Fun fact about Borderlands fans: We could always use some morederlands. Good news, then, seeing as Gearbox revealed what’s next for the long-running series of loot shooters at today’s kickoff event for Gamescom: The sequel for Tales From the Borderlands is out October 21, 2022, for consoles and PC.
Here’s a trailer:
Fans have long wanted a sequel to Tales From the Borderlands, the 2014 narrative game developed by Telltale. It’s long held up by fans as the most riveting story in Borderlands canon, one that never got the sequel it deserved. But there’s some trepidation. This sequel is being spearheaded in-house by Gearbox, rather than by the developers of the original. Telltale, meanwhile, having risen from the ashes like a phoenix in 2019, is making a game based on The Expanse, Amazon’s hard sci-fi space opera.
At Gamescom, Gearbox head Randy Pitchford said New Tales From the Borderlands will feature new characters and a new story. Pitchford also noted that some members of the original game’s creative team worked on this one as well.
Held each year in Cologne, Germany, Gamescom is exactly what’s on the tin: a convention about kölsh–no, wait, no. About games. It runs for about a week each year, having attained a reputation as a sort of mini-E3, a status that has only grown in the absence of an actual E3. As with previous years, this year’s Gamescom kicked off with a two-hour showcase hosted by the planet’s leading purveyor of world premieres, Geoff Keighley.
There’s a lot in Borderlands Land through 2022. In March, Gearbox released Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands. Technically a follow-up to the Borderlands 2 expansion Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon’s Keep—widely regarded as the best expansion in the series—Wonderlands is also more or less Borderlands by way of D&D. It’s pretty fun, riffing on the long-running formula and trimming away the parts that don’t work, like driving.
But Borderlands games have lived and died by their expansions (to wit: that Wonderlands exists in the first place). These games are known for receiving a slew of meaty, narrative-driven campaigns in the wake of release. Wonderlands’ expansions, however, have not been particularly expansive, offering little more than singular dungeons—sold for approximately the same cost as previous season passes. This has rubbed fans the wrong way.
Also on the way is a film adaptation with a supernova of star power: Cate Blanchett as the magically imbued Lilith, Jack Black as the annoying AF robot Claptrap, Kevin Hart as the stoic soldier Roland, Jamie Lee Curtis as the, uh, morally questionable scientist Patricia Tannis. Some footage from the film screened at this year’s CinemaCon, to loud acclaim. But the production company, Lionsgate, has yet to release it publicly.