Was delisted in 2019 following studio’s demise.
Telltale Games’ wonderful Tales from the Borderlands, a deliriously daft narrative adventure inspired by Gearbox’s popular series of first-person shooters, will finally return to digital storefronts next Wednesday, 17th February, following its delisting in the middle of 2019.
Tales from the Borderlands originally released in 2014, and, for my money at least, is easily the best thing Telltale ever made. It smoothes off the mainline Borderlands series’ more abrasive edges to deliver a genuinely funny, and surprisingly touching, five-episode adventure focusing on Hyperion employee Rhys (played by Troy Baker) and Pandoran con-artist Fiona (Fiona Bailey) as they attempt to locate and open a Vault.
It follows Telltales’ usual cinematic narrative adventure formula, but nails it on just about every front, with bags of style and wit, a surprisingly gripping plot, an immensely likeable cast of characters, brilliant set-pieces, and, oh yes, not one but five of the most joyously memorable intro sequences ever committed to video game.
Tales from the Borderlands – Launch Trailer.
Unfortunately, Tales from the Borderlands suffered a similar fate to numerous other Telltale titles and was removed from sale following the studio’s closure in 2018.
However, Gearbox has now announced it’ll be republishing all five episodes in a single package from 17th February, with the only change being the removal of the game’s player choice comparison screens featured at the end of each episode.
Despite its unquestionable quality, Tales from the Borderlands didn’t bring in the kind of sales Telltale management was hoping for on its original release. As a result, the series was very nearly canned at the midway point – and was only finished after its passionate development team convinced studio heads to let them wrap up production with a skeleton crew who stayed extra hours as a voluntary choice.
Tales from the Borderlands’ return to PlayStation, Xbox, and PC next week finally gives the game a second chance at success – and who knows, perhaps one day we might even see Rhys and Fiona reunite for a second, eagerly awaited adventure.
