In 2013, Gearbox released the fourth DLC of Borderlands 2, Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep, where the characters from Borderlands sat and rolled dices in “Bunkers & Badasses”, a Borderland-style Dungeons & Dragons. Now the insane “Bunker Master” girl is back in the standalone Chaotic Fantasy Looter Shooter Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands with fresh and crazy adventures.
In the preview demo, we found this Borderlands spin-off still has a taste of the entertaining chaos and sarcasm. The story is wild, the enemy design is creative, and guns, lots of guns. Meanwhile, the game has rich fantasy elements. The spell mechanics give players new methods in battle like summoning a meteor above the enemies’ heads or creating a deadly singularity to prevent their targets from running away. Melee weapons like axes or swords are decent choices to perform a foolhardy but satisfying leaping cleave. Even Claptrap has a new body with a wooden shell and steampipes, spoil alert; it is selfish and annoying as always. It keeps everything people love from the looter-shooter franchise and makes a great combination with a fantasy world.
The best thing in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is the story. It feels like a typical tabletop RPG campaign but hosted by a girl who loves bloodshed and explosions. In the 4-5 hours preview walkthrough, the primary task is helping goblin freedom fighters to liberate their fellows. Despite how it sounds, the players will realize there is nothing super-serious about the game and will be having fun in no time. The goblins formally and proudly call themselves GTFO (Goblins Tired of Forced Oppression), reminding us it is the Borderlands we are familiar with.
The side quest “Non-Violent Offender” is even better. In D&D and some other tabletop RPGs, players can solve problems peacefully with skills like persuasion, deception, or seduction. In that side quest, the game offers similar choices for players in true Borderlands style. We tried a seduction playthrough, and it was very amusing. The player character spoke to various enemies like an evil mage, an ugly goblin guard, or a skeleton warrior with awkward romantic lines. Surprisingly, some of them worked, making it even more entertaining. Still, the game leaves the option to solve the quest in an old-fashioned way, including attacking the boss before it finishes an introduction with its extremely long title.
For players who want to try Borderlands in a different style or seek a unique D&D-like experience with chaos and laughter, it is the time to “roll for initiatives suckas!”