. The game was pulled from digital storefronts after Telltale's closure in 2018, but 2K Games republished it in February 2021 as a single package for Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, with the only change being the absence of player choice comparison screens. The game is considered canon to Gearbox, occurring between Borderlands 2 and Borderlands 3. A successor, New Tales from the Borderlands, was released in October 2022.

Did You Know?

• The concept for Tales from the Borderlands originated at the 2012 Spike Video Game Awards, where representatives from Telltale and Gearbox were seated at adjoining tables.
• Telltale's management considered canceling the series partway through its release, but a skeleton staff was retained to complete the final episodes.
• Handsome Jack appears in the game as an artificial intelligence injected into Rhys' mind.