Game literally fucking crashed when i beat the final boss fuck this buggy bullshit i was having fun up till that point
Wasteland 3 has been thoroughly recommended to me every time I ask for a recommendation for RPGs with a good story, so I got into it extremely excited. The game starts with an incredible opening that sets high expectations for the rest of the game. Unfortunately, the plot and storytelling fail to maintain this momentum. The storyline often feels immature and lacks subtlety. Maybe I was hoping for my mind to be blown away by the characters, overarching narrative, or plot twists. But no, I feel like the game heavily leans on absurdity as amusement. When you have one or two characters that are quirky or weird, they are memorable in themselves—an oddity, if you will—but if everyone is quirky or weird, then you are in a circus. Every character, from minor NPCs to major plot figures, behaves like clowns trying to outdo each other in banter or attention.
This over-the-top humor overshadows any potential for meaningful character development or emotional investment. The absurdity of situations and characters often feels forced, with the game relying too much on bizarre humor that doesn't always land. This focus on comedy detracts from the stakes of the story, making the wastelanders appear more concerned with petty antics than the dire circumstances of their world. This lack of serious, grounded characters makes it difficult to care about the events unfolding in the wasteland.
As mentioned before, the story starts with promise, featuring a "cliché" plot that could have been enjoyable if executed well. However, as the game progresses, the main story becomes forgettable, and the side stories feel pointless. Aside from companion quests, there are few side stories that capture interest or add depth to the narrative. With the constant barrage of jokes and absurdity, going from quest to quest feels like visiting the next patient in Arkham Asylum. As a result, the quests feel like mere excuses for delirium rather than meaningful adventures.
Not to mention the ending is a rushed mess that undermines the decisions made throughout the game. The game’s attempts to tie up the narrative quickly lead to a dissatisfying resolution that leaves much to be desired. I would recommend this game as a sort of palette cleanser for gritty, dark, and serious RPG stories, but other than that, I would not recommend it unless you enjoy the tone and atmosphere of it.
This over-the-top humor overshadows any potential for meaningful character development or emotional investment. The absurdity of situations and characters often feels forced, with the game relying too much on bizarre humor that doesn't always land. This focus on comedy detracts from the stakes of the story, making the wastelanders appear more concerned with petty antics than the dire circumstances of their world. This lack of serious, grounded characters makes it difficult to care about the events unfolding in the wasteland.
As mentioned before, the story starts with promise, featuring a "cliché" plot that could have been enjoyable if executed well. However, as the game progresses, the main story becomes forgettable, and the side stories feel pointless. Aside from companion quests, there are few side stories that capture interest or add depth to the narrative. With the constant barrage of jokes and absurdity, going from quest to quest feels like visiting the next patient in Arkham Asylum. As a result, the quests feel like mere excuses for delirium rather than meaningful adventures.
Not to mention the ending is a rushed mess that undermines the decisions made throughout the game. The game’s attempts to tie up the narrative quickly lead to a dissatisfying resolution that leaves much to be desired. I would recommend this game as a sort of palette cleanser for gritty, dark, and serious RPG stories, but other than that, I would not recommend it unless you enjoy the tone and atmosphere of it.
Wasteland 3
writers should be shot
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
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
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?
Great game, highly reccomend.
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?
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
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.
Realmente um jogo mto bom onde cada escolha pode afetar o como ira continuar na sua jornada
I went to Wasteland 3 after I attempted to play Wastleland 2 and had no idea what I was doing and then it just drops me in the game and tells me to "Go." Well, i took a few steps and decided it was too much and quit. Now I know im probably being extremely silly about that, but I just decided to go to 3 and boy wow. It just has a whole intro sequence that teaches you some of the ropes of what you're doing and what your goal is. Really shows me how good onboarding is in games and how much I can't really tolerate having none.
Wasteland 3 is what I what from CRPG's, which is grid based tactics combat. I tried to play Tyranny a little bit ago too and I got to the first combat and immediately quit. I really do not want to do party based real time combat isometrically, there is just too much shit to think about. Even if those games have pause, I can't really stand it if it isn't only turn based. The tactics is fun (not the funnest of the ones I've played but is still a good system).
I really like the choices and shit in this game because I really didn't know what is the "right" choice and kind of fumbled the whole thing at the end. Like New Vegas for example, the Legion is like obviously bad and terrible, and all the other choices are pretty "Clear cut" to me. The choices in this game really didn't feel that way to me. You are coming to Colorado to help The Patriarch with his problems, then he will send you home with a supply chain to help your kin back in Arizona (who desperately need supplies). Along the way you can learn of the bad things this guy does to keep a decently civilized kingdom in this brutal post-apocolyptic world and turn against him. It's just like, do you try to take this guy down in attempts to make something better, when its probably pretty damn good for whats going on in the world right now. Do you sacrifice the lives of your people back home for the people here? I think this game has a lot of things you need to think about in the long term and while small term choices may feel morally good, might end up fucking the region in the long run. Like I said, I basically fumbled it all up in the end cause I was trying to play nice a little, but I wasn't thinking about what doing what I did would do in the long term.
I do think this game has a little problem with its mixture of custom built XCOM-like party members and real companions that are characters. You make 2 custom characters at the start, these are your OC's, then once you get settled into HQ, you get a companion, and the ability to recruit 2 more rangers to your team. You can hold 6 controllable party members at once, 4 rangers max, and 2 extra companion slots. I think you want your party full as quick as possible, so you are gonna take 2 custom built rangers to fill out spots in your team you dont have covered. Later you will meet other companions to recruit, but I found that I coudln't really replace anyone on my team because the new companion's stats didnt't 1:1 replace who I had already. I had someone who had high assault rifle skill, and high stealth, but I met someone who had assault rifle with no stealth, but stats my other characters had, so why would I put him in tacticly? This really sucked when there is a companion that is basically critical for end game missions, but I didn't take him because I already had someone who did what he did, so he got pissy at me about it. This could be alleviated on repeat play throughs because you could build your early team around inviting these people later, but on a first one its rough not to enjoy the companions.
You can get more people in your squad though, but you can't control them and they do their own thing. I found this very enjoyable to have a whole extra 6 "pets" following me around by the end game. I also enjoyed the use of licensed music in this games, and most of them are used as battle themes! It's part folk songs akin to O Brother, Where art thou, part good ol' American partiotism songs, and part 80's pop. They are all covers so they fit, but they are used really well, at least I wouldn't expect a fucking battle theme with lyrics in a CRPG.
Also this game has some "first person" dialogue cutscenes where they have whoever you are talking to move around and are animated. I really like these scenes and it gives me a good view of how these characters are.
Liberty Buchanan... my goodness gets the vapours and fans myself.
Overall I think its a fun time, good combat, good exploration with uses for your skills, and good decisions.
Wasteland 3 is what I what from CRPG's, which is grid based tactics combat. I tried to play Tyranny a little bit ago too and I got to the first combat and immediately quit. I really do not want to do party based real time combat isometrically, there is just too much shit to think about. Even if those games have pause, I can't really stand it if it isn't only turn based. The tactics is fun (not the funnest of the ones I've played but is still a good system).
I really like the choices and shit in this game because I really didn't know what is the "right" choice and kind of fumbled the whole thing at the end. Like New Vegas for example, the Legion is like obviously bad and terrible, and all the other choices are pretty "Clear cut" to me. The choices in this game really didn't feel that way to me. You are coming to Colorado to help The Patriarch with his problems, then he will send you home with a supply chain to help your kin back in Arizona (who desperately need supplies). Along the way you can learn of the bad things this guy does to keep a decently civilized kingdom in this brutal post-apocolyptic world and turn against him. It's just like, do you try to take this guy down in attempts to make something better, when its probably pretty damn good for whats going on in the world right now. Do you sacrifice the lives of your people back home for the people here? I think this game has a lot of things you need to think about in the long term and while small term choices may feel morally good, might end up fucking the region in the long run. Like I said, I basically fumbled it all up in the end cause I was trying to play nice a little, but I wasn't thinking about what doing what I did would do in the long term.
I do think this game has a little problem with its mixture of custom built XCOM-like party members and real companions that are characters. You make 2 custom characters at the start, these are your OC's, then once you get settled into HQ, you get a companion, and the ability to recruit 2 more rangers to your team. You can hold 6 controllable party members at once, 4 rangers max, and 2 extra companion slots. I think you want your party full as quick as possible, so you are gonna take 2 custom built rangers to fill out spots in your team you dont have covered. Later you will meet other companions to recruit, but I found that I coudln't really replace anyone on my team because the new companion's stats didnt't 1:1 replace who I had already. I had someone who had high assault rifle skill, and high stealth, but I met someone who had assault rifle with no stealth, but stats my other characters had, so why would I put him in tacticly? This really sucked when there is a companion that is basically critical for end game missions, but I didn't take him because I already had someone who did what he did, so he got pissy at me about it. This could be alleviated on repeat play throughs because you could build your early team around inviting these people later, but on a first one its rough not to enjoy the companions.
You can get more people in your squad though, but you can't control them and they do their own thing. I found this very enjoyable to have a whole extra 6 "pets" following me around by the end game. I also enjoyed the use of licensed music in this games, and most of them are used as battle themes! It's part folk songs akin to O Brother, Where art thou, part good ol' American partiotism songs, and part 80's pop. They are all covers so they fit, but they are used really well, at least I wouldn't expect a fucking battle theme with lyrics in a CRPG.
Also this game has some "first person" dialogue cutscenes where they have whoever you are talking to move around and are animated. I really like these scenes and it gives me a good view of how these characters are.
Liberty Buchanan... my goodness gets the vapours and fans myself.
Overall I think its a fun time, good combat, good exploration with uses for your skills, and good decisions.
CRPGs aren't my natural home turf but this one is heavily rewarding for those who love to explore.
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.
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 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.
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.