Published by Deep Silver and developed by inXile Entertainment, in Wasteland 3, you take command of a squad of Desert Rangers, lawmen and women in a post-nuclear world, trying to rebuild society from the ashes. More than a century after the bombs fell, you’re fighting a losing battle to keep your beloved Arizona alive. The self-proclaimed Patriarch of Colorado radios, promises aid if you’ll do a job he can only entrust to an outsider; rescue his land from the ambitions of his three blood-thirsty children.

The gameplay was quite easy to pick up and learn for a first time Wasteland player. You can build characters from scratch, picking which perks and backgrounds they have such as handling with certain weapons or being able to charm wild animals. Perks and backgrounds give pre-set buffs and I personally suggest bookworm for the 10% exp gain.

The squad size caps out at six so being able to have a character of each main skill set is possible to get the full potential from dialogue options and exploring. With being able to charm animals you can gain a pet as a follower which is an A.I teammate in combat and boy are they worth it, along with a big ass truck you can bring into some fights.

Wasteland 3 adapts to a controller fairly well, overall. Sure it can be a tad finickity getting through menus and finding what should be easily accessible information, but it handles in a largely comfortable manner otherwise. In combat, each character has AP (action points).

Certain weapons cost more AP to use than others so keep an eye on the points to ensure you get the most out of a turn. Weapons and armour can also be modified to add extra benefits for combat such as critical chance and resistance to fire, bleeding etc. The higher a characters skill for weapon and armour mods the better the results will be, so make sure to check every store you come across for mods.

The game is dialogue heavy but still has some great audio moments. Certain fights, I guess to be considered boss fights, feature a soundtrack that is not present during other encounters. Each character whether they be main or just background have voice lines as you walk around town. It is a good way to find a side quest just by hearing the issues citizens are having, such as thieves in a clothing store or teens who want a beer.

With the dialogue exchange with citizens or bad guys, there can be ways to talk out of a fight or to get extra rewards for less the work. Choices the player makes will affect the world and how the squad is treated and I personally made choices that did not go well with the lawmen of a town but got me the favour of the people.

I was also not expecting the game to have some humour in it and there were a few jokes cracked or dialogue that let the players mind fill in the rest, like the brothel with a goat in a room. A new feature that Wasteland 3 has is during the dialogue with set characters the camera will change from top-down to a first-person perspective. The main focus on the conversation will have mocap animations while talking to the player. I thought it was a good touch to give us a form of importance of the person.

While exploring, the game goes off by line of sight for unexplored areas so picking a fight in a building with many rooms can be challenging not knowing how many enemies or what big thing is waiting to kick your ass is in the next room, so try not getting flanked.

There is a few technical issues that hopefully will be improved such as menu freezes, textures not loading and a very small chance of actions not working, which was a shame as I did lose hours due to the actions not working. Having to repeat a chunk of the game was disappointing.

Fans of games such as X-COM and Gears Tactics will feel right at home. I had played X-COM in the past and this definitely felt more in-depth as I didn’t have to micro-manage an HQ and watch cash flow. The time I spent in Wasteland 3 has made me want to go back to where it all started so I can appreciate the series and any tweaks and upgrades I am not aware of since Wasteland 2.

Written by: Shane Walsh