Recently, I was treated with the opportunity to play the first couple of hours of Wasteland 3. And what a treat it was.
Wasteland 3 is an upcoming, old-school isometric RPG with a ton of modern flair. Built by Microsoft's inXile Entertainment, led by the legendary Brian Fargo, Wasteland 3 is a love letter to a time when choices and decisions in RPGs still mattered, in an age where more and more franchises flip on story-driven experiences for multiplayer service-style titles.
I don't necessarily like running direct parallels to games from different studios, but it's hard to avoid in this case, particularly as a fan. Since after all, Wasteland and Fallout, as franchises, share a common lineage. To say I've been disappointed with Bethesda's treatment of the legendary post-apocalypse franchise would perhaps be an understatement, and it's painful to admit as someone who spent hundreds of hours in that universe.
Wasteland is the franchise that started it all for Fallout, launching back in 1988 (and recently remastered for Windows, by the way). I went into some of Wasteland's history in my old Wasteland 2 review from 2015 (time flies, huh?), so be sure to take a look if you're interested in learning more.
Fast forward to 2020, though, and Wasteland 3 is reviving almost everything I loved about Fallout 3 and New Vegas from an RPG perspective, while paying homage to CRPGs that helped digitize tabletop roleplaying for a new generation. Wasteland 3 moves beyond being a throwback, though, modernizing the very essence of turn-based tactical combat and isometric roleplaying. Here's how.
Wasteland 3 is available for preorder for $60 and is targeting a May 19, 2020 launch date on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.
Full story from the WindowsCentral blog...
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