Tiny Tina’s Wonderlandsbrought many new things to the franchise, both good and bad. It refurnished many of the newer features found inBorderlands 3, making an effort to change some core aspects in positive ways. Because of this, the game holds somewhat of a unique position in the franchise as a transitionary game for Gearbox.
Tiny Tina’s Wonderlandswas a bold take on theBorderlandsformula changing much of what it means to play in that universe by swapping out sci-fi elements for fantasy. Due to this and its nature as a spin-off, it represents the future of the franchise, in many ways makingTiny Tina’s Wonderlandsmore likeBorderlands 3.5.
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Gearbox’s Transition Into Borderlands 4
There are many obvious differences in game design betweenBorderlands 3andTiny Tina’s Wonderlands. For instance, the use of spells and character creation likely won’t be found inBorderlands 4. But other features, likeTiny Tina’s Wonderlands' chaos chambers, may represent a new era of endgame content due to their largely positive reception.Tiny Tina’s Wonderlandsmay have served as a testing ground for tweaking the traditionalBorderlandsformula, providing a first look at what Gearbox Software has in store forBorderlands 4.
For those reasons,Tiny Tina’s Wonderlandsis very much likeBorderlands: The Pre-Sequel, the black sheep of the franchise.The Pre-Sequelmade various changes to theBorderlandsformula, such as how many bosses the player could farm. Players were quick to take issue with some of these changes, prompting Gearbox Software to amend them forBorderlands 3. The game also provided a sneak peek at the updated graphics giving players a better idea of not only the content coming in the next mainline game, but also what it might look like.
Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands’experimental nature allows Gearbox Software to tinker with its established formula without risking damage to the success of a mainline installment. For example,Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands' lucky dicewere a big transition from the franchise’s usual approach to the drop rates of legendary weapons. Gearbox chose to make lucky dice account-bound in order to alleviate player concerns, but if this had been a mainline installment, it likely would have caused a lot more discussion among fans.
However, this also leaves games likeTiny Tina’s Wonderlandsin somewhat of a risky spot. There was a lot of hype surroundingTiny Tina’s Wonderlands, especially considering it was a spiritual sequel toBorderlands 2’s most popular DLC, Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep. Despite this hype,marketing setTiny Tina’s Wonderlandsup for failure, especially given it didn’t receive nearly as much post-launch content asBorderlands 3. Because of its transitionary nature,Wonderlandsmight have not been deemed as important, moreso valuable for seeing what kind of changes Gearbox could make for the future. While this is good for the franchise in the long term, it did not do the game any favors in the short term.
Despite everything,Tiny Tina’s Wonderlandspresents an exciting future for the franchise.Borderlands 4may see features from the pastthat have been reworked in a way to better satisfy players. All of this would come from the ambitious nature ofTiny Tina’s Wonderlandsessentially being aBorderlands3.5.
Tiny Tina’s Wonderlandsis available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
