New Tales From the Borderlands will feel very familiar to players who played the first Tales From the Borderlands, as it follows the exact same formula. Players will primarily be watching a series of cutscenes while dealing with the occasional QTE (Quick Time Event), where they have to press a series of buttons to successfully overcome an obstacle.
Also, during these cutscenes, players will get to choose how they respond during a conversation while also making choices that will have an effect on the story as they progress through the five episodes of New Tales From the Borderlands. This walkthrough will help players through Episode 1.
This walkthrough contains spoilers, so players should proceed with caution.
At the Lab
After a traditional Borderlands opening cutscene narrated by Marcus, players will be introduced to the first of three playable characters they will encounter in New Tales From the Borderlands. The first character is Anu, a scientist who works for Atlas. After a series of cutscenes, players will enter the first free-roam section, where they can explore the Laboratory.
While the goal is to find the Eridium shard, players may want to take their time opening other boxes and exploring. Just like in other Borderlands games, players can find cash in all sorts of strange places, like trash cans and boxes. Cash can be used to purchase additional outfits for playable characters, which is a cosmetic option that does not affect the game.
Once players are ready to proceed, they should examine the safe and input the passcode; after that, they should l ook inside the toolbox. This is where Anu misplaced the Eridium sample she needed for her experimental device.
Once players find the Eridium, they need to examine the device and find the spot to insert the sample. The cursor will turn green when New Tales From the Borderlands players have found the correct spot. After completing this, a series of cutscenes will play, and then after Anu leaves to get yelled at by the CEO of Atlas, the scene switches to another one of the playable characters, Octavio.
Enter Octavio and Fran
The next series of cutscenes introduce players to the other two playable characters. First, players will see Anu's brother, Octavio, and his Assassin-bot friend L0U13. After a brief scene with them, players will be introduced to Fran at her Frogurt (short for Frozen Yogurt) shop.
As usual, there are a series of cutscenes where players choose how Fran reacts to what is happening around her. There is also a brief QTE sequence where players must make a customer some Frogurt.
Meet with Rhys
After completing this section, the game will again jump back to Anu as she prepares to get thoroughly scolded. As she gets shown inside, players will see the former protagonist from Tales From the Borderlands, Rhys. He is now the CEO of Atlas, and he is not thrilled with Anu's actions in an earlier cutscene.
Between that and feeling like Anu is wasting R&D money, he is on the verge of firing her, but he wants to see what she has been working on. New Tales From the Borderlands players will get to choose one of three targets to use her experimental device on.
It doesn't matter which object is chosen as all of them will make Rhys angry that Anu decided to zap it. It also doesn't help that Anu has no way to return anything that she uses her experimental device on. As a result of a failed experiment, Anu is fired on the spot, and the scene switches back to Octavio as he helps L0U13 with a job. If players help L0U13 in successfully fulfilling the contract to kill the target, they will receive $2,000 as a reward.
Frogurt Dispute
As Fran prepares for the upcoming inspection, she gets visited by a guy named Hank, who claims that Fran owes him a protection fee. The situation gets tense, and sooner or later (depending on what players choose to do), Hank and Fran get into a fight.
This is where players will get to make the first major choice of the game that will have a significant impact on the story. New Tales From the Borderlands players can either shatter and kill the recently frozen statue of Hank or let him slowly thaw out as a means of teaching him a lesson. This choice affects an upcoming scene, so players must think carefully about what they want to do.
From Bad To Worse
After Hank is dealt with, players will switch to Anu, who is trying to process the bad news. Unfortunately, she doesn't have long to do so, as another corporation known as Tediore has shown up and is attacking Atlas and the planet Promethea. Since Anu's brother is on the planet, she wants to go down and ensure he is safe. However, that will be difficult to accomplish as Atlas headquarters is crawling with Tediore forces. Players will get the first Vaultlander figurine from Anu's friend Phuong as they go through a series of cutscenes.
Back on Promethea
After a few more cutscenes and one rough landing for Anu, New Tales From the Borderlands players will retake control of Octavio in another free-roam section. In order to proceed with the story, players will need to scan all the nearby characters. But before that, it is recommended to open up all the boxes and other containers to get some easy money.
Once this step is completed, players need to speak with Paco as he needs help with a small task. He has a missing pet Ratch, and he needs help finding it.
In order to find the lost Ratch, Juniper, players will need to first examine the damaged wall next to Radon. After doing that, players can talk to Radon and convince him to blow up the wall, which frees Juniper in the process.
Paco is grateful for the help and gives players some helpful executable programs. The first is a hacking tool, and the second is a Vaultlander finder that will help notify players when a collectible Vaultlander is nearby.
After getting these programs, players will go through a tutorial for the hacking tool to repair the radio so that players can hear the emergency broadcast about the in-progress invasion by Tediore.
Insurance Inspection
After repairing the radio, players will switch to Fran as she prepares for the agent to come by to approve or deny her insurance claim. To have the claim approved, players will need to give a full tour of the Frogurt shop. Players should examine the rubble in the far left corner during this free-roam section. After doing so, they will have the option to destroy it.
Underneath the rubble is a Vaultlander figurine that players can add to their collection. After showing the damages and telling the agent, Reba, that there is nothing else to show, she will say that she wants to see the backroom and won't take no for an answer.
If Reba sees that New Tales From the Borderlands players chose to freeze Hank earlier in the Episode instead of killing him, she will be impressed and approve the claim, which gives players $3,500.
Fighting on the Streets
After the insurance claim is denied or approved, the game will jump back to Octavio and his friends as they witness the invasion by Tediore firsthand. After a series of cutscenes and dialogue choices, players will eventually get to choose which friend they call to help deal with the Tediore Commander.
Once the choice is made and the Commander is dead, players will have to go through several more series of QTEs, and the game will change once again to Anu as she wakes up from crash landing onto Promethea, a location featured in Borderlands 3, and manages to befriend a local.
After several cutscenes and a couple of QTEs, the game will switch back to Fran as Octavio and L0U13 come crashing in, looking for a place to hide from Tediore. This doesn't work, as apparently, Tediore can track them due to the radio Octavio stole from the dead Tediore Commander.
This leads to a good introduction for a character that could be added to the list of Borderlands antagonists, along with the explosive finale of the first Episode in New Tales From the Borderlands. Unlike the previous Tales From the Borderlands, all episodes are available at launch, so players can jump right into Episode 2 if they wish.
New Tales From the Borderlands is available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, and Xbox Series X.