Action sequences make smart use of quick time events to pull you into the moment (though the QTEs themselves aren't terribly demanding). The world is full of nice little touches, like the columns of light emitted by collectible items, an effect pulled directly from the Borderlands FPS games.

Without going into details that might spoil things, I will say that the gang runs into plenty of colorful characters, including some that even casual Borderlands fans will recognize, and, of course, there are the requisite bandits and psychos.

Everyone in the group is after the same thing, which leads to a shaky alliance that forms the foundation of the first episode, and presumably the rest of the series. The Office Space vibes left me waiting for Rhys and Vaughn to start smashing a Claptrap to the tune of Geto Boys' 'Still,' but trust me when I say that the duo's arrival on Pandora is much cooler.īut, as shady business deals often do, the meeting goes awry, and Rhys and Vaughn soon find themselves entangled with Fiona, Tales' second playable character, and her sister, Sasha, a couple of lawbreakers trying to make it on Pandora any way they can. Long story short: Rhys and his buddy Vaughn concoct a plan to screw over Vasquez, a plan that involves stealing ten million dollars of Hyperion's money and conducting a shady business deal on Pandora, a rough-and-tumble planet overrun by bandits and fortune seekers. Thanks to some murderous corporate shuffling, Rhys butts heads with his office nemesis, Hugo Vasquez, an excruciatingly well-groomed man with a golden, cybernetic pinkie and the voice of Patrick 'Puddy' Warburton. You play as Rhys, an employee of the (evil) Hyperion corporation, which has been thrown into disarray following the death of its (evil) CEO, Handsome Jack. Tales from the Borderlands begins something like an interstellar Office Space. In other words, regardless of your level of Borderlands experience, Tales from the Borderlands is a witty, well-written adventure with broad appeal. If you know that Handsome Jack is a villain, perhaps heard his smarmy voice in a trailer or two, you should be fine.

Granted, Borderlands doesn't have the most sophisticated lore, subsisting largely on dick jokes, pop culture references and lots of screaming jerks, but suffice it to say that you don't have to be intimately familiar with Gearbox's first-person shooters to appreciate Tales. That's really the only advice I'd give to anyone looking to dip into Telltale's latest episodic series, Tales from the Borderlands. You should probably know who Handsome Jack is.

Tales from the borderlands game length