Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands releases on March 25 and transports the Borderlands franchise into a wacky fantasy setting. MeinMMO author Maik Schneider was allowed to play for a few hours and thinks: Thanks to the new setting alone, Borderlands fans will get their money’s worth.
The crazy developers of the software company “Gearbox Software” allowed us an early look at their latest first-person shooter: Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands.
In typical Borderlands fashion, I zoomed through the new fantasy setting with crazy weapons and a murderous glint in my eye, shooting more goblins than I wanted to count.
And it’s exactly this setting that makes me look forward to the latest installment of the series. After three games in the franchise, I skipped Borderlands 3 and hadn’t pulled off any badass moves since “The Pre-Sequel”.
However, a few hours in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands showed me that Borderlands still has potential. And that the developers have hit a home run with the setting.
He knows the Borderlands series very well and has spent hundreds of hours in Borderlands 2, playing all classes. However, he felt oversaturated with the gameplay – he completely skipped Borderlands 3.
What did you get to play? We were allowed to play a sort of demo that opened up an entire area for testing. It was an independent area not directly linked to the main story.
We had a large main quest available, and up to 3 side missions were playable.
We embed the trailer for the game here:
New setting “convinces” me to return
Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands does not take place in the “real” Borderlands world; instead, I play a character who is part of a pen-and-paper adventure. The proudly silly Tina is the game master.
The setting isn’t completely “new”: Borderlands 2 received the DLC “Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep” in 2013, which was pretty much what Wonderlands has now expanded into a full game.
And the developers couldn’t have done it better. Even the few hours I spent back then – trapped in the fantasy of a sociopath – were outstanding and gave the Borderlands humor entirely new possibilities.
If you’ve ever played pen and paper, you know what a vivid imagination can do to a game. And if I trust anyone to push the setting to the limit, it’s the Borderlands developers.
It removes the last barriers of reason and logic for the series, mixes old mechanics with magical nonsense, and lets me loose in a world that is only limited by the imagination of the Borderlands creators.
This gives the developers the opportunity to incorporate every ridiculous idea into the game. As long as it’s somehow funny. And blunt. And tasteless. You’ve got the perfect Borderlands gag.
With the tired pest control setting, they wouldn’t have gotten me. No matter how crazy the weapons and story are – the air was simply out, I played the gameplay too much.
But the pen-and-paper setting rekindles my hunger for Borderlands gameplay.
I even go so far as to say: The new fantasy setting gives Borderlands so many freedoms that it’s better than the usual hunt for the mysterious vaults. And I’m usually more of a science fiction type.
Every world brings new nonsense
Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands connects several open worlds, which either belong to the main campaign or are considered optional. These worlds are connected by the game board – the so-called “Overworld”.
I got to play one such “optional” world in the early version – without having access to the game board.
I assist in Operation “K.O.T.Z.” in freeing the local goblins. They are held under terrible conditions in the fresh air, absolutely inhumane, uh… un-goblin-like!
It all ends in a battle against a false dragon god, who is actually just a rusty flamethrower.
However, the goblins’ imagination seems to be just as clever as the developers’. However, the small green creatures also have a peanut-sized brain – dragon worship seems to be in the cards.
In fact, I could imagine a very similar storyline in the normal Borderlands world.
But with the fantasy setting, everything feels new and fresh. I expect to be surprised by a crazy idea at any moment. I look forward to any new spells that I can forcibly extract from my enemies.
The gameplay loop of Borderlands finally pulls me back in.
Additionally, there are voiceovers. Tiny Tina and her players react to certain events in the game, adding another level that invites a chuckle.
Everything feels very coherent and brings a breath of fresh air into the dusty Borderlands series.
However, I also think that the new setting will only work this well once. For the next title, the series needs to reinvent itself again – otherwise, this will really be my last Borderlands.
