A Fun Waste-venture--Wasteland 3 Review

After spending waaaaaaay too much time trudging through Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, I decided that my next game would be vastly different.  I opted for Wasteland 3, the 2020 sequel to the Kickstarter reboot Wasteland 2.  If you haven't heard of Wasteland before, it's likely because it has its roots in the 1980's when the original hit RPG was released.  The story takes place in a post-apocalyptic version of the United States where the Desert Rangers are desperately trying to maintain some semblance of order in a world filled with chaos.

What is it?

Wasteland 3 is a turn-based RPG that tells the story of the Desert Rangers--a group of lawmen and women who after the events in Wasteland 2, are desperately seeking aid for the ailing people of Arizona.  Their calls for help are received by a man called the "Patriarch" who claims he owns the state of Colorado and is willing to help supply the Rangers if they help him with his big, looming problem--namely the fact that his three children (and heirs) are all AWOL and he wants to bring them back into the family fold.  Finding his wayward ilk is no easy task--each has their own personality and motivations and none of them are interested in going home to daddy.  The situation isn't simple by any means--the Patriarch isn't exactly an upstanding citizen, his health is failing and he's in need of an heir to take over.  Let's just say that his kids range in personality from a highly delusional nerd to an absolute psychopath to an iron-fisted tyrant.  The future of Colorado (and Arizona) hangs in the balance.  

Playtime and stats

I would estimate that a thorough playthrough that includes the main story and most side content would take about 40-50 hours.  Since I was enjoying the game, I decided to invest in the two story DLC's and add them to my playthrough--each probably added another 10 hours, so my full playthrough clocked in at around 60 hours.  I found the amount of playtime to be just right--the story and gameplay was still enjoyable and it didn't feel like it dragged on for too long.

Omen--a custom character.

Pros:

+ Character customization (or not).  When you start a new game you get to choose two characters who are your core team.  You can either choose from several pre-made pairs of characters or you can create your own custom characters.  The pre-made characters are fun and have their own backstories--I chose a father/daughter duo who had experienced the tragic loss of the mother/wife figure at the hand of raiders and were seeking revenge.

If you opt to create your own characters you get to design their looks as well as stats.  Character creation isn't extremely detailed, but there are plenty of options to help give your custom characters their own unique flair.  You can also opt to pick special "quirks" which offer up combat bonuses that also come with penalties (for example, one quirk offers up 15% additional melee damage but at a 50% lower crit chance).

+ An array of squadmates to choose from.  Your squad can have up to 6 members--4 of those members can be Rangers (your two core characters plus two others who you can choose once you've established your base) and two can be "followers"--characters who offer to join your squad.  You can also opt to create your own custom Rangers to join the squad (exactly like your core characters).  What's the difference between Rangers and followers?  Rangers are sworn to your cause and will remain with the squad regardless of the choices you make.  Followers, on the other hand, join your squad with their own motivations and can choose to leave if they don't agree with your choices.  There are a number of followers who will volunteer to join you, but you should always keep in mind that they could leave.  Followers start off with a specific set of skills and abilities, but you do get to choose their skills and abilities when they level up.

Fist--my custom brawler character.

+ Combat that is well balanced--it's challenging, but not too difficult.  Combat is isometric and turn-based--it relies on taking cover and strategically choosing your actions.  Throughout the game you face a number of different enemies and have to choose your strategy carefully for each type of enemy.

+ Multiple difficulty options that can be customized.  I played on default difficulty, but the levels range from "tourist"--a low-stress option for players who just want to experience the story with minimal combat up to "supreme jerk"--the maximum difficulty setting for people who want to suffer.  The nice part about all the difficulty settings is that you can also toggle permadeath, friendly fire, and difficult skill checks (if you want that old-school RPG feeling of failure every once in awhile) to even further personalize difficulty.

+ An engaging story that is impacted by the choices that you make.  Throughout the game you will be forced to choose sides and make decisions that run the moral gamut.  I tried to make my Rangers the "good guys" and found out that the old "nice guys finish last" adage turns out to be very true.

+ Signature Wasteland quirkiness.  The series has always been chocked full of 1980's and 1990's related humor that gamers of a certain age will appreciate.  Wasteland 3 continues this trend--audio logs can be found on cassette tapes (you'll have to Google that kids) and there are other jabs at the "good ol' days."  My personal favorite jokey part of the game was the Gippers--a cult that worships an AI version of former U.S. president Ronald Reagan.  There's tons of Reagan related humor (that history nerds will understand) and a bizarre, but unique storyline.

Many of the strange, signature post-apocalyptic Wasteland baddies make an appearance in the game--the ghoul-like Drools, the giant, robotic Scorpitrons, and many versions of addled cultists and raiders.  The enigmatic Night Terror also make another appearance (candy?).  You'll encounter cannibal cowboys, a gang of violent clowns, a gang that likes to dress up like old-school monsters (Dracula, werewolves, Frankenstein's monster)...and more.

+ A customizable vehicle to help your squad cruise through the wastes of snowy Colorado.  Exploring the world and completing encounters will help you find new weapons, armor, and other customizations for your rig.  The nice thing about your vehicle is that you can use it in certain combat encounters (and it's a beast).

+ Collectibles to find.  If searching high and low for items is your jam, they've got you covered.  You can find a wide array of creepy dolls hidden throughout the world.  The nice part about collecting these gross creepers is that each one provides a specific boost to your squad stats--finding them is definitely worthwhile.

+ Crafting system that's not too onerous.  It's a good idea to have characters in your squad with the weapon and armor modding skills.  These characters can craft weapon and armor mods and also (eventually) weapons and armor.  Your squad will come across a metric-crap ton of loot and can break down weapons for extra scrap which can be combined with other crafting materials that you find.  One other nice feature is the fact that you can craft usable items like med kits and ammo.

+ A wide variety of weapons to choose from--pistols, shotguns, assault rifles, energy weapons, flamethrowers, heavy machine guns, rocket launchers, melee weapons....and more.  You can choose combat abilities for your followers and they can specialize in a specific type of weapon.  There are also weird science weapons which have unique attacks (like a pistol that fires shrink rays).

+ The game looks nice and runs well.  It's an isometric RPG, but there's a lot of detail in the post-apocalyptic world.  There are some cutscenes early on, but not very many.  I had read in earlier reviews that the game was buggy, but I didn't encounter any bugs or have any crashes. I don't think the requirements are too high, so it's probably playable on older machines.

+ Save system is very flexible--you can quicksave almost anywhere (except for combat).

+ There's an ability called "animal whisperer" that allows a character to tame animals that will then follow and fight alongside your squad.  The type of animal that they tame provides a specific buff to the character.  One of the animals you can tame is a cat named Major Tomcat...and, best of all, he's a cat in a cowboy hat and bandana!  It's very cute and I wish there were more cats in cowboy hats and bandanas in video games.

+ Both DLC's are worthwhile additions to the core game.  Battle for Steeltown adds in a new area that includes an engaging story that features new types of weapons and armor to acquire.  The Cult of the Holy Detonation has a good story but also throws in a new variety of gameplay that is more objective oriented (not just killing all the baddies) and manages to be even more challenging.  If you can get them on sale, (which I did for $10 in the holiday sale) they're definitely worth it.

+ The music is fun.  They have taken familiar songs (from old television shows) and re-made them in a different genre.  It's goofy, but the songs just hit a different way in their new versions.

Cons:

- Early on in the game it's easy to get locked out of missions that you didn't even know were there!  I hadn't even left the starting area (Colorado Springs) and the first time I rolled out into the open world in the vehicle I was informed that I was too slow and had missed out on making a decision between saving some innocent ranchers or saving a shipment of power armor for the Patriarch.  This was irritating as I didn't even know about the missions!  (I'm currently replaying the game to see if I maybe missed a radio message or some sort of notification)

- Combat is challenging and can sometimes be frustrating.  I had two characters who absolutely got lit up in almost every encounter and I never figured out a way to prevent this.  Both specialized in small arms (which have a fairly limited range and need to be close to the action in order to be able to attack) and I could count on one or both of them being downed during combat.  It could very likely be my own incompetence (I definitely think I needed to use a wider variety of deployable items) that caused this, but I found that some characters are very, very squishy.

There are also times during scripted missions that your squad doesn't get to choose their starting position and will get absolutely blasted.  That can be frustrating.

- It's possible to lose key followers very late in the game.  I'm fairly confident that you can finish the game with just your four Rangers, but it's something that could be frustrating to some players.

- As far as I know, you cannot change your skills or attributes after you pick them.  I never stumbled across any person or item that would allow for re-spec.  Choose carefully!

- Periodic stuttering and weird performance issues.  Occasionally the game will slow way down for no discernible reason.  It's annoying, but can easily be remedied with a quicksave and quickload.

Recommendation:

I enjoyed Wasteland 3 even more than Wasteland 2 and found it to be a great improvement.  Barring some initial frustration with getting locked out of some missions I didn't even know about, I found the gameplay and story to be challenging and fun.  I tried to be the "good guy" in the story and absolutely bungled the outcome.  Am I mad about it?  Nope, not many games would offer up an outcome that bleak, but I think it's a good take on the world not being black or white.  The disastrous end to the story in my first playthrough just made me want to go back and make different decisions--I've already started up a new game and am more than happy to play through it all again.