Gearbox Software and 2K Games' violent space western series Borderlands has had many successful entries. The games' unique blend of outrageous gore, silly humor, and cell-shaded style made the original Borderlands trilogy a success and launched a slew of spin-off titles as well. Building on Borderlands 2's Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep DLC, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands takes players once more into the twisted world of Bunkers & Badasses – the franchise's take on Dungeons & Dragons. Tina Tiny's Wonderlands was well-received by fans and was felt by some to be the best FPS action of the series so far, and it had a great mix of Borderlands-ness as well as original elements.
While Tiny Tina's Wonderlands looks very much at home within the Borderlands franchise's specific aesthetic and sensibility, it does try to forge its own path with some of its features. Developer Gearbox Software seems to be trying out some new things while hoping to improve on some aspects of the original games that might feel a little aged. With its own distinct blend of classic Borderlands characteristics and new-to-the-series features, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is really its own beast.
A More Fantastical Focus
One of the biggest ways Tiny Tina's Wonderlands separates itself from its predecessors is with its setting. It still retains a lot of the Borderlands look and feel, but it moves the action from planets like Pandora to a more fantasy-themed locale complete with dungeons, castles, and swords. Taking inspiration from fantasy tabletop role-playing games, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands moves away from Borderlands' punky sci-fi settings and establishes its own style.
In addition to informing its setting, the tabletop role-playing focus also changes the dynamics of gameplay. Instead of a more straightforward action FPS, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands has an omnipotent dungeon master (or Bunker Master, as the case may be) in the form of Tiny Tina and features an overworld that players can use to move about the various regions. This adds a layer which isn't present in other Borderlands games and helps with Tiny Tina's Wonderlands' tabletop aspirations.
Character Customization
Borderlands games typically feature a group of Vault Hunters that players can choose to play, each one with their own class, look, and personality complete with a specific voice actor. Tiny Tina's Wonderlands switches this up, and in true RPG fashion, lets players create a character of their own. This includes customizing how their character looks and plays, with six classes to choose from as well as a secondary to select. Tiny Tina's Wonderlands offers players so much more freedom in this respect and even lets them take along a companion or two depending on their class selection.
The characters in the Borderlands trilogy were great, but it was usually the NPCs that became more popular with players rather than the Vault Hunters that they were playing as. Tiny Tina's Wonderlands circumvents this problem and lets gamers create their own character from the ground up, choosing their voice and background, and imbuing them with their own personality and quirks instead of relying on a preset version. Mix and matching character skills give players a lot more scope when it comes to how they want to play as well, rather than locking them into Borderlands' more restrictive class and weapons systems.
Mixing Up The Weaponry
Rather than a pure focus on ranged weapons, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands gives players a lot more options and combos to take out enemies and approach combat. Although games like Borderlands 3 gave gamers the chance to unlock three special skills and use abilities like Amara's elemental fists, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands takes this further with a wide variety of spells that characters can use alongside their guns and melee weapons.
Switching up spells for grenades in Tiny Tina's Wonderlands was a popular move in the opinion of some fans. Not only does it tie in really well to the new fantasy focus, but short cooldowns and unique options make for some fun and tactical gameplay, as well as some interesting combos. Melee weapons have been another great addition to the Borderlands-style combat, and it is hopefully one of the many things that Gearbox will take from Tiny Tina's Wonderlands into the next mainline entry.
Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is available for PC, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.