The game looks great, and one of my favorite parts was just watching the characters move in scenes. The dialogue and movement always match perfectly, with Octavio's loosey-goosey style countered by his sister's quick anxious movements and Fran's stillness in her hoverchair. It's clear the development team and cast put a lot of effort into the motion capture performances. On top of that, the settings are always covered in little touches that just make the world feel developed. As for the dialogue itself, if you know Borderlands, then you already know what it's like: dark humor and serious conversation all blend together in a soup, each standing out in its own moment without muddying the overall flavor profile.

It's hard to put a finger on what, exactly, as the action plays out during a virtual demo presented by Gearbox, the studio handling development after Telltale, the spinoff's originator, died in 2018 and then (sort of) came back the next year. The setup is reminiscent of the original "Tales from the Borderlands" while starring a new cast: Anu, Octavio and Fran, three lovable losers who'd likely be background NPCs in a standard first-person shooter "Borderlands" game, bumble, stumble and stutter their way through the machinations of evil capitalists and a planetary invasion on the worst day of their lives. There are jokes and quips aplenty. There are dialogue choices, quick-time events and minigames. Octavio, the main male lead, exudes a certain-to-be-humbled cocksureness that's reminiscent of previous "Tales" lead Rhys, except streetwise instead of corporate.