In early 2022, Borderlands developer Gearbox Software released a fully-realized franchise spin-off called Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands that I think elevates the story, world, characters, and gameplay mechanics of its core series into something truly magical and exciting.
It’s a rare video game offshoot that actually excels at the key ideas in its own franchise, while also having plenty of new stuff to bring to the table. So often, the industry pumps out an endless stream of similar, safe content — but Wonderlands discards those norms and really embraces its own weirdness. That it was produced almost entirely under remote work conditions is all the more impressive, and its inviting look, impressive cast, and toned down level of violence make it the perfect entry point into the series if you’ve never touched one of these games before.
I’ve been in on Borderlands since the very beginning. Way back in 2009, it was not at all the giant multimedia IP that it is today. The first game was actually a bit of a gamble. Gearbox was perhaps most known for their work porting console games like Halo to PC, or for their tactical military Brothers in Arms series. A sci-fi game about weird characters in masks running around in the desert with…
