Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is more of an instant gratification than a continuation of Borderlands. The spin-off wears its Borderlands roots proudly, but it does little to nothing for the unresolved and ongoing plots of the mainstream Borderlands franchise games. As such, Borderlands 4 should look into the storytelling of a past game to instead deliver a proper revisit and closure to Borderlands’ signature storytelling.
The environments and the loot-and-shoot gunplay From Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands are still true to form, though the story is a major departure compared to past Borderlands games. Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands introduced some new and fun features into the mix, but there are still plenty of loose ends that the next Borderlands game should resolve instead of exploring detours in additional spin-offs. Some of these features might still be worth looking into for future Borderlands games, but Borderlands 4 should aim to be a lot closer to Borderlands the Pre-Sequel for multiple reasons. Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands was amazing and generously humorous, but there will be plenty of time for more whimsical fan-fictions after the main story has progressed.
Why Borderlands 4 Should Replicate Borderlands the Pre-Sequel Instead of Tiny Tina's Wonderlands
To be clear, it would still be nice to see some of Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands’ contributions to Borderlands’ gameplay stick around in the series. Future Borderlands games should seriously consider revisiting melee weapons, loot dice collectibles, some of the unique enemy types, and possibly even the overworld map from Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands. Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands did so much to shake things up and stay on-brand with Borderlands’ signature style of video game humor, so it shouldn’t be abandoned altogether. Still, it is Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel that should be the main inspiration for Borderlands 4.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel may have been the most unfavorable Borderlands game in the eyes of the community compared to other Borderlands franchise games, but it was still really pivotal to the ongoing story. In terms of its narrative, Borderlands 4 should strive to be more like Borderlands the Pre-sequel than like Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, or any of the other entries. The use of familiar, existing characters is one feature that should be continued, but the overall story is the most important part that Borderlands 4 should aim to address. The gunplay and endgame content in the past Borderlands games is clearly not going away anytime soon, which is what makes the story and characters so crucial going forward.
Plot lines involving The Watcher's War, Sirens, Eridians, and the Hyperion corporation are all due for a proper conclusion in the Borderlands franchise before any more spin-offs are warranted. Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel had all of these, except for Sirens, which were more central to Borderlands 3 instead. There’s only so much Borderlands can do with vaults after their storied uses in the franchise, so some fans speculate that Vaults may not be in future Borderlands games, with Gearbox focusing more on the topics mentioned above. Since the story of Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands all took place in Tiny Tina’s imagination, it's a safe assumption that none of the narrative is considered to be canon or due for a revisit in the mainline games. At the same time, there are still plenty of characters that were introduced in Borderlands the Pre-Sequel that are long overdue for a return.
Even the Tales From the Borderlands games have had a larger impact on the canon of Borderlands’ story than Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, especially when it comes to the characters involved. It was a welcome surprise in Borderlands 3 when players got to see the return of Vaughn and Rhys from the original Tales From the Borderlands game. One of the biggest roles that returning characters played in Borderlands the Pre-Sequel was their presence as the different vault-hunters, a.k.a the playable characters. Athena and Claptrap were classic throwbacks to the original Borderlands game, while Nisha and Wilhelm were characters introduced in Borderlands 2. There are a lot of characters in the Borderlands games that would be interesting and definitely qualified to become vault hunters given how far the story has come, which would be another Pre-Sequel-like approach worth taking.