Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands manages to make the most annoying fantasy cliché funny again

With a heavy dose of fantasy, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands has breathed new life into the Borderlands formula. At the same time, it also makes fun of the typical clichés – and that’s exactly why it doesn’t fall into an obvious trap, says MeinMMO author Max Handwerk.

I love fantasy games. For real. But don’t you think that many things are often very similar, especially at the start?

“Here you have your first rusty sword, a small fireball spell and a pair of rickety leather armor. You are perfectly equipped for the challenges that now await you! Terrible spiders! Nasty ghouls! And, of course: skeletons!”

The good old bone men in particular wiggle through every fantasy game I’ve ever played. Dust-dry, emotionless hulls, mindlessly stumbling towards you armed with sword and shield, only to end up on the ground as a motionless pile of bones a short time later.

With that, they have mostly done their job as an easy, creepy introduction to the fantasy world of your choice.

Admittedly, in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, the skeletons also have little to do with a challenge. They are just the typical fantasy enemy that one encounters at the start of such a game.

But in the Wonderlands, the skeletal hordes have a secret weapon that makes our bony friends instantly more interesting: a completely over-the-top personality.

What fantasy worlds have always needed: motivated skeletons

As said before, the skeletons in Wonderlands aren’t exactly strong or dangerous. But heavens, they’re motivated to get on with you. And they let you know that really loudly.

“You’re already dead, you just don’t know it,” they yell at you, or “In every hero there is a skeleton that wants to be uncovered. Don’t worry – we’ll take care of it!”.

This may read more or less menacingly, but you have to read this in a rather high, almost cracking voice – because the skeletons have stupid voices across the board. And so it sounds more like a pubescent teenage skeleton threatening you: “My ankle fits right on your ass bone!”

That goes with the wacky Borderlands humor that’s also evident in Wonderlands.

But not all skeletons in the Wonderlands suffer from massive megalomania. Some prefer to throw gags in the middle of a fight, or get downright philosophical. It’s also nice when you hit things with frost damage and they suddenly start shaking. Real work has been done here.

On the other hand, it becomes almost tragic when they are sent to the devil: “I still had so many plans in my non-life,” a skeleton complains from time to time. Or, my favorite: “Oh no, died. Yet again!”

The skeletons are just one of many examples: When I encountered the first hordes of skeletons, I hardly noticed them. They’re just skeletons, you expect them in a fantasy game. But when they started rambling around, I had to smile over and over again. It’s a pity, however, that the voice lines get a little lost in the split-screen chaos.

Still, Wonderlands managed to take a rather “boring” fantasy cliché and make it a fun, unique thing.

And so Wonderlands deals with all sorts of fantasy or tabletop clichés that are thrown at you. There are always details that make you smile – and it’s a lot of fun to find more and more of them.

how do you see it? Are you already in the Wonderlands? What were your favorite moments in the game? Tell us in the comments.

And of course there are also a lot of allusions and gags with the weapons. A good example: The Frying Pan of Invincibility.