Tales from the Borderlands is a five-part episodic adventure built on a simple joke: two people who cannot stand each other are stuck with the same treasure. Rhys is a Hyperion suit chasing a promotion. Fiona is a Pandoran con artist chasing her biggest score. They both think the cash is theirs, and the game spends five episodes making them work it out on Pandora.
Trailer, via IGDBcom.
Two Liars and One Vault
Telltale Games developed and published Tales from the Borderlands under license from Gearbox Software and 2K. It came out in November 2014 for Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One, then reached Nintendo Switch in 2021. The story sits after Borderlands 2, when word has spread that Vaults exist beyond Pandora and every fortune hunter in the galaxy wants a Key.
Rhys (Troy Baker) has a cybernetic eye that scans objects in the environment. Fiona (Laura Bailey) has a sister, Sasha (Erin Yvette), and a mentor named Felix (Norman Hall). Rhys has Vaughn (Chris Hardwick) and a rival boss, Hugo Vasquez (Patrick Warburton). The supporting cast runs deep: August (Nolan North), Vallory (Susan Silo), Cassius Leclemaine (Phil LaMarr), and the robot Gortys (Ashley Johnson).
Quick Time Events, Timed Choices
This is a point-and-click graphic adventure in the Telltale mold, the same episodic structure the studio used for The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us. Players move Rhys and Fiona through environments, scan items, solve simple puzzles and pick up scattered cash for a loot system. Most of the actual play is reacting to on-screen prompts and quick time events.
Conversation trees drive the story. Choices are often timed, and they shape later episodes — including how the two leads feel about each other. The game also shows shared events from both perspectives, a trick Telltale’s Kevin Bruner called the “Big Fish version of what happened.”
An Engine That Shows Its Age
The criticism lands where it always did for Telltale: an aging engine and gameplay repeated from earlier titles in the catalog. That complaint is fair and it is also small. What carries Tales from the Borderlands is the writing — sharp characterization, real emotional depth, creative setpieces, and a pathos nobody expected from a Borderlands spinoff.
The two leads do the heavy lifting. Rhys wants to be the next Handsome Jack and keeps discovering what that costs. Fiona wants the score and keeps discovering what she will trade for it. The game’s best move is refusing to let either one be the straight man.
After the Studio Closed
Telltale shut down suddenly in 2018, and Tales was pulled from sale along with much of its catalog. 2K Games acquired the property and republished the series starting in February 2021. A successor, New Tales from the Borderlands, arrived in October 2022.
That history matters when weighing the game now. It is a finished, self-contained story from a studio that no longer exists in its old form, and it holds up better than most of its siblings precisely because it does not depend on a sequel.
What Holds Up
Tales from the Borderlands earns its reputation. The engine creaks, the puzzles are thin, and the quick time events will not convert anyone who bounced off Telltale’s house style. Everything around that scaffolding is excellent: two protagonists worth following, a comedy that lands, and an ending that earns the sentiment it reaches for. The episodic format, once a marketing gimmick, here does real work — each chapter ends on a choice you actually think about.
KEY FACTS
– Score: 8.8/10
– Released: November 2014
– Episodes: 5
– Platforms: Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch (2021)
– Developer: Telltale Games
– Successor: New Tales from the Borderlands, October 2022
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