Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is fully embracing its fantasy setting, with Tina taking the role of dungeon master once again. Her new Bunkers and Badasses campaign will see players facing off against the Dragon Lord, and players will get to customize more aspects of their character through the new multi-class system. With melee weapons and an Overworld map available, too, the game should feel like a more in-depth version of Assault on Dragon Keep.
While Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands fans are excited for all these features, one aspect of the game that has not gotten enough credit is its locations. While the Borderlands series has featured some memorable locations over the years like Fyrestone, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands seems to be full of vibrant and varied play spaces. Assuming that the game’s areas are as diverse as the trailers have made them look, players could be in for a treat.
Why Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands’ Environments Are So Promising
Based on the Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands trailers, gamers will see a lot of different locations as they play through the story. Beaches, snowy mountains, and grassy planes have all been showcased, with players venturing to a lot of different places as they progress through Tina’s custom-made narrative. Everything looks more colorful as well, with a vibrant palette used to craft fantastical locations that look like they would be part of a Dungeons and Dragons-like campaign. With more locations likely featured in the game but not yet shown in trailers, too, there should be a ton of variety in the game’s visuals.
This is a nice change of pace from what fans have seen in the Borderlands series thus far. The original game was comprised almost entirely out of desert-based locations. Borderlands 2 featured some snowy areas, mixing things up, while Borderlands: The Pre Sequel took players to the moon Elpis – a place with a lot of similar locations. Borderlands 3 offered the most environmental variety in the series thus far, letting players visit a number of different planets on their adventure.
While it is true that players visited several planets in Borderlands 3, each planet visited had one clear theme. Eden 6 had jungles and Promethea had cities, for example. As such, players would see very similar biomes across the game’s lineup of planets, and if they wanted to see something different, they would need to fast travel to a new planet entirely. Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands could be different, however.
The beauty of Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is that the locations can change instantly since gamers are not in a “real” environment. Players can be in a beach area before suddenly walking into a volcano, as Tiny Tina could shift the environment around her at will. This could make for some memorable encounters and boss fights, and it could make exploration more entertaining as well. It is easy to imagine a scenario where players are platforming and Tina finds it too easy, so she shifts the environment completely to make things tougher. Assuming each location brings fresh enemies as well, there could be a lot of variety in the game’s combat.
At the very least, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands fans will be fighting through areas that are more visually appealing than what came before. Given how much time Borderlands players will spend grinding enemies and replaying content, having places to visit that are a joy to look at is hugely beneficial. Had Gearbox gone with more grounded locations like The Dust from Borderlands 2, the fantasy feeling would not have been captured as well as it could have been. Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands’ locations are gorgeous from the looks of it, though, which will go a long way to helping the spin-off stand out from the main Borderlands games.
Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands launches March 25, 2022 on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
