It’s hard to ever feel completely safe in the post-apocalyptic wilds, but driving the mighty Kodiak through the snowy crumbled terrain of Wasteland 3 feels almost cozy. This massive durable vehicle in the newest sequel to the historic franchise is one of its most compelling new features, but a special preview of the game offers up some additional developments in the tactical gameplay and exploration, and it all feels like a pronounced upgrade from Wasteland 2.
It’s fairly well known by now, but inXile’s sequel was an early-stage Kickstarter success story, raising nearly $3 million and attracting gobs of attention for the original Wasteland, a formative CRPG from 1988 developed by Interplay, and whose influences can be felt in multiple games to follow (Interplay would later develop the original Fallout). With Wasteland 3, though, inXile (whose studio was recently acquired by Microsoft Studios) seeks to court gamers from all walks of life, not just the very particular niche beholden to the CRPG banner.
Their growing library includes such hits as the Planescape: Torment spiritual sequel, Torment: Tides of Numenera, and this proven track record carried Wasteland 3 to its successful Fig campaign, out-performing their Kickstarter goal for the prior game
The Wasteland 3 preview build offered us a mission for a Ranger Squad looking to bring balance to the wilds. The setting for the mission is Aspen, Colorado, but this time, players get a heavily armored vehicle to carry them to each new engagement. In a twist that is completely gob-smacking the first time, entering a hostile environment proves that the Kodiak isn’t just a mode of team transportation a la Final Fantasy’s classic airships, but a true-blue controllable combat unit which can crush enemies, fire at them from its mounted weapon, or provide immediate mid-fight cover.
It’s fascinating just to watch the Kodiak trundle into a battle, where it can pulverize otherwise viable cover to debris. Jeremy Kopman, lead level designer, needs to weigh and consider the increased potential offered to players with the Kodiak, beyond simply having a hulking war machine as a optional unit: "...with each [encounter], we want to ensure the player can use its overwhelming power in clever ways."
In some cases that might mean including larger than usual sections of cover and other objects that it can smash through, opening up new paths for the on-foot PCs to take, or closing off a path to funnel enemies into a kill box. In others, the player might be able to use gas grenades or other area denial weapons to smoke out fortified enemies, then run them down once they’re in the open. Smushing all the enemies in one run can be fun at times but would get repetitive after a while.
“And, of course, there will be encounters where the Kodiak is maybe not the biggest and most powerful thing in the fight.”
While we didn’t encounter anything as imposing as that during our time with the game, we did get to meet a cult of lunatics called The Breathers, ruled over by Victor Buchanan, the son of the Patriach. They’re holed up in Aspen, and are basically a violent and unpredictable faction of hallucinogen-huffing freaks in diving masks. Each member of The Breathers has a continuous stream of gaseous drugs pumped into their suits, and they’re accompanied by vicious robots, including buzz-saw-wielding metal spiders (these automatons are probably fully sober).
Combat in Wasteland 3 will probably look familiar to fans of the updated Shadowrun series or the recent tactical RPG Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden, with the recognizable look of the AP-fueled movement in the former and the stealth potential from the latter. While you can go always go the guns-blazing route, enemy encampments with spread out snipers and guards can be whittled down one by one, an especially smart decision in areas where the Kodiak can’t travel and your team is outnumbered. Additionally, as is common to the Wasteland franchise, certain engagements can be circumvented or altered through the use of dialogue choices and such. In our playthrough, we were able to talk our way out of a boss battle, which required voluntarily taking hallucinogens and talking a psychotic rainbow-haired monster into accidentally blowing themselves up.
In another unique first for the series, Wasteland 3 will feature two-player co-op at launch, which is set to mix in with the turn-based gameplay in a way that can kind of be understood in single-player. Essentially, since entering combat only pulls in any enemy units within range, players can split up and take down an enemy fortress in pieces, locked into their own instanced battles. “Many scenarios already give an advantage to those who tactically spread their team out,” Kopman describes. “And, similarly, coordinating carefully with a co-op partner will give a distinct advantage such as flanking an enemy before combat begins. Similarly, if you leave guys behind (or your co-op partner is way off somewhere else) beginning combat with a split group could create a challenging situation. Communication is going to be key in either situation.”
For those who may not arrive to the game well-versed in CRPGs or turn-based tactics, inXile wants to draw in these players, the ones who never got into X-Com, the recent Pillars of Eternity games, or even the classic Fallouts. Just in our brief time with this build, Wasteland 3 sports a slick and friendly UI with a lot of approachable information and details sensibly positioned up front. There’s also what looks to be an exciting amount of loot, all of which affects a character’s look, allowing you to create a wild-looking squad sporting heavy armor, laser rifles, hobo shotguns, and baggy pants, with many wearable items affecting character stats and movement. At the start of a match, we were disappointed to discover that the heavy protective gear we had just put on only allowed us to take two steps per turn.
Upgradeable skills in Wasteland 3 involve your typical lock-picking and computer hacking and such, and the Animal Whisperer skill happily makes a triumphant return from Wasteland 2. This time, however, tamed animals can even pile into the Kodiak alongside your crew, which means you can fill it out with a menagerie and become some sort of deranged traveling Dr. Dolittle, if it suits you.
With a uniquely wintry post-apocalyptic setting, a fascinating armored vehicle, and the potential for some entertaining co-op tactical shenanigans, Wasteland 3 is one to watch out for.
Wasteland 3 is currently slated for release in spring of 2020, with versions planned for PC/Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One platforms.