Borderlands and The Dark Tower by Stephen King?

[IanM]

Lately I've been reading The Dark Tower novels by Stephen King (just finished Wolves of the Calla) and with the Borderlands Game Of The Year Edition due for release this month my interest is piqued. I know there are a few very obvious references to the novels in the game: "Borderlands" "Gunslinger" "Roland" etc. Is the Borderlands game an attempt to create a setting, without an official license, that is as close as possible to the world that has moved on? or are the references just a few cute nods to Stephen King because the game's designers obviously enjoyed the books? For those that have read the Dark Tower and played Borderlands: did you get a sense while playing Borderlands that you were running around Mid-World and the Calla?


I haven't finished reading the books, or played Borderlands, so please don't post any spoilers!

 

[222 1/3 evil]

Just FYI and no spoilers here, when Stephen King says stop reading here in "The Dark Tower", do what he says after the bit with Susannah. That's all I'm saying.

 

[Cantonious]

I'm actually reading the seventh book, The Dark Tower. I started the series about a year ago. At no time while playing Borderlands did I associate the two, and until you connected them I hadn't even considered it. Just my .02.

 

[Drawmonster]

I'm actually reading the seventh book, The Dark Tower. I started the series about a year ago. At no time while playing Borderlands did I associate the two, and until you connected them I hadn't even considered it. Just my .02.

Same. I see no resemblance.

 

[Morathin]

I'm actually reading the seventh book, The Dark Tower. I started the series about a year ago. At no time while playing Borderlands did I associate the two, and until you connected them I hadn't even considered it. Just my .02.

I also saw no resemblance between the game and the books. As far as the book go, they get stranger and stranger and towards the end. I also started reading the series in 1991 and there was a point where i had to wait like 6 to 10 years to finish that series. Quite an effin pain really.

 

[IanM]

At no time while playing Borderlands did I associate the two, and until you connected them I hadn't even considered it. Just my .02.

Same. I see no resemblance.

I also saw no resemblance between the game and the books.

Thanks I started browsing the Borderlands wiki to find out a little more about the game and those connections jumped out immediately, and there is a whole section commenting on the references. I didn't want to read around the game any more deeply than I have done, so I left it at that.

 

[darkpaw]

Borderlands has a ton of references to other games/books/movies. I love that about it.

The setting actually reminded me more of Trigun with general sense of humor.

 

[KatalDT]

Just FYI and no spoilers here, when Stephen King says stop reading here in "The Dark Tower", do what he says after the bit with Susannah. That's all I'm saying.

I disagree, I liked the ending. It was a good warning to those of us who had been invested in the story for a decade or two - nothing could ever live up to the journey. If you're not prepared to accept that, then follow the above poster's advice...

I appreciated the ending though.

 

[FYMbyIce]

Just FYI and no spoilers here, when Stephen King says stop reading here in "The Dark Tower", do what he says after the bit with Susannah. That's all I'm saying.

Even better advice, stop reading at the end of Wizard & Glass.

 

[Spare-Flair]

I also see absolutely no resemblance between Borderlands and the Dark Tower universe.

You must have an interesting imagination. Borderlands is very cartoonish and with it's cell shading also like a comic book. The setting is more like a parody of 1980s cheesy post-apocalyptic movies like Mad Max, etc.

I have no idea how anybody would place the Dark Tower world into Borderlands. The Dark Tower world is a very desolate yet ruined world that is much more steampunk and fantasy with the feeling that the world and Roland's kingdom were thousands of years old and all the lost technology has a bit of magic and mysticism behind it...yet I say steampunk because the technology also has a very old feeling to it, like 19th century trains, etc. Borderlands is much too futuristic in the modern sense to have anything to do with the Dark Tower series.

Borderlands is basically a homage to the theme of science fiction colonies that have gone wrong with nomads fighting with technology made up of space junk in trash heaps and has more in common with pulp comics and anime as well (Trigun basically). If you followed Borderland's development cycle, you'd see that at one time, it was a more serious game without the cel-shading and over the top comedy. At that point, it was pretty much looking like a straight up Mad Max game in early screenshots before they remade it in the cartoony style.

 

[Darth Bobo]

I haven't read the Dark Tower Novels yet but I am currently reading the graphic novels (and enjoying them) and I haven't once made a connection between Borderlands and The Dark Tower either.