Im not a big fan of Telltale or this style of game, and Borderlands only barely works in this format - but Tales From The Borderlands is captivating for one real reason: it is meta-commentary. I have no clue if its on purpose but Rhys running around haunted by the literal ghost of Handsome Jack seems to curiously mirror how the series struggled to get out from under the shadow of Jack itself. Its a very poetic observation.

Its even more poetic considering that it doesnt seem like its worked out for Borderlands as a franchise quite as well as it did for Rhys. I also personally mourn the loss of mystique for Hyperion, made all too mortal and comprehensible by the events of Tales (made partially as a companion to the events of Pre-Sequel). Something of a bittersweet feeling emerges here: yes, Tales From The Borderlands is entertaining but its also…. not really Borderlands.

On an aesthetic and tonal standpoint, this game completely oozes of style and does a very unique take on Noir style with its pencil drawn art style. The music also compliments the tone and aesthetic of the game perfectly, really giving off that 60s era America vibe. Everything about the presentation of this game is super experimental, even the way you hold the DS to play is fitting for a detective game. Cing really nailed it here.

I also really liked how every plotline in this is connected and have a very strong theme of betrayal and dreams. Makes the story feel surprisingly cohesive despite the game basically having a "victim of the week" formula with its chapters.

I kinda wish there was a thing that told you where to go half of the time. I was kind of stumbling on where to go a lot of time and committed to a lot of trial and error unless the game outright told me where to go. Puzzles can also be very brutal at times, but the puzzles that really utilized the DS's capabilities were genuinely really cool.

So yeah really cool and experimental DS game that has me super curious in checking out Last Window next.