Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep Review
Borderlands, but D&D
A while back, I picked up a copy of Borderlands: The Handsome Collection for my PlayStation 4 during a holiday sale one year for $15. It was my first exposure to the well-renowned Borderlands series, and I quickly fell in love with the zany humor, cell-shaded design, quirky characters, and playing through an endless cycle of shooting and looting to optimize my character’s build.
The Handsome Collection contained Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel with all of their respective DLCs. Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep was one of those, and, while I did play through both games, I never got the chance to go through the DLC until now.
After all, what better way to get me in the mindset for the recently released Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, a standalone sequel title to the DLC?
Gameplay
As mentioned before, this game is a looter shooter, meaning gameplay revolves around wandering through environments, shooting enemies, and taking their randomized loot drops with opportunities to open treasure chests or seemingly endless containers along the way.
Those familiar with the genre know all-too-well how addictive this cycle can be. Any enemy can drop a weapon of varying item quality, from Common (White) up to Legendary (Orange) and anywhere in between. Different weapons manufacturers specialize in different effects your gun can have.
For example, Jakobs weapons specialize in higher damage and faster fire rates but are hindered by their low reload speed, while Torgue weapons have high damage but have much lower recoil reduction and accuracy.
A core piece of any Borderlands adventure lies in choosing the right weapons for the right occasions. During my playthrough, I found myself checking my inventory to optimize my build whenever I got my hands on new guns, shields, and class and grenade mods.
“Roll for Initiative!”
Assault’s key differentiator from the typical Borderlands playthrough is its Dungeons & Dragons influence. Your player character is always referenced through the main cast of characters of the first Borderlands game and gameplay mechanics/storylines are changed on the spot or whenever the titular Tina herself feels like it.
The first boss you face is an unkillable dragon that wipes you out in one hit. After the characters playing B&B (Bunkers & Badasses) complain to Tina, she revives you and changes the boss to a short skeleton named Mister Boney Pants Guy.
One sidequest involved seeking out a badass weapon, but whenever our character tried to grab it, the people playing B&B would consistently roll a “1” and fail to pick up the item, sending it flying across the map. After three natural “1’s” in a row, Tina decides to give you the weapon, but it has a slippery texture. The gun will randomly slip out of your character’s hand and you’ll have to run after it, pick it up, and reequip it.
Additionally, some treasure chests scattered around the world will have big twenty-sided dice laying on top. The dice rolls attached to these chests affect the quality of the randomly generated loot inside, and it can be disappointing when you roll a “1.”
Other references I’ve stumbled into include Dark Souls, World of Warcraft, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings, and I’m sure I’ve missed a lot of others. Hell, I’ve even been spooked a couple of times when I tried opening a treasure chest and it turned out to be a Mimic, a deadly creature that looks like a treasure chest.
Final thoughts
I’ve always found something oddly charming about the Borderlands series. Maybe it’s the comic book-like design, the crude humor, or Claptrap’s unwavering anger, hopelessness, and endless optimism that keeps me coming back whenever there’s a new entry to the series.
Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep is a celebration of all things science fiction and fantasy and brings out my not-so-inner nerd. I had a great time playing through it and had an even better time knowing I got it for free with my PlayStation Plus subscription.
While I won’t be playing the recently released Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands until it goes on sale for the holiday season, I’ll keep it near the top of my shopping list when that time comes.
