Tales from the Borderlands: A Telltale Games Series – Episode 5 Review

Best locked in the vault?

Tales from the Borderlands has been a consistently pleasant surprise, taking the source material and regularly elevating it into something pretty special. Can this final episode, “Vault of the Traveler” keep it consistently impressive?

Story:

Picking right up from where we left off, Episode 5 gives you the opportunity to dig more into the character of Handsome Jack, and what happens when he gets his company back… Or does he? You’ll soon move off of Helios anyway, back to the planet of Pandora, where a number of the cast return (some of whom are a surprise, some less so) to watch as you start to open a Vault. Needless to say, this leads to a number of surprises, and some pretty impressive moments.

The ending is a little bit soppy really, which perhaps takes away from any of the sense of danger that you’ve been in, but it’s a minor complaint from what is a pretty cool rollercoaster ride.

Gameplay:

Vault of the Traveler is about the most action-packed episode from Telltale that I can remember, and that’s pretty neat. In fact, almost everything you’re doing in the episode is pretty cool, whether you’re hanging off the edge of a space station or battling giant robots. The only downside is that the engine really struggles to keep up at times. Whether it’s graphics loading in a little bit late, frame-rate hitches or drops, or masking activity using heavy fogging like an N64 game, Tales from the Borderlands sometimes pushes the envelope to the point where you wish the game engine was a little bit more dynamic (at least when you get a pause from the otherwise frenetic action).

Episode 5 isn’t the longest piece of content Telltale’s ever cooked up, but the ambition and bombast of it all, whilst still being wrapped up in the usual adventure game roots, is really quite something, to the point where you can look past the multiple little niggling issues pretty easily.

Presentation:

Engine strains aside, Vault of the Traveler looks nice. The Borderlands art style has always shone in this series, and the sheer quantity of locations (some of which are entirely new for the finale), is really impressive, and constantly mixes up a range of colours and aesthetics. The voice cast continues to impress, particularly the endearing Gortys robot, which somehow never grated on me despite the incessant cuteness.

Conclusion:

It’s not the perfect ending, but Tales from the Borderlands still finishes strongly. Sometimes, the action seems too extreme for an engine more suited to a slower pace of storytelling, but it just about holds up. Funny, charming, and with a fantastic cast that’s superbly voiced, Tales from the Borderlands has been a delight to play from start to finish, and it comes very highly recommended.