New Tales From The Borderlands Announced, Releasing This October

Developer Gearbox Software and publisher 2K revealed that the spiritual successor to Telltale’s Tales from the Borderlands is called New Tales from the Borderlands and, it’s out this October. 

More specifically, it will be out October 21, 2022, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. This news comes by way of the official reveal trailer for Tales from the Borderlands, which showcases the game’s setting, its cast, and more. Perhaps most importantly, it also highlights just how similar this is to Telltale’s beloved Borderlands narrative-driven adventure game. Sure, there’s a new cast and story happening, but the game seems to be very much like its beloved predecessor. Your choices and how they affect the overarching story remain important, which is a great start for this sequel. 

Check out the New Tales from the Borderlands reveal trailer below: 

Ahead of this trailer’s release, I spoke to Gearbox Software director of production James Lopez, and Gearbox Studio Quebec producer Frédéric Scheubel, about the new game and how it aims to bring players back to the universe of Borderlands in a way unique to the Tales from the Borderlands series. 

“Every choice you make can and will affect the events that unfold in the story, often in unexpected ways, so you’ll have to play through the whole game to see what event or what choice affected what ending you see or what event was triggered during the process,” Scheubel tells me. “This is not a sequel to Tales from the Borderlands. This is a brand new story with brand new characters and a new cast. However, we treated it as a spiritual successor to Tales from the Borderlands. You’ll find a familiar story structure and familiar gameplay, but with an added Gearbox touch, on the animation side, on the art side, so it’s pretty much something familiar with a bonified experience.” 

Lopez says that almost all the characters in the story will be new, although there will be callbacks to characters from previous games, including Tales from the Borderlands and Borderlands 3. 

“By and large, [it’s] a standalone product,” he says. “We want to make it entirely contained and different so that people, whether they’re returning fans or new players, can fully enjoy the game without having to worry too much about what came before.” 

The developer duo tells me that the game will still be episodic, like its predecessor, while also taking a note out of Deck Nine’s Life is Strange: True Colors. All episodes will be available on day one. Lopez says you can play through them, front to back, or you can even start with an episode smack dab in the middle of the story (although the freedom to do that is there, he’s not sure why someone would). 

“As someone who worked on the previous Tales, I was acutely aware it was a critical darling,” Lopez says. “The people who played it love it. Rather than trying to follow in those footsteps, we try to acknowledge the route those steps took, but then try to do something different. Use the formula, use what worked, but do it Gearbox style. This is the first time we’ve made this kind of game internally. As [Scheubel] mentioned, we did partner with some people who worked on Tales to make sure we understand the philosophy behind how they make those sorts of games, and what’s the philosophy of choice.” 

Scheubel says one of the challenges behind the game’s production was the COVID-19 pandemic. In making a spiritual successor, the team wanted the art to be closer to that of Borderlands 3, and in doing so, they committed to extensive motion capture work. However, the pandemic made that near impossible, and the team had to tweak the story to address the risks. Ultimately, there were fewer people on set. The game is more intimate, and for the better, according to Scheubel, as a result. That’s why instead of focusing on a massive cast of characters, New Tales from the Borderlands will be about Anu, Octavio, and Fran, an unlikely trio. 

“New Tales from the Borderlands immerses players in a deep and original story full of unexpected turns, heartwarming emotion, and classic Borderlands humor,” a press release reads. “Within the perpetually war-torn metropolis of Promethea, players will decide the fates of three underdogs out to make mayhem their business, with altruistic scientist Anu, her ambitious ‘streetwise’ brother Octavio, and the fierce, frogurt-flinging Fran.

“Players will face down a planetary invasion, vicious vault monster, and cold-hearted capitalists in this cinematic thrill ride where what happens next depends on their decisions. Every choice big or small can impact how the story unfolds, often in unexpected ways, and only by playing through the game will players fully understand how their decision can change the Borderlands.”  

One thing the team took to heart with developing New Tales from the Borderlands is ensuring that every input on the controller – every choice – matters. The studio wanted payoffs of all types based on your choices, which took a lot of planning. That planning, which spans back at least two and a half years, will come to fruition soon when New Tales from the Borderlands hits PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC. 

What do you think about this New Tales from the Borderlands announcement trailer? Let us know in the comments below!