But having Rhys and Fiona tied up, explaining their predicaments to a masked villain whose identity we don’t know? It doesn’t feel like a very clever setup. There’s one particularly over-the-top moment that serves as a reminder that some embellishment exists in these stories – and depending on choices, one comical moment when no, that moment really did happen. The story starts off in media res, which is such an overplayed plot device at this point, but at least the extended flashback nature of the plot is used well despite that.
#Tales from the borderlands hollow point or old haven series#
It does a great job at setting up the stakes of the series, as a con deal goes belly-up in many ways, and the protagonists and new characters to the series Rhys and Fiona find themselves unwittingly working together to get their hard-earned money back while trying not to be killed by the people they’ve screwed over. The promise and potential for Tales from the Borderlands was very high, and “Zer0 Sum" generally gets off on the right foot. Well, this episode is a great way to start off this series. There’s a certain attitude and style to live up to as well as telling interesting stories in this darkly-comic universe, and it’ll be interesting to see just how Borderlands can be adapted into the Telltale style over the 5 planned episodes here. Plus, focusing on two different playable characters is another narrative challenge. While Telltale obviously knows their stuff, they’re working in a different series here, one that isn’t based around narrative so much as it was a comical wrapper for an FPS with RPG loot. All the character introductions are in the famous style, with their cheeky descriptions too – Telltale’s definitely nailed the aesthetic of the universe, and their cel-shaded house style is naturally a compatible fit for Borderlands. In the world, items appear with their color-coded rarity, a nice little feature for people in the know. All the known fonts and UI elements are here. It starts with the menus, all resembling the main Borderlands game in their style. Thankfully, Telltale nailed the Borderlands feel with this game.
It is possible to rewind to previous sections of the chapter to perhaps change certain events, if you decide to play them out differently. Some decisions will only really change the way that fixed events play out, but other situations can even preserve certain characters.
Certain choices will, of course, be remembered and play a role in later episodes. Rhys’ Echo-Eye implant can be used to scan certain items. The gameplay is your standard Telltale mixture of making dialogue choices, quick-time events, and occasional sections where it’s possible to move around and explore. Still, known figures will cross the paths of these characters, like Zer0 from Borderlands 2 in the first episode, and plenty of recognizable elements are strewn throughout too. But it’s the quartet that forms of playable protagonists Rhys and Fiona, and their partners in crime Vaughn and Sasha respectively, that are up front and center. Hyperion plays a big role, and the death of Handsome Jack is a key event as well. Rhys and Vaughn are Hyperion employees pulling off a heist to screw over their boss Vasquez (played wonderfully by Patrick Warburton, whose gravelly voice you will recognize right away), while Fiona and Sasha are con artists who get caught up in a tangled web of double-crossers trying to cross double-crossers. Interestingly, Tales from the Borderlands is trying to tell stories with new characters, and having them drive the plot.
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