Reviews from

in the past


A solid CRPG that I wish had some better party members. That being said the Denver area in this game is one of the most inspired areas I've played in a while

just couldn't get into it. I didn't really like the character designs.

This review contains spoilers

Every piece of art anyone has ever loved has always had some thing that grabs you, something that reaches out to you deep down into the primordial soup of your soul and stirred something ancient and powerful. Where you just know that what you’re experiencing is special, will stay with you, and will be carried with you in some way for the rest of your life. There isn’t one specific thing that grabbed me here, but its an example of a game doing everything right at every opportunity. And after an entire playthrough exposed to this uncommon level of craftsmen ship you’ll find it impossible to put the game down.
Wasteland 3 is a post apocalyptic RPG set in the state of Colorado. You play as a Desert Ranger, who after the events at the start of Wasteland 2 are having issues with food and water and staying supplied against raiders and militias. The Patriarch who rules a once united Colorado offered a deal of mutual aid, scratch his back and he will scratch yours. You set off and are ambushed in the opening cutscene leading into character creation and the tutorial dam area before youre given your base and main story and set off into the frozen night.
This is a hard one for me to talk about. Not for any specific reason, I just love it so much there’s a million things that I want to get out but its just a jumble of individual parts that I really appreciate in games that also come together to form a cohesive package that also I really like. It’s a fairly short game (for a chunky RPG), but not paced in a way that feels rushed or with any unpolished back half, running at a consistent rhythm, snappy game loop with enough rewards throughout you never feel like you’re going through the motions. That being said short is somewhat misleading. Sure, you can blow through just the story really quick, but an average playthrough taking your time and just seeing the sights you can easily rack up 40 50 hours not counting the two DLCs. The maps are dense with both combat encounters and skill checks, you’ll be using exploration skills to disarm mines, alarms, unlock doors safes and computers near constantly to the point where your lock picking character will be several levels higher then the rest of your team.
Combat plays out turn based, but with each team taking their turns as one. So, you go then the enemy goes and so forth. Because whoever initiates combat goes first and the entire team moves going first is often the only thing that decides encounters. Encounters started by dialogue will often be way harder then ones you can initiate from ‘stealth’. Stealth is fairly minimal, every enemy has a red ring around them when not in combat representing a detection range, and standing inside the ring will fill up an eye above your head and when it fills your caught. Any shot made out of combat is a sneak attack and initiates combat, the shooter will start combat as if they had already shot. Starting combat with damaged enemies, in position and a full turn is generally more than enough to either have won or impossible to lose after your first turn, and this carries over through the hardest difficulties as well.
Music is fantastic. Very moody and atmospheric as reminiscent of the classic fallouts. Where it stands out is its Hymns and Incantations. There’re several covers of old Americana patriotic and work songs as well as just some pop songs, that play as battle music for important fights, or after story events or just in some certain areas. The psychobilly vibes and covers fit the setting and elevate the games themes. The ending track with the main story beats being narrated like a campfire folk song changing depending on how you went with the kids and the civil war. The best comparison I can think of for use of music is JRPGs. Big bombastic boss themes over turn based combat is one of my favorite things. The haunting uncle acid esque folk songs really nails this and ties the experience up nicely. Again, nothing revolutionary but utilized to such a great effect it makes you wonder why we don’t see this more often.
Character building is fairly straight forward and reminds me a lot of Mass Effect 1 in lay out, but lands in a satisfying easy to learn and understand, and extremely satisfying to master. All the skills and stats are laid out in a way to be easy to understand on their own but with fun synergies between them. And weapons are grouped up in pairs which allows and encourages experimenting without you needing to know the specifics of the game. Every skill is relevant and useful in its own way as the game does not skimp out on skill checks, so this cuts down on any feel bad moments as whatever you built will have something to do.
One of my favorite aspects of RPGs is when they are static, instead of relying on a loot treadmill/slot machine pulling style of loot. Because there’s fixed loot in fixed places you can leverage game knowledge and plan out routes in a way that might be less reliable if loot was all randomly generated. That isn’t to say there isn’t random loot, there is, most safes and containers roll the loot when you open it. but what stuff you do find isn’t random. If you find a minigun it will always be the same minigun, even if you leveled up 10 times and then found another one. The entirety of wasteland 3, outside of its 2 dlcs, follow this. Which means you can from the start plan characters around specific weapons and get to them in a short amount of time. This isn’t unique to wasteland 3 but it’s a very large part to what makes the progression feel satisfying.
The game has a very loose and open structure to it, with you getting the three main quests right out the bat with the entirety of the modest open map laid out before you. There are 5ish main areas, 2 dlcs and a smattering of smaller optional areas all connected through a map you drive your Kodiak around in with progression being largely gated behind radiation shielding that becomes available as you start rounding up the patriarch’s kids. Traversing the open world is simple, slow, can be repetitive and full of both random encounters and fixed secret goodies. Random encounters always tell you what it is, with several options to either try and run, avoid it entirely, start combat or attempt to start combat with an advantage. Avoiding encounters entirely is the main focus of the survival skill, and personally I always skip them unless I’m feeling like meaningless fights, but still always having the option to fight or not is awesome. There is a radio to listen to while you’re roaming Colorado, but unlike fallout its not tuned to any specific station. Instead you will pick up broadcasts randomly as you drive around, and they usually are themed around which section of the map you’re on. These range from repeating ghost broadcasts, number stations, advertisements for a dungeons and dragons group, music introduced by a couple different DJs still on air, and the various factions spewing propaganda out, including the patriarch.
The two DLCs for Wasteland 3 are the Battle for Steeltown and Cult of the Holy Detonation. Steeltown is about the industrial heart of Colorado going haywire. Theres a worker revolt and violent union busting and a super computer gone rogue. Theres a good bit going on with choices to go lethal or non lethal agasint the workers and ghosts, siding with the workers or security and then siding with them or the administrator and then what to do with the computer. Builds on everything in wasteland 3 and introduces in the final area the concept of objectives during fights. Saying it introduces them is a bit of a lie as needing to run and interact with generators was already a thing, but in the last area of steel town you have to run and flip switches to stop reinforcements from coming in. this can be done in one turn with a mobile fast character and again, its only in the very last area of the entire dlc.
Cult of the Holy Detonation further expands on combat changes in steel town, and now you will see objectives or enemy modifies in every encounter. This dlc is essentially just a series of combat puzzles and boss fights. Youll go to a new area scout around for any advantages and then jump into a hectic endurance round of combat set to that wasteland 3 sound track we all love. The two stand outs to the soundtrack here are Power in the Blood and Making our Dreams Come True. They put the entire last fight set to a quirky upbeat fiddle hoe down song and it’s the best thing.
The downsides to both DLCs are something that gets talked about but not nearly as much as the mixed steam reviews would have you believe. For my money the worst sin they commit is level scaling, and not even on enemies. It level scales loot! The crafting blue prints you find in steeltown are set to what level you found them at meaning if there was a specific steeltown gun you want to use youre in this zone where doing it early will get you it earlier but doing it later will get you it better. Its not really a huge deal its just the only time this really comes into effect in the game, and it makes it stick out like a sore thumb. Don’t let the negative steam reviews scare you off, both of the DLCs are excellent, high quality and expand the game in only good ways. Theyre worth your time and they are worth the cost.
IN CONCLUSION
If this game came out in 2010 for the 360 it would be the greatest game of all time. But it didn’t so as it stands it remains niche, woefully underrated, and will be waiting for you to give It a fair shake, get it on sale, play it on game pass black magic it whatever, as long as more people see experience this.

dis like my first turn based rpg or wtv pretty dope, i hired a cat named tomcat in my team he died


This game actually was fun, but the multiplayer is a disgrace. The buggiest and most broken multiplayer I've ever experienced. It would crash, freeze, loss our progress, etc. Just remove the multiplayer if it's this broken at launch. It ruined a potentially good game for me.

Good game overall, worked as a great introduction to CRPG's with turn-based combat, and was more aesthetically pleasing than expected. The companions aren't as fleshed out as they could be and the combat tends to get tedious after a while although it feels good initially. Also had a very barebones, uninspired depiction of Native American stand-in characters that doesn't deviate from the tired established "Wild West" adjacent setting, same ol same ol people in power that can't truly be changed in the game. Despite this I'd still recommend the game as it's fun overall, especially as a simpler modern CRPG offering nice combat, a decent story, and a bit of decision making.

crpg fans really ought to add this game to their list of games to play bc it's got it all — a killer soundtrack, satisfyingly difficult and in depth combat, an intriguing world, and fantastic dialogue.

I wasn't sure if this game was going to click for me (especially since I betrayed my rule of playing all previous games in a series before playing the Newest and Hottest game) but man, when Blood of the Lamb kicked in during the final combat of the intro sequence? Holy shit. I was hooked. The ambience of that fight — the hymn paired with the whistling winds of the nuclear winter punctuated by gunfire — was just so fucking good.

The world of Wasteland 3 is bleak, no doubt about it. You'll meet the worst that humanity has to offer on your journey through Colorado. The effects of the nuclear war have not been kind to humanity, and yet in spite of the cynicism and depravity that is rampant in the world, you can still be the person who makes the world a little less shitty to be in.

Or not.

And that's the beauty of this game!

On combat, there's nothing quite as satisfying as setting up your sniper in overwatch mode and one shotting enemy after enemy after enemy because of that one perk that gives you resets on a kill. Insane.

Also, it's crazy how my favourite cover of Everybody Have Fun Tonight by Wang Chum plays as background music at a cannibal camp. What other game lets you experience that?

Play this game.

I could rate this game 5 stars based off of the soundtrack, Blood of The Lamb, Battle Hymn of The Republic, Down In The Valley to Pray, all amazing songs. But the gameplay itself is actually really fun, I hate turned based combat (which is why I'm putting off BG3 for right now) but Wasteland 3 does it perfectly, "This game is funny, this game is memorable, this game is replayable, this game is hard, this game is frustrating, this game is clunky, this game is... pretty good"-Green X

Joguei muito pouco, mas estava adorando a história e a escrita do jogo, porém não estava com paciencia pra lidar com as características comuns de CRPGs ruins: coisas aleatórias que forçam a usar save states. Andando na primeira cidade, meus personagens pisavam em armadilhas e morriam sem me dar chance de fazer algo, combates surgiam do nada contra inimigos muito mais fortes. Não tive paciencia no momento, talvez no futuro.

The modern Fallout CRPG I never knew I wanted

Queria ter curtido mais, joguei umas 40horas+ dele, mas depois não me senti tão preso aquele mundo etc e ai dropei, um dia dou uma segunda chance.

Played this on release. If the idea of Divinity OS, Fallout and XCOM having a baby sounds like a good idea to you, then you'll love this game. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's not crazy long, and I experienced a few bugs here and there but nothing game breaking.

The only major complaint I have is the loading screens were criminally long despite running on an NVMe SSD, hopefully this is resolved by now, would love to do another play through of this bad boy co-op.

a very good CRPG!, con un final un poco agrío, empieza re bien, termina meh

Might give it another shot (heh), it wasn't bad just kinda... indie.

Wasteland 3 is a classic CRPG fan's dream, but be warned, it's brutal. The post-apocalyptic Colorado setting is awesome, and the turn-based combat will test your tactical skills. There's a ton of dialogue and choices that actually matter, but damn, the writing can be cringe-worthy at times. Plus, it's got its share of bugs and the UI is pretty clunky. But if you miss old-school Fallout vibes and want a meaty RPG to sink your teeth into, Wasteland 3 scratches that wasteland itch.

Buggy as hell but this is one of the games that got me through 2020. Went back in for the DLCs but they didn't give me the same feeling as the base game. I didn't even finish the nuclear church one

This review contains spoilers

Summary: overall had a great time, between a 4 and 4.5. Don't love the combat or story enough to go higher

Pros:
- Choice and consequence is excellent. Tough choices and lasting consequences with branching outcomes. I like that you are often punished in terms of loot/money for making the "good guy" choice
- Enjoyable combat and character building
- Generally enjoyable setting/tone, certainly is unique

Cons:
- You have 6 characters and get levels quickly: can be overwhelming and hard to know how to build characters without outside help. Don't really know what the skills do before you have to make "permanent" choices, compounded by money being scarce initially (you can pay to respec). Overall not a huge negative after initial hurdle and probably fine to play completely blind, but I hate the feeling of "messing up" my characters due to the game not giving me enough information
- Combat can become a little stale towards the end of the game when you have your characters locked in
- Some humor can be hit or miss, a little overbearing

Some specific story/writing complaints:
- Why can't someone take over Gipper oil production other than cannibals?
- Angela Deth asks you to essentially commit a coup against a popular leader and presumably kill many innocent people in the process. Why would people support us after that? Also seems unrealistic how 50% of Rangers automatically turn against you
- Would've loved to have a more in depth conversation with the Patriarch or the Rangers at the end. Feels like it was missing a finale confrontation/discussion and instead I was forced into a binary decision to support Angela or not

I'm sorry lord but I just couldn't finish this game. I was genuinely intrigued by the story and I was enjoying the gameplay but I saw how much longer the game was going to take to beat and I just didn't have the strength. This is such a massive improvement on the other Wasteland games so I feel extra guilty lord but please forgive me, I know I have sinned but please, I will repent by purchasing three indie games on Steam without them being on sale.

First off, let me say that Wasteland 3 is my first experience with the CRPG genre, but not with turn-based tactic games, so I understood how the gameplay worked. The story is set in post-apocalyptic Colorado, where your team of six Rangers is tasked with getting The Patriarch's three children back to him, and in return, you get aid for your people back in Arizona. 

The story was pretty solid all around and made it harder to go along with certain decisions or be happy that I made the right one, or at least think I did. All the characters you meet along the way are pretty unique in their own way, which felt pretty refreshing, especially Ronald and Flab. When it comes to the soundtrack of the game, I was loving it every step of the way since the gospel/bluesy feel of the song matched the game theme perfectly (I now have a couple songs from it on my Spotify playlist). The world design looks like how you think it would, and people act like you think they would as well. How you explore Colorado is in the world map where you direct the Kodiak, a tank/truck hybrid that you can upgrade with new weapons', armor, and the Chasis that allows you to further explore the map and its radiation zones.

On the gameplay side of things, it was your average turn-based combat, and even with my limited experience, it seems the same in how it works but is fresh with the attributes, skills, and perks. Skills and perks are directly related since the higher the level of your skill that caps at 10, your perk tree for that skill allows for newer and better perks to be used for that character. Attributes, for the most part, are mainly focused on how they affect your character's abilities in combat. Awareness increases your likelihood of hitting your shots, while Charisma affects your leadship skill range and XP gain, and so on with the rest of the perks. That makes for a fun time figuring out a team comp that works for your style of gameplay.

Would I recommend this game? The answer is yes. For anyone who likes post-apocalyptic settings or CRPGS in general, this game probably has something you would enjoy, whether it's the funny moments or strenuous decisions you need to make that affect your people in Arizona, which is the Wasteland of Colorado. 8.5/10

Great game. I didn't like the setting or characters as much as Wasteland 2, but the branching gameplay and story were great.

Não curto muito esse tipo de jogo, mas foi uma boa experiência.

Great turn-based tactical RPG with little bit of real-time stealth before entering combat. I know some of the weapons are sci-fi and some amusing but the comparative damage done by various types weapon is all over the place. You can avoid some combats with negotiating skills but given that combat is what the game is all about, why would you?

Almost perfect games appear very rarely, especially not in the role-playing game genre. In complex RPGs with countless decisions, combat situations and character values, something can always go wrong. The best example: Baldur's Gate 3, which, for all its ingenuity, is not without errors and had to be patched diligently after its release.

Wasteland 3 also undoubtedly has small problems and aches and pains somewhere. But for me it was still very close to legendary perfection at the time of its release.

Because Wasteland 3 shows how well classic CRPG virtues still work, even 25 years after the genre's heyday, if you just package them in a modern way. Thanks to publisher Microsoft's big wallet, developer Inxile Entertainment was able to implement the ambitions of part 2 much better this time, and the result feels worlds smoother.

In any case, I loved traveling through this crazy post-apocalypse again, facing crazy robots and even crazier clown gangs with my group of rangers and pondering tricky quest decisions. This may not be perfect - but what role-playing game is?

It's a great RPG but the characters didn't feel too alive
Maybe I'll come back to this
Maybe i won't


Underwhelming experience overall. The combat engagements are the highlight of the game for me and the cut content and inconsistent writing are the things that weigh the whole game down.


Having not played a Wasteland game (or even a Fallout) before, I thought the setting and humor wouldn't grab me but I was completely wrong.

Wasteland 3 is an amazing CRPG with very engaging, satisfying turn-based combat, excellent presentation (the soundtrack, the switch to fully animated NPCs in first-person for important dialogues, the voice acting, the sound effects...) and great writing. The main story is perfectly decent but the best stuff is in the margins — you'll find genuinely hilarious bits in side quests and overall world building. Loved exploring every single location, reading loot descriptions, talking to weird quest givers and absolute psychopaths. It's also a very reactive RPG, with plenty of decisions and a lot of skill checks (in and outside dialogue) that matter.

From a game design perspective, everything feels tight and polished, like a studio that knows what it wants and knows it can deliver it.

The only downside are the technical issues. Playing it in 2022, I still encountered constant Unity crashes, which could happen every five minutes (even during the final credits). Rebooting my PC usually helped, though. I also had a couple quest bugs that I could fix reloading and doing things in a specific order, and then some frame rate issues in Ranger HQ that required to restart the game.

Overall, a fantastic experience. Played 47h in two weeks, and I want more (will look into the two expansions). I also think it's a great first CRPG for players that are looking to get into the genre. Do it!

Çok eğlenceliydi, mizahı hit or miss ama zaman zaman çok güldüm, kendini pek ciddiye almıyor. Bunu bilerek oynadığım için tahmin ettiğimden daha çok keyif aldım