Tiny Tina's Wonderlands: PS5 Review

Developed by Gearbox Software

Published by 2K Games

Platform: PS5

If you've ever wanted an anarchic looter shooter combined with Borderlands and D&D, congratulations on firstly having such specific desires and secondly for willing Tiny Tina's Wonderlands into life.

Set as a story within a story, you play a character created by Dungeon Master Tiny Tina, whose sole intention is to expand on Borderlands 2's expansion, Tiny Tina's Assault on Dungeon Keep.

Inside Bunkers and Badasses, the game within a game's title, it's up to you to fight off hordes of marauding invaders, loot the money and guns, and basically shoot your way to survival. There's little here that's anything too radically different from the core Borderlands' mechanic, but thanks to some amusing dialogue, a sense of Tiny Tina doing what she wants during a game and shaking things up, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is playable enough shenanigans - and not too challenging on lower level settings.

Plus, it's the vocal cast that helps make the title soar - from the likes of Ashly Burch to Wil Arnett and Andy Samberg, the talent here is impressive and does make you double take when the speaking starts.

Your mission is to free the Wonderlands from the evil Dragon Lord and his masses, and as Tiny Tina constantly reminds you, the game within a game trope plays on the genre conventions and offers the same kind of thrills as what Borderlands has done before.

It's not that that is is bad thing, it's certainly a very passable way to spend a few hours, locked inside the cartoony otherworld that Gearbox has created. Occasionally you get pulled out of the game with cutscenes from those running the game, and occasionally you get hauled off to a world map that sees you having to negotiate all its edges and encounters.

At its heart though, even with the customisable edges, and the fantasy trappings, it's a Borderlands game at its core, so whether you'll embrace that or not depends on whether you're already into the genre. It has to be said though, that Gearbox has made this game pretty much open to all, and approachable enough that it's a game that will be disposable enough and engaging enough if you want to spend hours in its fantasy world.

A review code was provided by the publisher for the purposes of this review.