Telltale Games keep producing the goods. Their recent run of point and click episodic games – The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us have left them in high regard in the gaming world, and are quickly becoming one of my favourite developers. Eyebrows were raised when it was announce they were taking on two very popular franchises in Borderlands and Game of Thrones. Were they biting off more than they can chew? Could they possibly keep their high standards going with the workload and release windows?
Borderlands is one of my favourite gaming franchises in recent years, so I was interested in what Telltale would do. It has a special sort of humour, and both games mentioned above have a gritty feel to them. Happily, the humour has easily transitioned over, and playing through episode one – Zer0 Sum was a delight. You play out a story where (unsurprisingly) you are on the hunt for a vault key from two perspectives, Rhys and Fiona, characters from different worlds. Rhys’ background is as a Hyperion employee, while Fiona is a bandit from Pandora. The story is based after the events of Borderlands 2, but Handsome Jack is still referenced well, and seeing a Borderlands story told from a different perspective than usual, and through two completely different characters is a really nice change of pace from the usual FPS mechanics the series is known for.
The expected gaming mechanics are all here. Interacting with items in the environment, button prompts and of course, the conversation and story choices. I’m still not completely convinced about how much long term effect choices in these games have, but the feeling that you have control over the story is always nice. And based on the contents of the first episode, it’ll be an interesting story to be a part of, with twists and turns already apparent.
It’s difficult to put much into a review of a 2 hour gaming episode. If you are a fan of Telltale’s other games I’m sure that you will enjoy this, if you like Borderlands aswell it’s every bit more pleasing. While some things have seemingly been forced over (looting system seems fairly redundant) it’s a great and enjoyable game. I would encourage you to give it a go, regardless of whether you like Borderlands, it’s only £3.99 for the first episode, and for a fun, quirky, story driven game, it feels like a bargain. And who knows, if you’ve not played a Telltale game before, you might end up joining the rest of us on the bandwagon.
**Thank you to XCN for the opportunity to review this game**