Tales From The Borderlands Preview

The ultimate he-said, she-said.

As The Wolf Among Us comes down to its season finale, and The Walking Dead stands thick in the drama of season two, imagine a world with no new material from Telltale Games. I know, scarier than Walkers, right?

Fear not, for Gearbox Studios has opened the vault to the team at Telltale Games, and what the two of them have done is… well… badass.

The team at Telltale unveiled at E3 for the first time Tales From the Borderlands, its latest episodic point-and-click adventure based on the Borderlands series from Gearbox Studios and 2K. Set after the events of Borderlands 2, the story tells the tale of Rhys and Fiona, vault hunters with a shared past. Rhys used to be a company man for Hyperion until he was denied a promotion, while Fiona is a grifter with her own side of the tale to tell.

Rhys has his side, Fiona has her side; the truth lies somewhere in the middle, but both sides belong to you—players play as both characters at different times. During the demo, both Rhys and Fiona appear before a mysterious figure, who all but forces the two to work together, much to their chagrin. Rhys then explains what happened with the original vault key, which he attempts to swipe out from under newly-appointed Vice President Hugo Vasquez (also known by Rhys' co-workers as Pansy McFathead) with the help of his two friends, Vaughn and Yvette. Rhys travels to Pandora to buy the key from August, but is attacked by Bandits in the dilapidated town of Prosperity Junction, and hilarity ensues. And by hilarity, I, of course, mean explosions.

Tales From the Borderlands uses the studio's trademark Telltale Tool and combines it with the art style and signature humor of the Borderlands series, along with the lore and popular characters fans love. Though they wouldn't mention all the names, Telltale representatives mention characters like Zero the Vault Hunter would appear, and that the legend of Handsome Jack would play strongly into the game. Telltale stressed that knowledge of the game wasn't necessary to enjoy the game, but those who did would catch many of the in-jokes the studio included, such as a port-a-potty in every area. Telltale said that while the story is originally theirs, the developers are big fans of Borderlands and insisted on authenticity.

The game includes a big cast, with names like prolific voiceover actor Nolan North, @midnight host Chris Hardwick, and veteran actor and funnyman Patrick Warburton. It's a fun twist on the already-great Telltale Games library, and while every choice changes the game and characters' reactions to Rhys and Fiona, according to representatives, it's not what you take, or if you should take it, but how much should you take and how will you not get caught. To quote a famous '80s movie, in Tales From the Borderlands, greed is good.

Tales From the Borderlands Episode One launches this summer for PC, and I greedily await it.