The Borderlands series has been no stranger to spin-off titles in its almost 15-year history. The immense popularity of Borderlands 2 gave way to Telltale Games' acclaimed Tales from the Borderlands as well as paving the way for Tiny Tina's Wonderlands with the Assault on Dragon Keep DLC. With the critical and commercial reception to the series' spin-off titles, it's almost a guarantee that Gearbox will look to other genres for inspiration regarding where it could take the Borderlands series. Considering the already proven successes in taking other shooting franchises and adapting them to the mechanics of the genre, the Borderlands series is a perfect fit for a turn-based tactics game.
Thanks to the high bar of quality that was set by the series in the turn-based tactics genre, almost every tactics game is now viewed through the lens of how much it's like XCOM. Though the XCOM series is known for its unforgiving difficulty and necessitation of careful strategizing and planning, the gold standard of tactics established by XCOM has served as a reliable template for newer genre titles with a more beginner-friendly approach. The recent Gears Tactics proved that a tactics-based spin-off of a popular shooting game was a winning combo, and Borderlands is a perfect title to receive its own tactics game that retains the core series' charm and accessible gameplay.
Borderlands' Classes and Skill Trees are a Perfect Fit for Turn-Based Tactics
If a potential turn-based tactics game set in the Borderlands universe were to follow the XCOM template, the game's many classes would be ideal for crafting a squad capable of handling any variety of tactical challenges. Most tactics titles feature a mix of classes that range all the way from stealthy support units to sturdy tanks that rush into battle with high defense and damage output and everything in between. While most of the classes could be aligned with some of the more familiar archetypes of the genre, Borderlands' use of classes and builds could lend itself to some incredibly entertaining tactical gameplay.
Every game in the Borderlands series switches up the playable Vault Hunters and starting classes, so it follows that a tactics spin-off would allow players to choose from any of them in terms of crafting their squad. The ability to pull from a large roster of heroes in crafting a series "dream team" to take into combat is an enticing prospect. Additionally, each of these characters could still retain their skill trees and allow players to craft mini-builds for each member of their squad. The skill-mapping and build crafting of Borderlands could add an extra layer of strategizing to a genre that practically demands it.
How Borderlands' Looter-Shooter DNA Could Translate to a Tactics Game
It's safe to say that a Borderlands game just wouldn't be Borderlands without looting. While Tales from the Borderlands shifted the gameplay to point-and-click adventure and focused on narrative, any game in the franchise that involves combat as a main feature will need to retain the "looter-shooter" aspect that has defined the series. XCOM's best squads still necessitate careful planning of equipment loadouts before missions, so it begs the question of how a Borderlands spin-off using that format could retain the series' trademark loot and not be completely unbalanced.
One potential solution would be to have the weapons that the squad carries into battle be incapable of being reloaded, instead forcing the player to pick up looted weapons on the battlefield when they have run out of ammo. Alternately, completion of missions could reward players with a pile of loot for them to sort through and equip, discard, or sell in-between missions, adding some of XCOM's trademark base-building and party management gameplay but in a Borderlands setting. Regardless of how the systems would work in a Borderlands-tactics hybrid, the possibility of completing carefully planned missions with over-the-top gore and a bright color palette might be just what the genre needs.