Wasteland 3: The Battle of Steeltown Review (ColorsFade)
This is a fantastic DLC for a fantastic game. I'm honestly surprised that it has a "Mixed" rating.
What's Good?
The story, setting, characters, and moral choices all perfectly fit into the base game. This is not a DLC that will leave you feeling, "Ugh, this doesn't fit the game." Quite the opposite, in fact. Unknowingly, I had bought this as part of a bundle and I had no idea it was a DLC when I was playing it the first time because it dovetails so well into the base game. The only clue that it was an add-on was the introduction of new game mechanics (non-lethal weapons). There are a couple really fun nods to pop culture as well (fans of ALIENS will get a kick out of one sub-plot).
Addressing Criticisms
A lot of the negative reviews center around two game mechanics that are introduced by this DLC: Non-lethal weapons and infinite spawning enemies. Let me address both of these in case those reviews are scaring you off of buying this DLC.
Non-Lethal Weapons
I'm not a fan of unfair, gimmicky mechanics. But after playing through the DLC multiple times, I do not think any of the new mechanics are unfair or gimmicky. As mentioned in other reviews, the non-lethal weapons are only necessary if you want to achieve a specific ending. At first, I thought they made the encounters a bit too difficult. But on 2nd play-through, going after the specific ending that requires their use, I found they made the encounters challenging in a different way, and I ended up having a lot of fun with them. The devs have done a great job with the environment geography (use it to your advantage!) and provide the player with a number of tools to assist with the non-lethal takedown of enemies (disruption mines help a ton, as does a melee character).
Infinite Respawn Enemies
The second major complaint is about the "infinite respawning enemies" in the final stage of the DLC, and just like the non-lethal weapon complaint, I don't find this to be very valid either.
How the respawning works: There are "elevators" that, while active, bring in a couple new enemies every other turn. Your job is to turn these elevators "off" to end the tide of enemies. Each elevator has an "off" switch, and there are 3 elevators active during each encounter. With one fast character in the party and the Rally skill (via Leadership), it is possible to shut off all elevators in 1-2 turns, making the encounters pretty easy. And since you don't have to use the non-lethal weapons at the same time (they don't work on these robotic enemies) you're only dealing with one new game mechanic at a time, not two. The robotic enemies are nothing too difficult to deal with. So, use a fast character + Rally to shut off the elevators while the rest of the party destroys a bunch of robots.
But this brings up an important point: Even in the base game, Wasteland 3 will punish players for not diversifying their party. The game is designed to reward diverse party composition. Players who have been paying attention to how the game works and building their party in a diverse way will already have a team that can handle this DLC by the time they make it to Steeltown. The players who are struggling against this DLC are playing with non-diverse parties in the first place. The main game is punishing them for it, but it's not punishing them quite as hard as the DLC does. So, whose fault is that?
It's not the game's fault.
I already had a diverse party, and thus had a melee character with max Speed and Mechanics. Melee characters aren't very powerful in this game (in terms of offense) but they can bring a ton of utility with speed, defense, and Mechanics (allowing them to toss turrets and decoys). I also run my party with three characters who have some Leadership, thus I can use Rally every turn for added Action Points. Coupled with a fast melee character, it becomes easy to turn off the "infinite" spawns in short order.
So the idea that the game has "infinite spawns" sounds horrible on its face, but in reality it's a simple objective-based encounter that is fairly easy to overcome if you have a diverse party.
Conclusion
If you're a fan of the base game, and you already understand the power of diverse party composition, then get this DLC. You won't find it unfairly difficult. You will find it hugely fun.