Gearbox Studios and 2K's Borderlands series has been going from strength to strength in recent years, with creative spin-off titles like the tabletop-inspired Tiny Tina's Wonderlands and the upcoming New Tales from the Borderlands. While the mainline entries have had a bit of a break, the developer has treated fans with collaborations like Tales from the Borderlands, offering a narrative-focused, choice-based experience within the Borderlands universe. The soon-to-be-released sequel is introducing a new setting and new features like the collectible Vaultlanders.

First announced in April 2022, fans finally got a good look at the game during Gamescom in August, which showed off the changes that New Tales from the Borderlands will be making to the formula laid out by its predecessor. Alongside the new developer, there is a new cast of misfits for players to control, unique gadgets to use, and new aspects to the gameplay like the Vaultlander figurines.

RELATED: New Tales from the Borderlands Needs a Compelling Villain

Explaining Vaultlanders

vaultlanders-collectibles-new-tales-from-the-borderlands

New Tales from the Borderlands has a lot of the familiar features that players came to love from previous Telltale games – branching narratives, decision-making, a smattering of quick time events, and some light exploration of the different environments. As players look around the different areas, they'll have objects they can interact with, characters they can talk to, and now collectibles to find. These collectibles, known as Vaultlanders, seem like a Borderlands version of Activision's Skylanders – toys-to-life figurines of different characters that gamers can collect and play as.

In another video game homage, players can collect all the Vaultlanders and battle them against NPCs, much like Pokemon. Gamers battle it out and the winner takes their opponent's Vaultlander, giving them the opportunity to trade figurines as well as find them throughout the environments. A handful of Borderlands Vaultlander characters have been revealed so far, although there looks like there will be plenty more for players to discover as they journey through the story. Characters revealed so far include:

  • Phuong
  • Salvador
  • Vasquez
  • Amara
  • Zane
  • FL4K
  • HOT Loader
  • Claptrap

Vaultlanders In The Game

phuong-zane-vaultlanders-characters

The Vaultlanders have varying degrees of rarity, with characters like Amara cropping up with more regularity than Salvador, Phuong, or Vasquez. They also each have their own unique stats and abilities in addition to standard attacks and dodges, like Phuong's increased time to dodge attacks or FL4K's bonus damage on stunned opponents. By executing a series of commands, gamers take it in turn to fight, evade their opponent's moves, and unleash their special abilities.

Facing off against other figurines should provide a nice change of pace in New Tales from the Borderlands' gameplay, especially considering how combat-light these choice-based games are in general. The combat setup looks like a typical fighting game such as Tekken or Mortal Kombat with the K.O. screen and health bar, with a combination of elements from Pokemon like the cross-fade into battle. Vaultlanders seem like a fun new feature rife with Borderlands' sense of silliness and humor as dramatic fights play out with miniature versus miniature.

Vaultlander battles occur in every episode of New Tales From The Borderlands, and provide another way in which protagonists can interact with random NPCs throughout the world. Although it apparently started off as merely a selection of collectibles, the added element of a fighting mini-game gives fans something different and fresh to experience in the next installment of Borderlands content. Some may still be a little skeptical of New Tales from the Borderlands and unsure if Gearbox can live up to Telltale's legacy, but the developer's willingness to try new things in addition to honoring the old bodes well for the game.

New Tales from the Borderlands is available October 21 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

MORE: New Tales from the Borderlands' New Developer is a Gift and a Curse