How Gearbox is writing an "interactive sitcom" with New Tales from the Borderlands
New Tales from the Borderlands has allowed Gearbox to explore a different kind of story that expands on the Borderlands universe. By introducing us to a fresh cast of protagonists in Anu, Octavio, and Fran, the adventure lets us see what civilian life is like in a setting that's no stranger to bullet-torn chaos. In doing so, New Tales from the Borderlands echoes its lineage while positioning itself as a spiritual successor to 2014's Tales from the Borderlands. Gearbox in turn sees this as an opportunity to leave its mark on choice-driven interactive narrative gameplay – maintaining the levity and razor-sharp humor the wider series is now renowned for.
"In terms of story structure, it was important to us to structure it sort of like an interactive sitcom, like a game that focused on comedy; which I really rarely see these days," says lead writer Doug Lieblich. "And also we wanted to ensure that every choice felt important, and it wasn't just a player pressing a button because they had to. We wanted the player to feel like, oh, the game respects me. And I'm here for it. We also, just as people who love games and love this genre, wanted to take risks with how we do things, subvert expectations of what you might see in an interactive narrative."
New Tales from the Borderlands keeps the best and cuts the worst of the Telltale formula
To bring New Tales from the Borderlands to life, Gearbox assembled a writing team with talent boasting a broad range of areas of expertise. Head of writing Lin Joyce, for example, has a PhD in narrative system design, and joined Gearbox in 2020 just as the studio was hiring staff to work on the project. Joyce was soon joined by lead writer Lieblich – who wrote jokes for David Letterman once
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