No Rest For The Wicked | Tales From The Borderlands: Episode 2 – Atlas Mugged Review

As the opening title sequence for Atlas Mugged boomed through my TV, I found myself grinning like I’ve reunited with an old friend. It’s been four long months since the first episode of Tales From The Borderlands, and luckily Atlas Mugged doesn’t disappoint.

Once again, you’ll take control of Rhys and Fiona, as they try and survive the increasingly dire situations they find themselves in. Atlas Mugged picks up right where the last episode left off, as Rhys finds himself linked to a hologram of Borderlands 2’s main antagonist, Handsome Jack. Right away, the interactions between Handsome Jack and Rhys are hysterical, and the fact that the other characters can’t see or hear Handsome Jack makes it even more ridiculous.

Even in the most dire, depressing, or violent situations, Telltale somehow, someway, still find ways to work in jokes that make even the most uncomfortable situation entertaining. Without spoiling anything, the beginning of the episode has you performing impromptu eye removal with a spork, and even when the scene gets its most gruesome, perfectly timed one-liners and quips had me chuckling when moments before I felt uncomfortable.

Welcome back, Jack.

Atlas Mugged does a great job of getting deeper into each character’s motivation and personality. What I particularly enjoyed about this episode is the different approach taken with Rhys and Fiona’s segments. Rhys’ segments are very similar to Zer0 Sum with constant gags, quick, witty dialogue, and the occasional fourth wall break; however, Fiona’s segment this time around, though still filled with humor, take a slightly darker and more somber approach. It’s nice to see Telltale not relying simply on the same tone throughout the entire series, thus highlighting the superb writing and performances.

While Zer0 Sum took most of its time introducing us to Rhys, Fiona, Vaughn and Sasha; Atlas Mugged gives a little more screen time to returning side characters and new characters. In my review of the first episode, I highlighted that the chemistry of the cast was what elevated Tales From The Borderlands to great heights, and even when expanding the cast in Atlas Mugged, this still rings true. No character feels out of place, and new characters work perfectly off of the returning cast and bring with them hilarious situations and larger than life personalities.

Though I passed it aside during the first episode to see where it was going, I’ve become increasingly confused with existence of the currency and inventory systems. So far, cash has only been used to purchase some cosmetic alterations for random scenes, but, at least up until this point, there doesn’t seem to be a big picture use for cash. The inventory seems unnecessary, too, especially since we haven’t had to use much of anything even after episode two. I’m hoping these two elements are further expanded upon in the future, because as of right now, I don’t see their necessity to be included.

During my time with Atlas Mugged on the PlayStation 4, I encountered enough hiccups in framerate that it’s definitely worth mentioning, and it’s more common in Atlas Mugged than in Zer0 Sum.

After the great cliffhanger Atlas Mugged leaves us with, I certainly hope we don’t have to wait another four months to get our hands on the third installment. Atlas Mugged has proven that the first episode wasn’t a fluke, and that the Borderlands universe paired with Telltale’s writing is a match made in heaven, and one worth revisiting over and over again.

Tales From The Borderlands continues to shine, and it seems like Telltale Games is having as much fun making it as we do playing it.

This review is based on a review copy of the PlayStation 4 version provided by Telltale Games.