New Tales from the Borderlands to Upgrade Gameplay

Less than one month from the release of New Tales from the Borderlands, Gearbox is giving some insight into how the gameplay has been reimagined for new and returning audiences. The original title is loved by fans of the franchise, with many shocked that a shooter like Borderlands could ever translate well to a point-and-click interactive narrative title. While the upcoming title promises the same focus on dialogue and quick time events as the first game, players can also expect a few changes to the formula.

In the original Tales from the Borderlands, certain actions could be failed, meaning that players would have to start them over from the very beginning. This time around, failing won’t be as much of a negative, as the game’s head writer Lin Joyce detailed in an interview with Eurogamer.

“Inaction can lead to more story rather than failure,” Joyce said. “And sometimes it might be that inaction is the right choice. So it’s more that you also need to be engaging with the action in front of you. Are you going to take the action? Are you not going to take the action? It’s not meant to be just like, ‘I see buttons, press ’em’. So in that way, we always use action as a way to the progress story. It’s not action for action’s sake.”

Given that quick-time events played a massive part in the first game, the lead game designer Pierre-Luc Foisy was dedicated to bringing them back in the most engaging way possible. New Tales from the Borderlands also puts a new focus on performance capture, something that differentiates it from Telltale Games’ titles from years back.

“That was a big pillar for us. It really matters to be able to see our character’s reactions to choices, in their face, in their body language. Eight years ago, we didn’t have as much access to that, so you kind of had to signal to players and give them feedback on their choices, whereas now we have performance capture acting as feedback – the actors themselves, the characters, are bringing all of that straight to the forefront, and it heightens the story,” Joyce explained.

Telltale Games, which declared bankruptcy in 2018, was the creator of many episodic narrative adventure games. This time around, Gearbox is looking to build on the former company’s expertise to create something singular and unique.

Earlier this month, Gearbox revealed 18 minutes of gameplay from New Tales from the Borderlands at PAX West. Check out the video below.

The original Tales from the Borderlands was released episodically between 2014 and 2015. Set after the events of Borderlands 2, players took control of Hyperion employee Rhys and con artist Fiona as they sought out a Vault while dealing with an artificial intelligence version of the series villain Handsome Jack and other enemies. Largely a point-and-click adventure game, players were asked to respond to quick time events and work through conversation trees. This time around, it looks like the team at Gearbox wanted to make things a little more engaging.

New Tales from the Borderlands is scheduled to release on October 21 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

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