Gearbox Software is known for supporting its games well after launch through regular updates and paid expansions, and Borderlands 2 was no exception to that rule. In 2013, Gearbox Software released the popular Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep expansion for Borderlands 2, giving the looter-shooter a fantasy makeover in the form of a Dungeons & Dragons parody game hosted by fan favorite character Tiny Tina. It seems Assault on Dragon Keep was popular enough to justify Gearbox exploring the concept further in a full-fledged game, as Tiny Tina's Wonderlands takes that foundation and makes a proper standalone experience out of it.

Tiny Tina's Wonderlands tells a story that primarily takes place in the made-up world of Wonderlands, which exists through the Borderlands version of D&D, Bunkers & Badasses. Instead of taking on the role of a Vault Hunter like in previous Borderlands games, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands players instead play as The Fatemaker, a completely original, made-up character that they are free to customize to their liking.

Tiny Tina's Wonderlands' character customization is one of the key ways that it stands apart from other games in the Borderlands series, with Gearbox giving players a lot to work with to make their character look exactly how they want. Players unlock more customization options later in the game to further refine their look, but what's there at the start is plenty and helps give Tiny Tina's Wonderlands a personal touch.

This freedom to customize one's character extends beyond their looks. Tiny Tina's Wonderlands has six classes to choose from, all with their own skill trees and unique abilities. Later in the game, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands lets players pick a second class as well, further deepening the build options and giving players more agency over their character than they have ever had before.

Once players have made their character and selected their class, they are set loose in the Wonderlands, a fantasy world that is a breath of fresh air after multiple games set on the desert planet, Pandora. Gearbox has created a fun world with numerous visually distinct areas that makes it a treat to see where exactly Tina's imagination will take players next. One area looks like something out of a fairytale book, with players fighting trolls and goblins, while the next may be a beach area patrolled by land-based shark monsters.

Unfortunately, engaging with these enemies and exploring the levels can sometimes become monotonous, even with the visual variety. Combat in Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is the exact same that players will remember from Borderlands, except they now have spells to use instead of grenades. Each area boils down to shooting all the nearby bullet-sponge enemies and then moving on to the next, without much need for strategy, unless one is playing on the higher difficulties or tackling the more challenging endgame content.

It doesn't take long to see everything Tiny Tina's Wonderlands has to offer from a combat standpoint, and unfortunately, the repetitive combat isn't the only bad habit it brings over from Borderlands. One of Borderlands' defining traits is that there is an absurd number of guns that players loot on their adventure, and the same holds true for the weapons in Tiny Tina's Wonderlands. The problem is the vast majority of this loot is completely worthless, really only worth picking up to be sold at a vendor later. Gearbox has once again gone with a quantity over quality approach with loot, which means spending a lot of time managing one's inventory and making trips to vending machines.

The unfortunate thing is that there are a couple of seemingly obvious ways to improve this aspect of the experience. One would be to tone down Tiny Tina's Wonderlands loot drops so that players may be picking up less stuff, but at least it will be more worthwhile whenever something is found. The other would be to make sure precious inventory slots aren't wasted on stuff like cosmetics. With cosmetics, players have to pick them up, then go into their inventory and click on them to claim them. Players can't sell unclaimed cosmetics, so it's strange that they aren't automatically redeemed upon collection. It's a small thing, but it adds up to more time wasted in the inventory menu.

It doesn't help that there are plenty of glitches that revolve around inventory, some of which seemed to have carried over from Borderlands 3. It's not uncommon at all for items to be marked as unsellable even though they can be sold, and sometimes the pictures for items in one's inventory will simply disappear.

The inventory isn't the only thing that's bugged in Tiny Tina's Wonderlands. Players will run into all kinds of problems when playing the game, like lag, freezing, the quest list not appearing, and Chaos Chamber loot disappearing into the ground. There is a particularly annoying problem when it comes to the Shift Servers, as the game will sometimes struggle to connect or stay connected to the servers, which translates to long stretches of freezing and stuttering until it resolves itself.

Tiny Tina's Wonderlands has serious technical problems, but it has fixed some of the issues that were present in Borderlands 3 at least. As some may recall, Borderlands 3 had bad lag when playing split-screen, stuttering the game whenever the other player opened their menu. This problem is nonexistent when playing Tiny Tina's Wonderlands split-screen. Split-screen, in general, has been improved, with Tiny Tina's Wonderlands players also finally having the choice between horizontal and vertical split-screen.

So putting aside the technical issues and monotonous combat, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands provides a looter-shooter adventure that is fun to play with friends and is mostly entertaining throughout. There are plenty of funny jokes in the game for those that enjoy Borderlands-style humor and the actors all deliver great performances, with Tiny Tina's Wonderlands' voice cast featuring Ashly Burch as Tiny Tina, joined by Hollywood talent Will Arnett, Andy Samberg, and Wanda Sykes voicing the rest of the main characters.

That being said, Tina's over-the-top personality is definitely better in smaller doses, as players will likely get tired of hearing her say, "RNG ain't got nothing on you" and similar lines whenever they pick up one of Tiny Tina's Wonderlands' lucky dice collectibles. Otherwise, the main story has fun set pieces and a couple of emotional moments that definitely make it worth playing through for Borderlands fans. It's also much better-paced than Borderlands 3, as it's shorter and less bloated with filler.

There's plenty to like about Tiny Tina's Wonderlands' main story, but the side quests really outshine it. The side quests in Tiny Tina's Wonderlands are often hilarious, with one of the most entertaining mixing hillbilly Smurf-like creatures, zombie apocalypse tropes, and Star Wars to great effect.

After beating the side quests and main story, players will likely want to turn their attention to the Chaos Chamber. The Chaos Chamber in Tiny Tina's Wonderlands serves as the endgame content, with players slaughtering a room of enemies, choosing a curse to make the next room more difficult, and trying to make it to the end to get the best loot possible. Tiny Tina's Wonderlands' combat isn't really its strong suit, but the Chaos Chamber curses help to make it a lot more interesting than what players experience in the story content, so there is still some fun to be had here.

Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is an easy recommendation for Borderlands and D&D fans, but those who have had their fill of the franchise may get tired of the repetitive combat and constantly looting useless items. The technical problems are the biggest issue, so hopefully, Gearbox Software releases new Tiny Tina's Wonderlands updates to address them soon.

Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. Game Rant was provided with a PS5 code for this review.