Wasteland 3 Preview - Can You Survive Colorado’s Perpetual Nuclear Winter?

Written by Brandon Hofer  on August 23, 2019

Previews: A new entry in the Wasteland franchises builds off of Wasteland 2 with a different locale.

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Gaming Target was recently invited to meet with Deep Silver to check out one of their upcoming titles, Wasteland 3. The original Wasteland was released more than 30 years ago with it finally receiving a sequel back in 2014 and now, a third iteration of the franchise is currently slated to arrive in Spring 2020. The Wasteland franchise is an RPG series set in a post-apocalyptic world. Wasteland 3 specifically takes you from the American Southwest to the perpetual nuclear winter of Colorado.

During my time with Wasteland 3, I came away impressed with the different options that I was presented with as I was playing through the demo. The lead level designer of Wasteland 3, Jeremy Kopman, was there to answer any and all questions I had during my journey. There were branching paths to take and my decision could potentially affect what happens next. For example, there was an instance where I had to choose whether I headed north or east. I chose to go down the east path. After a little while, I came across some enemies. Now I could either go in guns blazing and try to quickly eliminate everyone or try and defuse the situation. The problem with just attacking without thinking was that there were some turrets set up (that I didn’t see at first) that most likely would have taken me out if I had acted aggressively. Fortunately, I had chosen the peaceful option and I was able to proceed without engaging in combat in that instance. If you will recall, I had that choice of whether to go north or east earlier. If I had decided to go north instead I would have arrived at the same place with the same interaction, however, things could have gone very differently. If I had decided to go north I would have come up behind these potential enemies and, among other things, I could have deactivated those same turrets before any battle started. Then, if I had decided to be more aggressive, I would have had a much better chance at success.



The branching parts of the game don’t only have to do with what path you are going to go down though. Soon after the above encounter, I caught up with the person I had been chasing. Someone had been kidnapped and it was my job to bring them back. After talking with the criminal a number of different options presented themselves. I could always just attack him if I wanted to. I could arrest him and turn him over to the authorities. Another option that popped up was that I could recruit him into my team and instead of being an adversary, he could be an ally. The potential problem with that option is the person that hired me to find the kidnapped individual probably wouldn’t be very happy that I now that had some criminal in my party. The story can branch off in a number of different ways just based off those decisions I make during that segment. I asked about the number of different endings that Wasteland 3 will have and while it was confirmed to me that Wasteland 3 will indeed have multiple endings, they declined to give me an exact number. While they didn’t tell me this specifically, I had the feeling they might not have that completely locked down yet since the game is still 8-10 months away or so.



The combat in the game was like a strategy-RPG. It was on a bit of a grid system where it told me how far I could go in one turn. I only had so much energy to use in any given turn and I needed to plan my moves out ahead. I would often try to find cover as one of my first moves and then with my remaining energy try and attack the enemy. You will have to try and monitor your energy to try and make sure you have enough to do what you have in mind, however, there is a fairly easy way to do that. When I would try and get behind a piece of cover it would glow either blue or orange. If it was blue I could do that and still have more energy afterward. If it was orange I might be able to do it but my energy would be completely drained and I wouldn’t be able to do anything else for that turn. I had four members in my party so be sure to plan accordingly. Different party members have different skill sets as well so you want to keep them together as much as you can.



To summarize, here are some of Wasteland 3’s key features:

A party-based roleplaying game with a focus on complex story, reactivity of the characters and world, and strategic combat.

Vehicles and a revamped, more fluid action system are some of the new features evolving on Wasteland 2’s deep tactical turn-based combat and unique encounter design.

Play single player or with a friend in story-driven co-op. Choices open (or close off) mission opportunities, areas to explore, story arcs, and more.

Set up a base of operations to help the local people and establish your reputation with them. Quests and narrative choices will force you to make difficult decisions on how to lead.

Set in the savage lands of frozen Colorado, where survival is difficult and a happy outcome is never guaranteed. Difficult moral choices and sacrifices will challenge the player and change the game world.

Check out the trailer that was released at Gamescom for Wasteland 3 and tell us what you think. Wasteland 3 is currently slated for consoles and PC in Spring 2020. Will you be picking it up?