izigame.me

The Wasteland series carries a heavy legacy. The original Wasteland is one of the great classics of PC gaming, having pioneered the nuclear post-apocalyptic setting and heavily inspired the Fallout series. The first sequel, released during the Kickstarter fueled cRPG renaissance, was also a respectable game. The promise of a return to Wasteland's world and the hope of an even better installment certainly had me interested from the get-go. Still, I somehow managed to wait a good 2 year before playing this game. I really don't know how I manage to always be this late. Well, better late than never as they say. Let's see if this second sequel does justice to the name it bears.
The plot picks up shortly after the end of the previous game. The Arizona Rangers are still licking their wounds following their showdown with Cochise and his synth army. The unforgiving wasteland does not offer much respite. Food and resources are low and a tough winter is approaching. Desperate, the Ranger command cuts a deal with the powerful potentate of Colorado, a figure known as the Patriarch. In return for the Rangers capturing his wayward children, the Patriarch offers Arizona regular convoys of aid. Team November is assigned to see the mission through. Another chapter in the Rangers' chronicle is about to begin. Should November fail, it could be their last.
The setting of the game is strong. The snowy expanses of Colorado are a refreshing take on the wasteland. An endless snowstorm seems to be raging over the irradiated ranges of the Rockies and makes them feel even more desolate and inhospitable than the hottest desert of the west. There are numerous factions to be found in the various locations that dot the map, many interesting characters to interact with and, unsurprisingly, various madmaxesque gangs roaming the land to fight. All of them quite interesting. Perhaps a bit too tongue-in-cheek sometimes, but interesting. From a gang of crazy clowns convinced the world is a joke, to brutal crazies that cut people to pieces and fly them on kites, to... well, Santa Claus.
There isn't too much focus on the main plot. It has enough meat to make it memorable, which is more than I can say for the plot of the previous game, but it clearly plays second fiddle to the setting. I am fine with that. I am also very appreciative of how gray the world is. Unlike previous games there is no evil AI that needs to be stopped in order to save the world. Just groups of people representing different shades of gray, with a pinch of black. Maybe the Patriarch is a despot, but he also provides stability and the Rangers need his help to survive. Maybe the rogue Rangers calling for his overthrow have a point, but their moral absolutism and shortsightedness may cause a lot more suffering than it spares. November has few easy choices ahead of them.
The presentation of the game is another highlight. The cold wasteland aesthetic that defines the setting enhances all visual aspects of the game. Their clothes and armour, as well as the tank the Rangers use to travel, are all quite striking. The interface icons, starring a retro robot, deserve some special mention for their consistency and humour. The sound and voice acting is also generally on point. Still, there is one final element here that stands above the rest. Music. The soundtrack is simply put phenomenal and greatly adds to the atmosphere. The game contains interesting performances of many great songs. From actual American folk classics to songs that should have been American folk classics. It was always a pleasure when one of those started playing.
So, is the game perfect? Not quite. Unfortunately, there are some pretty serious flaws too. For starters there is the bugs. One of the benefits of often playing games a few years after their release is that I get to avoid the early unpatched versions. Wasteland 3 has had 2 years and 2 DLCs, yet still is anything but bug-free. I encountered plenty. From purely cosmetic ones like my tank turning into a question mark on the map, to more serious ones like my UI disappearing and not letting me play or even quit, to my Rangers starting to drift funnily on the screen. Thankfully they were fairly rare. The most serious of them didn't occur more than once or twice throughout my run. But still, it's been 2 years. Come on.
Either way, my strongest complaint concerns combat balance. Early on, combat is engaging and fun, but as the game progresses it becomes apparent there is something not quite right. First, armour is practically useless. You got a power armour? Oh well, the mook with the plasma rifle will cut through it as if it was your old pajamas anyway. Add in to that the relative fragility of the Rangers and the game basically becomes a race. Lose the initiative and you are toast. It doesn't help that all late enemies are damage sponges with hitpoints in the thousands. A number of pretty unfair fights near the end feel particularly grating. To be fair, the combat system is still fine for the most part, but balancing and the endgame totally needed more work.
In the end, do I recommend Wasteland 3? For fans of the genre the answer is categorically yes. The setting and atmosphere alone would be enough to make this a worthwhile experience. The fact that it also plays reasonably well, for the most part, is the semi-delicious cherry on top. I consider it a clear improvement over the previous iteration and I am curious to see where inXile can take the series to next. Of course, now that they've been gulped down by Microsoft maybe they won't take it anywhere. But I do hope we'll see more and I am patient enough to wait.