Despite becoming second fiddle to the online multiplayer genre for a while in the early-mid 2010s, strong, narrative-driven single-player titles have always been a major part of the video game industry, and over the last few years, they've come back even bigger and better than ever. Narrative-focused horror games, Sci-Fi titles, fantasy epics, and post-apocalyptic experiences have all returned to dominate the market once more, and Gearbox's upcoming New Tales From the Borderlands wants a piece of the action.
Acting as a light continuation of Telltale's Tales From the Borderlands series, Gearbox's New Tales From the Borderlands features a lot of the same gameplay elements, a similar atmosphere, and a familiar tone, but its story is completely new. New Tales From the Borderlands sees players take control of three brand-new, very different protagonists who all come together to face off against a planetary invasion, and capitalism.
Every New Tales From the Borderlands Character Confirmed So Far
New Tales From the Borderlands has three primary protagonists that players will be controlling. The first of these is Fran, a wheelchair-bound woman of business. In the recent New Tales From the Borderlands character trailer, Fran is shown to run her own frozen yogurt store, which has just recently been sabotaged by Susan Coldwell, who seems to be a classic corporate Borderlands antagonist.
Next up is Octavio Wallace-Dahr, whose biggest ambition in life is to get on Forge's "Super Successful Dirty Thirty" list, a not-so-subtle riff on Forbes' similarly titled list. Octavio believes getting on this list, by any means necessary, is a way to show the world that he exists and is worth something. The last of New Tales From the Borderlands' protagonists, Anu, is Octavio's big sister, who seems much more established than her brother. A top member of the science facility Atlas, Anu uses her brains to push the world toward peace, and she makes it her mission to eradicate any type of violence.
Eventually, the three meet through some currently unknown circumstances, stumbling upon something that could change their lives forever. In the recent trailer, all three protagonists give their motivations quickly and clearly, with Anu saying that she wants to change the world for the better, Octavio expressing his desire to get rich and famous, and Fran saying that she wants to take down Susan Coldwell. They may not be the most vibrant or outlandish Borderlands characters, but Anu, Octavio, and Fran have the potential to be some of the series' most fleshed-out, just like the cast of the original Tales From the Borderlands.
During the trailer, a few other characters are seen conversing with the game's heroes. First up is LOU13, a vicious, smooth-talking robot assassin that hangs around with Octavio. Anu's assistant, Phuong, is also spotted in the trailer, talking to Anu about her recent scientific invention. After showcasing the three playable protagonists and their allies, the New Tales From the Borderlands character trailer then shows a brief montage of some of the rest of the cast, all of which seem to suit Borderlands' tone perfectly. There's a psycho called Stapleface, an Australian assassin called Lor, and more. Rounding out the trailer is a brief cameo of Rhys, the main protagonist of the original Tales From the Borderlands and a major player in Borderlands 3's story. As the CEO of Atlas, it seems likely that Rhys is going to have a pretty close relationship with Anu from the get-go.
New Tales from the Borderlands launches October 21 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.