Tiny Tina's Wonderlands Preview friv game - What We've Learned After Four Hours

At the end of March, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, a fun role-playing shooter, will be released, which will send players into the world created by Tiny Tina's irrepressible fantasy. We spent several hours in a large-scale demo version of the game from a popular online games provider Friv2Online, and we are ready to share our impressions with you.

The first and foremost thing to know about Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is Borderlands 3. At its core, the spin-off does not differ from the original game: you will find cooperative action with gunfights, a constant race for loot and absurd dark humor.

This is a game for those who are fed up with the fantastic setting of Borderlands 3: instead of psychos and bandits, goblins and wyverns are here, locked doors have been replaced with magical barriers, and the machine gun does not shoot bullets, but magical arrows. Even the vending machines remained in place, although now they are stylized as artisans' tents. Chests and bags of gold too - where without them?

In the demo, we got the opportunity to play as two classes of characters.

The first is the Child of the Grave : he travels with a half-lich pet that fires at opponents with magical attacks, and his skills are forced to sacrifice part of his health to use dark magic.
The second is Knifemancer : he makes critical attacks more often than others, and abilities allow you to briefly go into a state of invisibility and summon ghostly blades that deal damage in an area.
Each of the heroes has two active skills and a lot of "passives" that are pumped through the skill tree. Some of them can be improved several times, increasing the effect with each invested point.

Apart from this, the characters are also provided with physical characteristics, as in most RPG games. Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Wisdom, Stamina, and Harmony affect various passive skills, such as critical strike chance or skill cooldown speed.

The developers gave us the opportunity to explore one of the spacious areas of the friv game. There was a place for goblin mines, and their own settlement, which we liberated from the invaders, and a frozen lake, under which, in an underground cave, lava rivers boil and fire monsters live. Due to elevation differences, completely different biomes can be accommodated in one location.

The very first task made it possible to appreciate the humor in the game. The hero arrived at the scene to help the G.O.V.N.O. ("Goblins will free our entire society"). And what else to expect if the local queen's name is Zhopets, and the nearest city has the proud name of Kopytburg? The demo version of Tiny Tina's Wonderlands was localized into Russian (albeit without voice acting): the translation is well adapted, taking into account local jokes and memes.

Other quests are not far behind the above. For example, the ubiquitous piece of iron, who has become a blacksmith here, instructs the hero to collect good loot and bring it to him: the unlucky robot never learned to forge high-quality things, so he decided to pass off someone else's equipment as his work. If you are one of those who immersed themselves in the plot of Borderlands 3 and laughed at the jokes in the friv game, the new project will not disappoint you.

As for the shootings in Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, there are no revelations here: we uncover the hero's arsenal and proceed to the genocide of monsters. Opponents take advantage of numbers and skill: some hit painfully from afar, others put on armor and try to get closer, others attack with elemental effects. Barrels of flammable and freezing liquids are generously placed on the arenas, and when the level of health drops critically, the “Saving Throw” is activated, a mechanic familiar from Borderlands 3, within which you can finish off the enemy and return to life.

The trailers showed a lot of melee weapons, however, according to the sensations, firearms will still be used more often. Axes-hammers-swords have a separate slot and their own attack button, but it’s dangerous to get close to the enemy - it’s better to stay at a safe distance. Auxiliary equipment is typical for fantasy : rings, armor, talismans and grimoires that endow the character with various bonuses.

Little Tina is invisibly watching the adventures of the heroes, which is what started all this RIZD. She and other participants actively comment on what is happening, and new conditions may periodically be woven into the rules of the game. For example, a bright line will highlight the path to the goal of the task - simply because the game master wanted it that way. Given the setting, it doesn't detract from immersion and feels organic, just like the "saving throws" mentioned above.

The time spent in the Tiny Tina's Wonderlands demo made it clear that we will get exactly what it promises from the game: gameplay familiar from the Borderlands series, a sea of ​​stupid jokes and an interesting setting with dungeons and unicorns. How long this adventure will be and whether it will be able to maintain the interest of the players throughout the campaign - we will find out soon.