Tales from the Borderlands

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January 2017

Tales from the Borderlands was made by the same people who made The Walking Dead games. It follows a similar format, which is to say that the game centers on your making choices that significantly affect the outcome of the game. Unlike The Walking Dead games, the focus of Tales from the Borderlands is more about fun and humor rather than horror. You play each section as one of two characters, typically alternating between the two. In general, I'd say that the decisions seem less impactful that in TWD games, but that might just be because main characters die in TWD games like every two minutes.

The general plot of the game involves two guys who work for Hyperion, a ruthless corporation that hangs in space above the planet Pandora. They hate their boss and go down to Pandora to do something that would both screw over their boss and get them ahead. They bump into two other characters who are trying to run a grift, but get caught part way through. Hilarity ensues.

It's hard to discuss the game too much without spoiling it since the whole point of playing the game is for the story. Suffice it to say that it's well made and genuinely funny, and if you like other games made by TellTale Games then you'll probably like this.

	The town where the protagonists meet.	It's a reasonable request, really.
The male protagonist has a cybernetic eye and can get information from various objects in the environment.		Some other significant players in our tale.
You enter a race with psychos.
You need to use a retinal scanner and there is a corpse in a container nearby. He's stuck so you have to take out his eye.		Turns out it's not a corpse, but someone cryogenically frozen . . . oops.
A very large monster is after you.	That H in the sky is Hyperion headquarters.
BOOM!		While being held onboard by only your shoe . . . off it comes.
	Somehow Handsome Jack has made a horcrux of sorts and has his consciousness installed in one of the protagonists.
Scooter.
		!
To make a long story short . . . you need this guys face.	Most of the story is actually being told to someone else. This guy has captured the protagonists and is asking about their story.	Wait, how do I orient my hand to use a lever?

There is a very tense part where you are hanging on to a ledge for dear life. It turns out you weren't as high up as you thought.		It's a reasonable question.

Someone has a face that you need. He's wearing it, but he's asleep . . .
He's be great at that accounting firm in Parks and Recreation.		You "kill" all of these people with finger guns.
Handsome Jack"s old office.	Usually the choices aren't this blatant.	Fine then.
An escape pod.		You select a squad at the end for an important mission.
A large scale mega battle.

A Pacific Rim style slicing.		This is probably my favorite joke in the game. Someone is badly injured and he starts crying on them. He says this after the victim protests.
The Vault!
Oooh, mysterious!		Obligatory platinum trophy screenshot.
At the end you can see how much certain people aligned with you.