However, once Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands fans complete the campaign and begin their grind through the Chaos Chamber, many may be left wanting more. While Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is a full-sized game, it is a bit shorter than the mainline Borderlands titles. Despite this brevity, it feels like a lot more can be done with Bunkers and Badasses. While proper sequels would be great to see, an equally promising route for Gearbox to take would see Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands adopt a games as a service approach.
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Why a Switch to Live Service Would Make Sense For Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands
A live service version of Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands could take on a seasonal format, dropping fresh content for fans to enjoy every few months. The quickest way to make this format exciting would be to introduce seasonal campaigns that shake things up in a significant way. While the original Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands campaign portrayed the Dragon Lord as a villain, another Season’s campaign could see him as a hero. Likewise, Paladin Mike could be an enemy of the queen instead of an ally in a Seasonal campaign.
While these campaigns could reuse many assets from the original, each could be distinct and memorable if new enemy types are added for players to battle against. The Overworld map could be remixed, too, while fresh quests could be added that provide more unique loot. Each new campaign could feature two different advisors alongside Tina, with Frette and Valentine being swapped out with Brick and Mordecai. Even odder combos, like Moxxi and Zer0, could be a ton of fun to see work together.
While a seasonal format would be a great way to provide new story content without forcing Gearbox to build new gameplay systems or update its engine, Wonderlands could also introduce special events and a battle pass system. For the events, players could need to get a certain amount of kills within a period of time to unlock an exclusive cosmetic. More loot could also drop from certain areas through loot events like in Borderlands 3. As for the battle pass, Borderlands 3 has already provided a perfect model for this via its Vault Cards, though the feature is not in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands currently.
Vault Cards each had a theme and provided a variety of loot to unlock. Alongside Diamond Keys, players could get new heads, skins, weapons, emotes, and decorations for their Vault Hunters. With a seasonal approach, Gearbox could provide a fresh Vault Card to work on every season, with players unlocking new customization options and gear in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands. Not only would this be a reasonable form of monetization, but Gearbox could take in community feedback to incorporate fan-requested designs. From mushroom cosmetics to crossover content with other franchises, Vault Cards would be a fine addition to Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands.
Given how long it would likely take Gearbox to craft new Wonderlands campaigns, Seasons could span six-month windows as opposed to the three-month Seasons of games like Call of Duty. With Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands’ Season Pass focusing more on adding some replayable missions, those hoping for more story content like the main campaign could be left wanting. While Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands sequels are one route Gearbox could take, releasing one in between each main Borderlands title, the current version of Wonderlands becoming a live service platform could also work. With the game looking and playing great, updating it for years with extra campaigns seems like a viable option if Gearbox ever wants to take it.
Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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