New Tales From the Borderlands is set to introduce fans to a whole new cast of characters, with three never-before-seen figures leading the story. Since Gearbox needs to sell fans on these heroes ahead of release, more trailers makes sense, and New Tales From the Borderlands fans can now enjoy two different collections of footage.
Unlike New Tales From the Borderlands’ Gamescom trailer, which provided a montage of outrageous moments from the game alongside an official release date, the new trailers have two very clear focuses. The first is a character trailer highlighting the three main protagonists as well as some of the supporting characters that will crop up during their adventure. The second is an eighteen-minute-long gameplay demo diving into the choice-based action that will be featured.
In the character trailer, players get some more insight into New Tales From the Borderlands’ main cast. The ambitious Octavio is described as a nobody, the hard-working Fran is determined to rebuild her Frogurt shop, and the awkward scientist Anu wants to make the Borderlands universe a better place to live in. During the story, players will encounter Rhys and several interesting-looking supporting characters like Diamond Danielle and Stapleface.
As for the gameplay trailer, potential players get to see a few choices be made, showing that different approaches to certain scenarios like in the original Tales From the Borderlands will very much be possible. Quick-time-events make a return, with Fran, Anu, and Octavio sneaking by some laughably dumb Tediore soldiers. Players even get a look at Vaultlanders, an exciting mini-game that was not featured in the original Tales From the Borderlands or any other game in the series.
Vaultlanders matches will seemingly take place at random points in the story, with Octavio seen battling a Tediore guard in the gameplay demo. Though there could be a handful of mechanics, with the fights possibly becoming more complex over time, the one in this demo saw the player spamming an attack button to make their Vaultlander attack. Making miniature figures of characters like Zane and Amara do battle could be a fun distraction, and players will unlock a new Vaultlander figure every time they win one of these battles. Whether encounters like this occur outside the main story is currently unclear, though they should serve as a welcome change of pace from the usual combat encounters regardless.
With Guardians featured in the gameplay demo as well as a Ratch companion and some fun mech abilities for Fran, New Tales From the Borderlands seems to have a lot of potential. Hopefully, sidelining Fiona and giving Rhys a small role is not a misfire, with the game being everything fans have wanted for years.
New Tales from the Borderlands launches October 21 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.