Gearbox Software did an interview with Eurogamer about New Tales From The Borderlands. Lead writer Lin Joyce tells how they wanted to make sure they were injecting character and consequence in the choices you make.
Fran can take a more brute-force approach to puzzling, for example, thanks to her supremely well-quipped hover-chair, while Octavio – with his always-online outlook and social media presence – uses his smart-watch-like ECHOdex to get help from friends or to progress the story. And as for Anu, her skillset is intended to be a homage to the original game, with a greater focus on exploration and item use.
Storyboard
Here is a visual presentation of the sequence that we saw in the first Gameplay Demonstration. As our three underdogs made their way into the sewers they encounter a guard. You are given two choices here.
- Octavio’s Plan: Go stealthily and try and avoid the Tediore guards.
- Fran’s Plan: Slam your way through
As you go through the storyboard you can see the different camera angles on how they are going to tell the story but you also see what happens when you choose A or B and what happens if you successfully did the Quick Time Event or not.
I and a few other NextMakers received a private presentation from Gearbox Software and 2K Games where they showed off this segment. The fun thing was, is that they showed how Fran’s plan failed horribly. This is when they explained how hard failures work, however, everyone was like OMG WHAT JUST HAPPENED!
Yes, New Tales From The Borderlands has hard failures that will result in a Game Over screen. However, not every encounter will be like that and the game resets you back to the big choice moment. That way, you can choose plan B or go ahead with the initial plan and hopefully succeed in the Quick Time Event.
On top of that, if Quick Time Events isn’t your thing, you can go into the settings and adjust the response time and even allow for any button to result in successfully completing the event.
New Tales From The Borderlands releases October 21, 2022, on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X and Series S, and PlayStation 5.
