Video Game / New Tales from the Borderlands

Make mayhem your business.

"Sometimes, all it takes to change the galaxy is a trio of losers trying to get through a bad day."

— Marcus

New Tales from the Borderlands is an adventure game and sequel to Borderlands spin-off, Tales from the Borderlands. It is developed by Gearbox Studio Québec. The game was released on October 21, 2022.

The game follows three new protagonists, ordinary citizens Anu (a scientist at Atlas with a strong dislike of animal experimentation), Octavio (Anu's adopted brother, Con Man and entrepeneur aspirant with a huge ego), and Fran (a handicapped woman who owns Rhys' favorite frogurt store), as their planet of Promethea is suddenly invaded by the Tediore company, searching for yet another vault. Together, they set out to reach the vault first, make their fortunes, and save their home from corporate greed.

Previews: Announcement trailer, Character trailer, Gameplay trailer

---

New Tales from the Borderlands includes examples of the following:

• Action Survivor: Much like Rhys and Fiona, the protagonists are not badass Vault Hunters and are instead down-on-their-luck nobodies with big dreams who nonetheless get wrangled into an adventure that pits them against a galactic corporation.
• Ascended Extra: Tediore, a low quality gun maker in the series, is a major antagonistic faction for the game. They invade Promethea at the beginning of the game.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!: The Krieg Vaultlander figure's ability allows him to attack quicker than the other Vaultlanders. In order to emphasize this, he has poor defense.
• Bait-and-Switch: Reba seems to be a bitch who won't approve Fran's insurance claims. She approves it without much issue.
• Big Bad: Susan Coldwell, CEO of Tediore.
• Bittersweet Ending: The endings other than the Golden Ending end with Tediore's defeat, but several characters (including one of the protagonists) dying.
• The Cameo:
  • Athena is present during a meeting among the various CEOs of the setting, including Rhys, Wainwright Jakobs, Mr. Torgue and Katagawa Sr.
  • Fiona shows up at the end, where it's revealed that the entire game was a story that Marcus was telling her.
• Call-Back: Tediore's guns with legs make a return from 3. One of them, Brock, is a talking weapon that was owned by the Tediore Commander who one of your allies murdered during the early stages of the Tediore invasion.
• Continuity Nod:
  • The Axton Vaultlanders figure's description mentions that he's a Commando in combat. In Borderlands 2, his overall class is Commando.
  • The Fiona Vaultlanders figure's description contains "Hint: It's a gun".
  • The Roland Vaultlanders figure's description mentions that he's been honorably discharged from the Crimson Lance.
• Corporate Warfare: The game involves Tediore invading the heroes' homeworld, in search for Atlas's own Vault Key.
• Critical Hit Class: The Fiona^note Can deal critical damage on normal attacks and Mordecai^note Increased critical damage Vaultlanders figures are specialized in dealing critical hits.
• Cutting Off the Branches: The game puts next to no attempt into incorporating choosing to kill Bivington Bradwick, as regardless of choice he's mentioned as being alive in most of the endings and Octavio having never killed anyone can be a literal plot point later on.
• Deadly Game: The third episode has the characters compete in a Game Show calleed "Sink or Swim", which is basically Shark Tank but with the caveat of being tossed into a literal shark tank if you fail to impress the host.
• Everyone Lives: The Golden Ending, in which Anu, Fran and Octavio manage to work together to defeat Coldwell and save Promethea, with L0U13 having been rebuilt by the time of the epilogue.
• Fiction 500: The "Dirty Thirty", which is basically the Fortune 500 of Promethea. Octavio's primary dream in life is to somehow get on that list.
• Guide Dang It!: Most of the Vaultlanders can be found with some exploration or as rewards. However, other have... quirky collection methods:
  • Axton requires you to retweet @GearboxOfficial.
  • Salvador requires you to connect a SHiFT account to a Borderlands or Wonderlands game.
  • Zer0 requires you to finish Episode 5 with 80% or more Skateboard score.
• Handicapped Badass: One of the protagonists, Francine 'Fran' Miscowiz, uses a wheelchair. She is shown to be very tough and feisty regardless
• Joke Character: The Claptrap Vaultlander figure you can find, having abysmal damage and defense, and no special ability. Managing to scrape a win with him awards a trophy/achievement.
  Ability description: WARNING: DO NOT USE!
• Joker Immunity: The Handsome Jack Vaultlander figure description invokes the trope, saying he has "Trouble staying dead".
• Lotus-Eater Machine: As the "angel investor", Susan put Anu, Octavio, and Fran in these so she can trap them in cages.
• Motor Mouth: Claptrap's Vaultlander figure description mentions that he's a "non-stop talker".
• Multiple Endings: The game has multiple endings depending on the in-game Relationship Values of the characters.
• Pre-Ending Credits: The credits roll montage happens at the middle of every chapter, including the final chapter.
• Regenerating Health: The Maya Vaultlander figure's ability allows her to recover HP over time.
• Relationship Values: The relationship between each of the protagonists is tallied by the end, resulting in an overall "Skateboard Score".
• Running Gag:
  • TIMM-E randomly popping up.
  • Doubles as Recurring Boss, after episode 2, each protagonist can find the Badass Superfan, and he challenges them to a game of Vaultlanders.
• Sequel Hook: The ending reveals that Marcus Kincaid is telling the story to Fiona, who is going after the vault shard
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: Episode Three has the characters compete in a Game Show to get some start-up capital for a potential business... only for Octavio to blow all of that money on effectively renovating Fran's Frogurt Shop.
• Shout-Out:
  • When Anu's inspecting for a second time Fran's jukebox, she asks why is there a camera inside the jukebox. Fran replies that it's for her "OnlyFrans" subscription service.
  • One of the answers Octavio has for Anu's question prior to "Sink or Swim" in order to calm her anxiety is to imagine the audience naked.
• Tempting Fate: After defeating the Devourer and getting its green crystal, Octavio assures Anu that everything's going to be okay. Cue two Tediore grunts finding out Anu's worker tag in the next scene.
• Two Girls and a Guy: The main characters: the female Anu and Fran and the male Octavio.
• Vampiric Draining: The Vasquez Vaultlanders figure's ability allows him to heal himself from damaging the opponent.

---

Fran: If you happen to see any corpses along the way, uh, don't worry about them... They're just, uh... yeah. Don't worry about them.

---