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.
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.
WASTELAND 3 is one of the greatest games I have ever played. It worked for me personally on many different levels:
The gameplay: I'm a big fan of XCOM-style strategy games, and this is a good one. I especially enjoy how both ranged and melee are viable options, and you just specialize characters however you want to.
The world: I enjoyed the setting of post-apocalypse Colorado, especially with all the bizarre characters they filled it with. It's basically another Fallout game, but I actually like the setting of it. And, add to that, the ending plays a song that captures all of your most important moments, changing lyrics to reflect your actions? Incredible. In all seriousness, it did feel like there were some actual consequences to my actions.
The humor: I'll admit, it's definitely weird, but the strong character moments combine with just enough (generally dark) comedy to make this game noticeably funny. I wouldn't call it a comedy, but it is the funniest game I've played. I laughed many more times than I thought I would, sometimes just out of bewildered amusement.
The soundtrack: I'm religious, and it was very surprising to me to hear a select few old hymns incorporated into the music of the game, but it worked wonders. They're really good renditions, firstly, but they also just fit. It's a bizarre experience to be watching a cutscene, see someone's head explode all over the screen in a gory mess, and then fight a battle listening to "Are You Washed In the Blood of the Lamb?" That just worked for me.
Negatives?
1. During the long fights--which, some fights can take upwards of 50 minutes--the music track loops. For the aforementioned hymns & ballads, it can get a bit repetitive.
2. You need to quicksave all the time. Some fights are incredibly stacked against you, and you'll pop into them without warning. Or, technical issues may strike (explained below)... Either way, it's easy to play for 2 hours without saving and lose all of that progress due to a lack of autosave and randomly difficult fights that you weren't warned of.
3. Technical issues: in my 50-ish hours, the game probably crashed ~15 times. And, despite playing on Xbox Series S, whenever I put my console to sleep, the game would face a critical error and cease running. I have no idea why this port is so ill-made, but that was primarily a minor annoyance.
Overall: this game is great. There's a ton of profanity and some very violent stuff, if you're worried about that, but the game itself is incredible. I look forward to replaying it in a few years, when the experience isn't quite so fresh.
The gameplay: I'm a big fan of XCOM-style strategy games, and this is a good one. I especially enjoy how both ranged and melee are viable options, and you just specialize characters however you want to.
The world: I enjoyed the setting of post-apocalypse Colorado, especially with all the bizarre characters they filled it with. It's basically another Fallout game, but I actually like the setting of it. And, add to that, the ending plays a song that captures all of your most important moments, changing lyrics to reflect your actions? Incredible. In all seriousness, it did feel like there were some actual consequences to my actions.
The humor: I'll admit, it's definitely weird, but the strong character moments combine with just enough (generally dark) comedy to make this game noticeably funny. I wouldn't call it a comedy, but it is the funniest game I've played. I laughed many more times than I thought I would, sometimes just out of bewildered amusement.
The soundtrack: I'm religious, and it was very surprising to me to hear a select few old hymns incorporated into the music of the game, but it worked wonders. They're really good renditions, firstly, but they also just fit. It's a bizarre experience to be watching a cutscene, see someone's head explode all over the screen in a gory mess, and then fight a battle listening to "Are You Washed In the Blood of the Lamb?" That just worked for me.
Negatives?
1. During the long fights--which, some fights can take upwards of 50 minutes--the music track loops. For the aforementioned hymns & ballads, it can get a bit repetitive.
2. You need to quicksave all the time. Some fights are incredibly stacked against you, and you'll pop into them without warning. Or, technical issues may strike (explained below)... Either way, it's easy to play for 2 hours without saving and lose all of that progress due to a lack of autosave and randomly difficult fights that you weren't warned of.
3. Technical issues: in my 50-ish hours, the game probably crashed ~15 times. And, despite playing on Xbox Series S, whenever I put my console to sleep, the game would face a critical error and cease running. I have no idea why this port is so ill-made, but that was primarily a minor annoyance.
Overall: this game is great. There's a ton of profanity and some very violent stuff, if you're worried about that, but the game itself is incredible. I look forward to replaying it in a few years, when the experience isn't quite so fresh.
I booted this game up with low expectations, needless to say i am incredibly pleasantly surprised , I remember having tried wasteland 2 early in its life and bouncing off of it.
Wasteland 3 Really does just a fantastic job of balancing the serious themes of the story with the more wacky and outsider humor. In this way i would describe this game as "Lutheran Fallout" It rejects the modern action oriented first person RPG design by giving a nuts to butts classic CRPG experience instead, the game takes place in an isometric perspective, with very xcom inspired combat, cover system, hit chances, etc.
What the game is really good at though is giving interesting permutations of the story and meaningfully different paths that the player's choices throughout meaningfully affect. These choices often lead to unique battles not seen if taking a different path. This is so refreshing as there are very few instances of being forced through the same situation with slightly different dialogue.
These battles rip the kitchen sink from the wall and brutalizes the player with it , on hard difficulty i was constantly being tasked to do the same; finding ways to exploit the games spiderweb of combat systems and mechanics to be able to overcome certain fights. Get deep enough into the weeds especially as a completionist there will be a vast toolbox of death dealing instruments to discover and upgrade. Spending the first half of the game scraping through encounters makes melting people in the mid game all the more satisfying
I also really enjoy how the game rewards the player for exploration; lots of neat unique weapons, armor, and gizmos to equip, customize, and discover. The best equipment is off the beaten path and the game has many paths that are very... Unbeaten
This game is not perfect however and the first set of issues arose from playing on series x,
The menu and ui is not made with controller in mind, by the hour mark i was realizing just how much faster the game would play out if i could just click on things, i won't exaggerate when i say that controller menuing added ~hours to the runtime vs the speed and precision of the mouse. Another console specific issue is how absolutely mercissley screwed up the targeting was at times, enjoy wrestling with the game to allow you to shoot the person you want to, oftentimes i'd have to reload a fight because of the game snapping to a target across the map when i had already been hitting another enemy spamming A to attack them, the game would send my targeting to the another mook 8 ap of movement away to attack because it decided in between my button presses to target a random enemy and screw the whole strategy.
Another issue with controller is any attack that arcs in a cone, you cannot move the camera when attempting to aim it, meaning that if its a long range weapon you will not be able to see your target on screen while trying to line it up or while the attack is being delivered, I really wish the camera centered on who was getting attacked because i would often not be able to see the results of my attacks. Denying the satisfaction of seeing the enemies blow up or vaporize while also denying critical information to make informed decisions about tactics.
The issues with the games controls really brings it down score and pacing wise ;75 hours could have been 60 (seriously)
there are also a few other nitpicks
-Hyper situational perks that have no use 95% of time (looking at you; pressure cooker, how many fucking cars did i even fight in this game? 3? Maybe ?)
-RNG based loot can play unintentional favorites leading to situations where certain party members embody a walking apocalypse, while the rest of the squad look like weeny hut jr. employees by comparison .
This game is awesome, do yourself a favor and play it with KBM. Controller is a straight up inferior experience
Wasteland 3 Really does just a fantastic job of balancing the serious themes of the story with the more wacky and outsider humor. In this way i would describe this game as "Lutheran Fallout" It rejects the modern action oriented first person RPG design by giving a nuts to butts classic CRPG experience instead, the game takes place in an isometric perspective, with very xcom inspired combat, cover system, hit chances, etc.
What the game is really good at though is giving interesting permutations of the story and meaningfully different paths that the player's choices throughout meaningfully affect. These choices often lead to unique battles not seen if taking a different path. This is so refreshing as there are very few instances of being forced through the same situation with slightly different dialogue.
These battles rip the kitchen sink from the wall and brutalizes the player with it , on hard difficulty i was constantly being tasked to do the same; finding ways to exploit the games spiderweb of combat systems and mechanics to be able to overcome certain fights. Get deep enough into the weeds especially as a completionist there will be a vast toolbox of death dealing instruments to discover and upgrade. Spending the first half of the game scraping through encounters makes melting people in the mid game all the more satisfying
I also really enjoy how the game rewards the player for exploration; lots of neat unique weapons, armor, and gizmos to equip, customize, and discover. The best equipment is off the beaten path and the game has many paths that are very... Unbeaten
This game is not perfect however and the first set of issues arose from playing on series x,
The menu and ui is not made with controller in mind, by the hour mark i was realizing just how much faster the game would play out if i could just click on things, i won't exaggerate when i say that controller menuing added ~hours to the runtime vs the speed and precision of the mouse. Another console specific issue is how absolutely mercissley screwed up the targeting was at times, enjoy wrestling with the game to allow you to shoot the person you want to, oftentimes i'd have to reload a fight because of the game snapping to a target across the map when i had already been hitting another enemy spamming A to attack them, the game would send my targeting to the another mook 8 ap of movement away to attack because it decided in between my button presses to target a random enemy and screw the whole strategy.
Another issue with controller is any attack that arcs in a cone, you cannot move the camera when attempting to aim it, meaning that if its a long range weapon you will not be able to see your target on screen while trying to line it up or while the attack is being delivered, I really wish the camera centered on who was getting attacked because i would often not be able to see the results of my attacks. Denying the satisfaction of seeing the enemies blow up or vaporize while also denying critical information to make informed decisions about tactics.
The issues with the games controls really brings it down score and pacing wise ;75 hours could have been 60 (seriously)
there are also a few other nitpicks
-Hyper situational perks that have no use 95% of time (looking at you; pressure cooker, how many fucking cars did i even fight in this game? 3? Maybe ?)
-RNG based loot can play unintentional favorites leading to situations where certain party members embody a walking apocalypse, while the rest of the squad look like weeny hut jr. employees by comparison .
This game is awesome, do yourself a favor and play it with KBM. Controller is a straight up inferior experience
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!
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.
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
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.
The modern Fallout CRPG I never knew I wanted
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.
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?
Não curto muito esse tipo de jogo, mas foi uma boa experiência.
Very good for a top-down tactical RPG. Personally got bored, because of the Baldurs Gate 3 and Starfield hype (both of which I plan to play ASAP), plus the game is grim and gritty, which is not what I need in my life right now
A lot more streamlined than Wasteland 2 as far as character building and game mechanics go. I'm playing on PS5 and it's a bit buggy with some crashes (i've noticed more crashes the further into the file I get). Flawed as it is though the game is really fun and worth multiple playthroughs
Might give it another shot (heh), it wasn't bad just kinda... indie.
Wasteland 3
Sem duvidas o melhor jogo do gamepass que ja joguei
A game that, at times, shows lack of resources and a massive ambition.
However, I still enjoyed it very much and would think of this game alongside Divinity OS2 when I think about greatest cRPGs.
However, I still enjoyed it very much and would think of this game alongside Divinity OS2 when I think about greatest cRPGs.
Never clicked for me. The world doesn't take itself serious at all. The UI is pretty bad for a mouse+keyboard. Couldn't get into it.
Great game, highly reccomend.
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.
played with my boyfriend and we were having a banger time but game hardlocked us out of progression so we had to drop it :(( makes me sad bc i was really enjoying it too
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
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.
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
This is FANTASTIC. The gameplay was interesting and I enjoyed the story. There's plenty of depth with how you can approach the story and role-play. The humor is wonderful, very Fallout-like and had me laughing. Really enjoyable experience and worth sinking multiple playthroughs into it.
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.
It's okay. It has an incredible opening, but the later acts have a very forgettable story,.
One of my favourite CRPGs, I talk about on this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thethirstymage/episodes/From-Guangdong-To-Colorado--Summer-2020-RPGs-evftl2
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