Tales from the Borderlands

About Tales from the Borderlands

Tales from the Borderlands dropped on November 25, 2014 as a five-part episodic adventure from Telltale Games. It lands squarely in the point-and-click genre while leaning hard into puzzle solving and narrative choices. The story picks up right after Borderlands 2 on the hostile planet Pandora. You step into the shoes of Rhys, a Hyperion corporate worker, or Fiona, a street-smart con artist. These two strangers team up to find a stolen fortune while dealing with bandits and Vault Hunters. The game launched across almost every major system including PC, PlayStation 3 and 4, Xbox 360 and One, Switch, Mac, Android, and iOS. It keeps the series' signature humor alive without needing a shooter mechanic to function.

Gameplay

You spend your time clicking on objects and characters to move scenes forward or trigger dialogue trees. Choices you make in conversations ripple through later episodes to change character relationships and even specific plot outcomes. A typical session involves scanning an environment for interactive points, solving small environmental puzzles like bypassing security codes or hacking terminals, and then reacting to cinematic moments. The controls remain simple with mouse clicks on PC or controller inputs on consoles. You manage inventory items that solve problems in the immediate area. The pacing feels deliberate since every decision carries weight. There are no combat sequences here so you rely entirely on wit and persuasion to survive encounters with ruthless gangsters.

What Players Think

Critics and players have been very loud about this title. Metacritic sits at 85 out of 100 while IGDB lists an average score of 86.6 based on 562 ratings. The community vibe leans heavily toward atmospheric settings with four specific votes highlighting that mood. Players often describe the experience as long enough to satisfy a story craving but short enough to finish in a weekend. Average playtime usually lands around twelve hours for a full run-through of all five episodes. Review snippets frequently praise the writing quality and character chemistry between Rhys and Fiona. The cheapest current price sits at 15.23 on Green Man Gaming which represents a 56% discount from the standard cost. Achievements track your specific narrative choices and dialogue paths throughout the series.

PlayPile's Take

This game works best for people who want a story-driven experience without complex controls or twitch reflexes. You get five episodes of content that feel substantial enough to justify the time investment. The achievement list tracks your decisions so replaying offers different outcomes rather than just better scores. At 15.23 on sale you get a complete narrative package for less than the cost of most single DLC packs. It is not a game about high scores or speedrunning but it does offer strong emotional payoffs if you care about character arcs. Skip this if you need constant action or multiplayer modes. Finish the story and then move on to the next episode without hesitation.

Storyline

You’ll play as Rhys, a Hyperion ‘suit’ with dreams of being the next Handsome Jack, and Fiona, a Pandoran con artist looking to score her biggest ever swindle. Thrown together as unwilling partners in an adventure to recover cash they both think is theirs, their journey will take you on a wild ride where gangsters, bandit lords, and Vault Hunters are just some of the obstacles you’ll encounter, in this new take on the award-winning universe created by Gearbox Software.