How To Train Your Dragon Size Comparison

When Gearbox Studios appear Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, a fantasy-themed Borderlands spinoff, during this week'due south Summer Game Fest, information technology anticipated fans' comparisons to the Borderlands ii DLC Tiny Tina'due south Assault on Dragon Keep. But Gearbox clarified that while Wonderlands would keep the same conceit – Tiny Tina is the dungeon main of a game of "Bunkers and Badasses" and is constantly changing the game around the players — Wonderlands takes place in an entirely new world with new characters (other than Tiny Tina) and incorporates new boxing mechanics, like spellcasting.

With Wonderlands so obviously taking cues from Tiny Tina'southward Assault on Dragon Continue, one of the best and most impactful DLCs of all time, I'm worried that Gearbox is doomed to repeat the same mistakes information technology made with Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel and Borderlands three.

Tiny Tina'south large force

Gearbox has a trend to reuse and recycle the same Borderlands concepts and characters that previously resonated with players. Handsome Jack, the baddie in the extremely well-received Borderlands ii, is considered to be one of the greatest video game villains; knowing this, Gearbox constructed the less-well-received Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel around Jack's origin story.

Though The Pre-Sequel arrived after Borderlands ii, it wasn't the 3rd main-serial game that fans were looking for. That arrived in 2019 under the (apt) name Borderlands iii, which faced the titanic job of living upwards to the narrative and gameplay heights of Borderlands 2, not to mention well-nigh vii years of player anticipation. Sure, the game was fine, but that was the problem — it was just fine, non amazing.

Tiny Tina's Set on on Dragon Keep was a different story, though; there's nothing quite like it in the franchise. For almost of Borderlands two, players are stuck on Pandora, which has very like-looking landscapes and enemies. Past the time you finish the base of operations game and all the other DLCs – Assault on Dragon Keep is designed to exist played last – you're looking for something new. The Dragon Keep DLC not just provides all-new enemies, locations, and weapons (spells instead of grenades!), it presents something that the Borderlands series doesn't have a lot of: Genuine emotion.

Best DLC of Year Nominee: *Borderlands 2: Tiny Tina'south Assault on Dragon Go on*

Besides giving players more of the sense of humor and crazy antics that they've become accustomed to over the form of the game, Assail on Dragon Keep explores Tina'due south grief over the decease of Roland, a playable character in the get-go Borderlands and a central nonplayable graphic symbol in Borderlands 2. Tina, refusing to believe that Roland is really gone, makes him a character in the DLC's universe. The other NPCs, who are playing the game as Tina DMs, are looking for a style to tell her that Roland isn't coming back … but of course, this is Borderlands, and what should be elementary just isn't.

The storytelling is giddy and inane, but at that place's something much more than powerful and profound lurking only underneath the surface. Unlike almost everything else in the franchise, this aspect of the story isn't overdone – information technology's repose and understated, a meditation rather than an explosion.

Emulating the all-time of Dragon Keep

Though it takes place in a new world with new characters, Wonderlands looks to take strong cues from the incredibly positive player reaction to Set on on Dragon Keep. Though I was initially excited at the opportunity to render to a fantasy Borderlands setting, the more than I thought about information technology, the more than concerned I became. 1 of the reasons Assault on Dragon Continue works is considering it's really 2 unlike stories merged together – the story of a group of friends playing a tabletop game together and the story of a young girl processing grief. If you accept away Tina'due south story, the DLC would simply be some other reskinned Borderlands take chances – albeit an extremely creative and fun one. What gave the story power was its emotional resonance and the hard reality it forces Tina to face up.

Gearbox probable chose to spin Assault on Dragon Keep into its ain game because of its critical reception and acclamation from players. If Wonderlands wants to rise to the level of its DLC predecessor, it has to call back what made the original great in the outset place – and it's not dragons and guns.