New Tales from the Borderlands

 PC
Metascore
69

Mixed or average reviews - based on 60 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 60
  2. Mixed: 30 out of 60
  3. Negative: 4 out of 60
  1. CD-Action
    Oct 20, 2022
    45
    New Tales from the Borderlands impressed me with its graphics and pleased me with settings that let you customize QTE’s or even turn them off completely. It’s a shame that the game didn’t inherit its predecessor’s cool writing and kept annoying me with cringe-making attempts at humor. What’s worse, it simply bored me.
  2. GamingTrend
    Oct 26, 2022
    40
    New Tales from the Borderlands is confusing, messy, and accomplishes nothing over the course of 10 hours. The game meanders from incident to incident hoping you’ll laugh at a constant barrage of bad jokes, and lacks any heart.
  3. Finger Guns
    Oct 25, 2022
    40
    New Tales from the Borderlands is a sequel that seemingly forgets everything that made the original so special and shoehorns in a story that simply doesn’t keep you engaged. Whilst it’s visually lovely and feels like it’s a Borderlands experience, it’s all style and no substance. Without heart or humour, this feels like a cash-in, and for a sequel to one of the greatest narrative games of all time? That’s just not good enough.
  5. Destructoid
    Oct 20, 2022
    30
    I wish I could say I nailed New Tales of from the Borderlands with a bad score because I was holding it to a higher standard because it was developed by Gearbox, and that it had a lot to live up to by following the original Tales. Those things may be true, but this game is a soulless slog regardless of who made it or what series it’s a part of.
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In Progress & Unscored

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  1. 3DJuegos
    Nov 5, 2022
    It contains all the irreverence, style of humor and unjustified violence of the parent series, but I think the construction of the plot and characters fails to engage like other games that have used its formula.
  2. Rock, Paper, Shotgun
    Oct 20, 2022
    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.

Awards & Rankings

86
#86 Most Discussed PC Game of 2022

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
3.6

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 56 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 56
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 56
  3. Negative: 33 out of 56
  1. Erupt50
    Oct 22, 2022
    1
    This game is not a Borderlands game. Bad characters, bad story and no humor. Very disappointing, especially if you were a fan of the originalThis game is not a Borderlands game. Bad characters, bad story and no humor. Very disappointing, especially if you were a fan of the original Tales from the Borderlands game.… Full Review »
  2. foxxydolphin
    Oct 23, 2022
    2
    This is the first time I really felt like I had to share my opinion on a game before. I am a massive fan of Tales from the Borderlands. EvenThis is the first time I really felt like I had to share my opinion on a game before. I am a massive fan of Tales from the Borderlands. Even after all these years have passed, it was always something of a comfort game to me that I loved returning to. I love the characters and what Telltale Games did with the world. Tales from the Borderlands was a labor of love and the passion of the development team shined through like no other game ever has. Tales from the Borderlands simply brought me nothing but joy and happiness every time I go back. New Tales from the Borderlands brought me nothing but sadness.

    New Tales from the Borderlands is a mess. From unlikable characters and a plot that struggles to have any comprehensibility, to a lack of player interaction and meaningful choices, and a lack of sense of fun.

    Telltale was often criticized for choices feeling as if they did not matter, but New Tales has never felt so on rails before. Never once did my choices ever feel like they meant anything. No spoilers, but only the ending is when the game feels like it is trying to branch out. However, I am still overwhelming confused by the outcome of the ending I had. The ending comes out of no where and feels as if I had missed 3 scenes in between. This also feels true for most of the game the longer it goes on, where the logic behind where the story was going, simply stopped making sense. Nothing drives the story forward other than something randomly occurring.

    The leads are all very forgettable and unlikable with very weak character motivations. Alongside the 3 playable leads, you will interact with L0I-13 (an assassin robot) the most, however, he may as well be the only other character in this game. I was completely shocked by the fact that even though a large cast is highlighted in the trailers, the vast majority of characters you see outside those 4 have maybe 5 minutes of time on the screen in the entire game. This ends up making the game feel so incredibly lonely, especially compared to the original's massive cast which were all much more fleshed out. Even characters in the original with not a lot of time felt like they had purpose and were memorable.

    The presentation was a very noticeable downgrade. This is the only Borderlands game that did not bother with a musical credit sequence. Once again, the original did it 5 times and all 5 of them from the song choices and how the scene plays out are fantastic. In New Tales, I feel would be lying if I said it made a genuine attempt. It simply chose not to do so, the best you will get is music playing over a scene as nothing really happens.

    Truth is there is so much disappointment I don't think I could ever shape all my problems in words. It feels so fundamentally misguided. I am sure those who worked on it really did try, but the writing and story telling is such a step down in quality and as Borderlands as a series continues to keep dropping the ball on narrative, more and more I wish we could go back to when Tales from the Borderlands showed just how much of a narrative powerhouse this universe could be.

    If this released without the original ever existing, I think I may have gone with something closer to a 5. However, considering the game wants to call itself "New" Tales from the Borderlands, Gearbox already chose to directly compare their game to the one they did not develop, so I feel it is more fair to rate it with the original in mind. So with that, I'd have to say a 2/10. The final scene of the game only makes me weary for what is next to come, and fans of the first I would easily recommend you skip.    … Full Review »
  3. serGG666
    Oct 22, 2022
    0
    Worst and cringiest game of the year, 0 outta 10. It has nothing to do with epic Tales from the Borderlands AKA the only good Borderlands spin-off.
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