For almost 14 years now, theBorderlandsfranchise has entertained players with its zany, comical take on the first-person shooter genre. With three pretty excellent mainline entries,theBorderlandsfranchisehas some very solid groundwork underneath itself, and its growing collection of spin-offs is a testament to that. The latest experimental spin-off from theBorderlandsfranchise wasTiny Tina’s Wonderlands, a title that took the same general gameplay formula as the mainline series, but translated it to a quirky fantasy setting.
For the most part,Tiny Tina’s Wonderlandswas yet another solid entry in the beloved franchise, with some satisfying gunplay, plenty of progression systems, and enough over-the-top characters to make even the original trilogy blush. ButTiny Tina’swasn’t perfect, and if an eventual sequel is going to truly succeed, there are a few glaring errors that need to be addressed.
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What Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands 2 Needs to Do To Succeed
There’s no denying thatTiny Tina’s Wonderlandshas a very strong basis at its core. The premise alone is enough to warrant a fully-fledged game, andWonderlandsgoes above and beyond with it, both being a lighthearted criticism ofthe fantasy genreand its many, many tropes, while also being a love letter to the genre as a whole. In fact, out of the entire franchise,Tiny Tina’s Wonderlandsmay strike this balance the best, with its humor actually feeling baked into the DNA of the game as opposed to just feeling like an extra sprinkling on top.
On top of its incredibly unique satirical fantasy setting,Tiny Tina’s Wonderlandsis also a pretty solid title in terms of actual gameplay. Shooting feels better than ever,each class feels genuinely distinct, melee weapons are a nice addition, and class abilities feel even more impactful than ever before. The game’s overall aesthetic and visual design is also top-notch, with bright and bold colors galore, and plenty of variation when it comes to environments and arenas.Tiny Tina’s Wonderlandshas a very strong core, but the overall experience is significantly worsened by its weaker elements.
On average, mostBorderlandsgames take over 20 hours to finish, and well over 50 hours to complete. Even the shortestBorderlandsgame,Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, still comes in at about 18 hours to finish its main campaign.Tiny Tina’s Wonderlandscan be beaten in just 15 hours. While this length isn’t too bad for an average AAA title, it pales in comparison to the rest of the franchise, and for a series so dedicated to replayability, the shorter runtime is certainly a weak point. The skill tree system inTiny Tina’s Wonderlandscould also be improved, with it offering just one skill tree per character class, as opposed to the former games' multiple skill trees. While this streamlined the whole progression process, it made some fans feel a little limited in how they could go about creating their build, and didn’t exactly encourage repeat playthroughs or experimenting with different characters.
But by far the most disappointing aspect ofTiny Tina’s Wonderlandswas its post-launch DLC. ThroughoutBorderlandshistory, post-launch expansions have been widely considered to be some of the best content in the entire game, withTiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keepbeing the perfect example, offering a ton of unique content for a fairly low price.Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands' expansions aren’t quite as impressive, not offering whole campaigns, but instead just offering one dungeon each that players are expected to repeatedly play through in order to earn new loot. ATiny Tina’s Wonderlandssequel should definitely be considered byGearbox Software, just as long as it fixes the issues fans had with the first game.
Tiny Tina’s Wonderlandsis available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
