During today’s PlayStation Showcase, the folks over at Gearbox Software finally provided us with a more complete look at the upcoming Borderlands spin-off known as Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands.
This gameplay reveal shows off very Borderlands-y shooting against a variety of fantasy creatures and overworld adventuring of some kind, all set to a rocking Babymetal track. Oh yeah, there’s lots of guns, too. Like, lots of guns.
“We want you to explore and try all the different ways to use your firepower,” creative director Matt Cox further explained on the PlayStation Blog. “In that spirit, today’s trailer teases a significant pillar of the Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands experience: creating your own hero. We’ll have much more to share about this in the future, but we’ve built a multiclass system that lets you mix and match six unique character skill trees, all with their own awesome abilities. You can also customize how your players look and sound.”
Wonderlands takes a cue from the brilliant Borderlands 2 expansion Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep, transporting players from Borderlands’ traditional post-apocalyptic setting to a fantasy world where Tiny Tina shapes the narrative in the heat of the moment as “bunker master.” Expect over-the-top dialogue and copious references to “crunk badonkadonks,” because what would Tiny Tina be without a layer of cultural appropriation.
Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands was first announced back during Summer Games Fest. At the time, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford described Wonderlands as “a culmination of over a decade of on-and-off development towards a role-playing shooter set in a fantasy universe.”
While the game is intended to stand apart from the core Borderlands series, Wonderlands still maintains the cel-shaded graphics, co-op structure, and highly repeatable gameplay loops for which the franchise is known, just with some dragons and goblins thrown into the mix for good measure.
In addition to Ashly Burch returning to reprise her role as the eponymous Tiny Tina, the Wonderlands voice cast features the talents of legendary comedian Wanda Sykes, former Saturday Night Live cast member Andy Samberg, and Will Arnett of Arrested Development and Bojack Horseman fame.
Tiny Tina may be one of the absolute worst things about Borderlands, but as with most things concerning the notoriously cringe-y yet still addictingly fun series, I’m cautiously optimistic about what this latest loot-driven outing brings to the table.
Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands comes to PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC (courtesy of both Steam and the Epic Games Store) in early 2022.