Back when Gearbox first announced Borderlands, they were the studio known to me as the makers of some Half-life expansions and the folks that ported Halo: Combat Evolved to PC. But once Borderlands released, they proved that they had the potential to create something new and fun, since then they have kept the fun going, with sequels and countless expansions for the series, but Tiny Tina’s Wonderland marks the first spin-off, after spending time with the game, I feel good about this new adventure.

2K were kind enough to provide me access to a very large portion of the game and as it was a play at home build, I could savour my time within this new world. Before I get into anything specific, I have to say this, the game is just Borderlands with a new look, yes there are new things to do, weapons to shoot and such, but the core of it, the basic crux of the gameplay is still the same as Borderlands, so if you were never a fan of that series, this spin-off is unlikely to change your opinion. I know it sounds a little harsh, to essentially say the game is the same, just looks different, but it is the looks and personality that things are different, so if the gameplay from the mainline series never appealed to you, you will have to decide of a dungeons and dragons Bunkers and Badasses them will help make up for that.

But let’s say that you do enjoy Borderlands and that the idea of shooting trolls, orcs and other mythological creatures is something you can’t wait to do, then this might just be the game for you. One of the big changes for this game, as opposed to the mainline series, is that of the character classes that you can play as, while the classes have been varied in Borderlands, they look like static cardboard cutouts comparted to what is offered here. The build I had access to contained two, the Graveborn and the Stabbomancer, names that only Tiny Tina herself could have imagined, but the names are only part of their appeal. Each of the classes, has a baseline that you can carry through the game, but later on, you can start to expand on the skills and offerings, sadly my build didn’t let me do that, but the potential sounds exciting.

As I could play through as often as I wanted, I did and got to experience both classes for myself and out of the two, I did enjoy the Graveborn more, thanks in part to the ability to give up health to unleash a devastating attack, perfect for when some of the larger and nastier foes appeared. Beyond the self-sacrificing nature, the Graveborn also had a companion to accompany them, the Demi-Lich and apart from the little demon helping out in combat, they also loved to spout of random lines from time to time, which made things interesting.

When I swapped and played as the Stabbomancer, things were a little different, mostly because I was able to customise the character from the outset. The Graveborn was preconfigured by Gearbox, so I had to enjoy what was already selected, but the Stabbomancer, that was all me and it showed. While my early attempts at shooting folks as the Graveborn were successful, my personalised Stabbomancer was just a lot faster at the killing. Now while the Stabbomancer didn’t have a little demon that followed them around, they did have the ability to throw out magic blades that would carve a path across the field of battle, laying waste to all who would wander in their way, at least if I aimed right. While it was fun, I never really dealt a lot of damage and while it could have been due to my configuration of the character, there was the problem of me miss timing the throw and failing to hit anything.

Outside of the character classes, the build also gave me the chance to explore one specific location from the game, Mount Craw and while the name is not that inviting, the space itself was packed with things to do. The first thing I had to do was GTFO... I mean complete the quest called GTFO, Goblins Tired of Forced Oppression and for that I had to speak with the goblin named Jar. It seems that some sort of Dragonlord or something had convinced some of the goblins to work for them and the ones that agreed started to force the remaining ones to work for them. Jar seeks to free them, create a rebellion and rise up against the forces that are oppressing her and her peoples, thus the name, the only problem, she hasn’t the strength to get out of wet paper bag, so she tasks you to help.

At this point the combat was mostly the same, at least from a high-level point of view, as that of the mainline games, run to a place, kill all the enemies, maybe press a button and then rinse and repeat. What made it fun was that everything had a sense of familiarity to it, but still felt different enough to be new and I know that sounds like an odd juxtaposition of viewpoints, but upon playing the game, it will make sense. Combat did get interesting when I was able to use the abilities of my characters, but for the area that I had access to, it was mostly just the same shoot everything that moves gameplay the Borderlands series is known for.

Of course, there were a number of collectables to discover, there were Lost Marbles that I found, each presented a little insight into the person who lost them, I did discover a Golden Dice, which when busted open game me some decent rewards and there were the usual chests to open and pillage. Something that I got a little bit off was the celebrity voices, Andy Samberg and Wanda Sykes as examples and while they sounded fine, as there was no context as to why they were there, it felt a little weird and as I am re-watching Brooklyn 99 right now, it just sounded like Jake. I am sure once I get to see the game from the start, the context will be present and things will make sense, but for now it just seems out of place.

Tiny Tina’s Wonderland is shaping up to be quite the fun experience, it is taking the standard Borderlands shooter gameplay, but layering on even more outrageous chaos and that is a welcome thing. If you are like me and don’t play Dungeons and Dragons, I don’t think this is going to be a reason to avoid the game, because while there are clear inspirations, the game is still a looter shooter at heart.