Tales From The Borderlands: Episode 5 - The Vault of the Traveler

Episode 5 perfectly concludes the adventures of Fiona and Rhys, and their gang of friends. This episode easily cements the series as one of Telltale's best, and one of the best games this year. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll wanna do it all over again just to see how your choices change things.

All in all, this final episode is a great way to wrap up the first season of Tales from the Borderlands. You’re taken on an emotional roller coaster, you’ve been dragged all over Pandora, and there’s just something so incredibly charming about the series as a whole that you can’t help but smile at the end and wonder what’s to come next.

While I enjoyed the character interactions and reveals in Vault of the Traveler, I couldn’t get myself excited for the episode’s action packed finale.

This last episode maintains the action, drama, and comedy present throughout the series. It ties up all the major loose ends while leaving just a hint of room for more to come. Most of all, it solidifies Tales from the Borderlands as Telltale's best series to date, a pinnacle of modern adventure gaming.

It took time for Tales from the Borderlands to express its full potential, but it finally happened, and what you get is a story worthy of your time, since in the end every piece of the puzzle gets to its rightful place.

Tales From The Borderlands got off to more than a slow start, and while The Vault Of The Traveler doesn't redeem the entire experience, it justified my decision to stick with it.

If you can get invested in the characters and their bizarre circumstances, it’s a good use of your time.

I don’t know that diehard Borderlands fans will appreciate this series’ approach, but it’s worth a shot if you’re into the story more than the shooting.

Tales is far and away the most entertaining game I've played from Telltale yet.... And given the way the final episode ends, I'm very much looking forward to the sure-to-come second season.

The ending of Tales from the Borderlands is worth it. All key characters get the closure they need, and even though there are still some flaws in the game that we have been mentioning at every episode now, the finale is amazing.

The greatest treasure on Pandora is right here. [Christmas 2015, p.81]

An unfortunate disappointment. [Issue#168, p.100]

The last Tales from the Borderlands episode does exactly what the last episodes should do. It answers the questions you have asked since the first episode and offers some of the most memorable moments in the entire series. In short, it’s a great ending that will make you laugh and touch your heart. More laugh, less touching.

I wasn’t sure anything could surpass The Wolf Among Us as Telltale’s most engaging series, but Tales from the Borderlands has outdone it with its sharp writing, exciting gameplay, and gallons of personality. And blood. And bullets, if we can measure those in gallons.

In addition to its satisfying emotional arcs, dark humor and semi-insulting banter are the other major hallmarks of Tales from the Borderlands. This final , written in collaboration with longtime Borderlands writer Anthony Burch, is the funniest episode in the series. One minute you're on the verge of tears as the characters spiral into despair, and the next a character speaks a line or an event occurs that brings you right back up to a side-splitting high. In my time with the episode, I alternated between wildly upset and laughing hard enough to choke.

As far as finales go, I think Tales from the Borderlands gets things right. All the major threads are wrapped up nicely, and while there’s room for a sequel involving this cast, it doesn’t feel absolutely necessary either.

Quite frankly, Telltale has knocked it out of the park, and if there’s ever to be a Borderlands 3 from Gearbox, it’d be an utter travesty to not see Telltale’s characters appear somehow in that game – that’s how fantastic this is.

Tales from the Borderlands marks the return to high form after a mediocre (in my opinion) second season of The Walking Dead. The new Telltale Games production has poor gameplay, isn't very pretty, and the decisions often signify nothing. And yet again a great story, excellent characters and superb humor make you believe it's a very good game.

If you have someone who you’ve always wanted to experience video games with but never could convince them to play, give Tales from the Borderlands a shot. This story, these characters and this product are simply too good for only a small segment of the population to enjoy.

Episode 5: The Vault of the Traveler finishes off Rhys and Fiona’s journey in impeccable fashion. From heartbreak to hilarity, it runs the gamut of emotions in some really effective ways.

An excellent ending to an inconsistent but enjoyable season of sharp comedy and surprisingly affecting drama.

It's a satisfactory ending for the whole season, but we have encountered the same issues that prevented the other episodes to be something more than average.

As it stands now, I can’t recommend Tales from the Borderlands highly enough. It’s a masterpiece of the same calibre as The Walking Dead, it’s one of the best games I’ve played all year (also, one of the best games I’ve played ever), and it might just be Telltale’s magnum opus.

Tales From The Borderlands ends its season on an absolute, marvelously cheeky, high note. The epic Vault Guardian battle at the heart of the story not only showcases a brilliant twist in Telltale's "traditional" formula, but also playfully trumps long-time Borderlands fans expectations.

For those willing to suffer through a couple hours of mediocrity, this ending justifies the investment.

As a story-based game, it features some of Telltale's best writing to date and its humor separates it from the developer's more recent efforts. It also features a shocking amount of replay value and actually made me want to play the finale more than once to see the various character interactions, as well as find any little things I might have missed.

A success, and the last chapter of what is probably the best adventure series ever made by telltale. Tales from Borderlands is truly an amazing romp in the world created by Gearbox, that closes perfectly with this last episode.

I’ve enjoyed every moment of it, moreso perhaps than I have with any mainstay Borderlands game, and I can’t wait to return.

Finally wrapping up a game you’ve been gradually playing over the better part of a year is always bittersweet, and if that finale falls short the entire experience feels soiled and tainted as a result. Happily, the Tales from the Borderlands finale will make the 10-month lead-up completely worth it, and you’ll likely find yourself wanting to go back through and play it all from the beginning in rapid succession.

Telltale makes an outstanding season final to wrap up one of its best series until now. Fans of Borderlands and/or Telltale shouldn't miss Tales from the Borderlands.