Wasteland 2

Wasteland 2 is the Fallout 3 we always deserved to have and never got. It proves in an emphatic way that the heart and spirit of a true RPG is not in shiny graphics, jazzy explosions and continuous DLCs, but in its content.

The gritty world and its many pitfalls create a realistic post-apocalyptic experience where every choice can mean the life or death of any or all of your friends and enemies. The responsive combat system and environment test the limits of video game problem solving, and the size of Wasteland 2’s quest bank allows for countless hours of enjoyment.

A demanding and incredibly deep game that lives up to the expectations. If you're into old school RPGs, you cannot miss it.

There are between fifty and seventy hours of gameplay in Wasteland 2 for those willing to invest in its world, explore each new area fully and complete each available mission. That we were happy to do just that is testament to the brilliant design, engaging storyline and immersive combat of inXile’s world.

Some rough edges, but this is the finest RPG to emerge in many years. [Nov 2014, p.56]

Not just a loving tribute to apocalypses past, Wasteland 2 is an incredible, engrossing experience. [Issue#254, p.53]

Wasteland 2 is a classic RPG with a terrific script and a brilliant skill system. Players are required to play slowly and with constant attention, which only adds to the tense gameplay. This is the best post-apocalyptic game so far and the RPG Fallout 3 should have been.

It’s a fantastic game; an echo of the past that simultaneously feels (in the most part) contemporary, and a game made with such a clear love, passion and vision behind it that you can’t help but feel its 26-year gestation period actually helped.

Wasteland 2 doesn't tell its grander story as thrillingly as its smaller ones, but Fargo's team hasn't forgotten a thing about designing RPGs. inXile delivers an utterly expansive, cozy and wonderfully deep apocalyptic adventure you kind of want to thank them for.

Both old school (even the bugs are!) and modern with its time limited events, Wasteland 2 is not only an RPG for old farts buried in nostalgia, it's also an interesting and strong experiment from InXile, helped by fantastic writing skills and good gameplay, which - and this rare for a RPG - actually works (more or less), especially since the developers created an environment where you have to use every mechanism to win. After a few patches, Wasteland 2 will be this year's best RPG, no doubt.

Minor complaints aside, Wasteland 2 is a deep and addictive experience that will grab and hold you hard for its duration. Is it for everyone? Probably not. It has a decidedly old-school foundations that could be a put-off for new and younger gamers raised on modern day Fallouts and Skyrims. That said, for its target audience and for gamers looking for a deep and lengthy role-playing experience that steps well outside the current norm, Wasteland 2 is a near-perfect product.

Wasteland 2 feels like a perfect execution of what inExile hoped to accomplish with this Kickstarter-fueled project, not only an excellent retro nod to the computer RPGs of decades ago, but a great RPG of today After a 26-year hiatus, this long-awaited sequel is a worthy successor to the CRPG throne.

It's a wonderfully old-school RPG, something fans of a bygone era can use to scratch that nostalgic itch and new gamers can use to acquaint themselves with how things once were.

Wasteland 2 may not be the best looking game nor does it play in any sort of revelatory fashion, but it can still pull you in and refuse to let go.

I give this game 8.5/10 for being one of details and for so frequently surprising me. Were I a little older and had I played the original, I would likely give this title an 11/10, quit my job, and go LARPing in the desert for as long as the cities remain standing, or until I realize that I’ve taken every modern comfort for granted; whichever would happen to come first.

We could almost declare that Wasteland 2 is the real Fallout 3. Anyway, it's an incredible RPG we've got here, completely able to attract the old and the new generation of players. The former ones will enjoy something they've known and loved, the others will discover the depth of a role game handmade with passion.

Awaited for well over a decade by now-ancient gamers, Wasteland 2 manages to live up to the spirit of the original while going beyond it in terms of depth and detail. While there are bugs to be fixed and the difficulty may be too challenging for some, any lover of turn-based RPGs should add this one to their Steam library as soon as they can.

The game draws you in deeper with every new area that you explore. Even when you don’t take the time to read its extensive dialogue, the struggle to survive on the barren wasteland and the sometimes nail biting battles in which each bullet counts will make you want to devour this game from start to end.

What a comeback. Wasteland 2 is a perfect example how to renew a tradition and continue it gracefully. All you need is devotion. And even though this post-apocalyptic experience has its share of problems like balancing, visuals or inconsequences regarding character decisions this is an epic role-playing game with soul, great atmosphere, a good script and surprising situations.

It’s a little buggy, and a little bland on the eyes (I bought a new 30” 1900×1200 monitor for what exactly?), but it is funny as hell if your humor runs blackly, and is absolutely packed with stuff.

This is an old-school RPG game, where every player can get deeper into it the way they want. It's like an open window to a past time full of apocalyptic fun.

Sprawling, addictive, and finding a potent balance between suspense and fun, Wasteland 2 fits great in any PC gamer's collection.

Wasteland 2 might not be the prettiest CRPG to hit digital shelves this year, but it captures the harsh hypothetical realities of the post-apocalyptic American Southwest with excellent writing, decisions with terrifying consequences, and background voice work that reinforce the human suffering that results from them.

Wasteland 2 lives up to its legacy. It’s a game that has come full circle—from inspiration for Interplay’s Fallout, to spiritual successor for that franchise’s roots. This wasteland is deep and dark and dangerous, and a great place to get lost in.

All in all, I'm very pleased with Wasteland 2 and I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the original. But for those who never played Wasteland 1, the appeal of this sequel may be a mystery. My advice for you is to pay the $5.99 for the original game on Steam and play it to the end.

Wasteland 2 is like a granny. A bit shaky, and you have to understand that she comes from a different generation - but lovable and sometimes blessed with impressive age wisdom.

Wasteland 2, for the most part, provides everything that its Kickstarter backers and fans of the genre are looking for.

Fallout 2 still holds the throne of post-apocalyptic RPGs, but despite some flaws Wasteland 2 is a very good game that can provide loads of fun. [Nov 2014, p.64]

Wasteland 2 demands patience, passion and ability to bite the bullet when the game itself seems to work against, and in return offers an all-embracing experience which, despite all the difficulties, players will unwillingly leave.

This is a real old school RPG and this thing could be at the same time a very positive aspect of the game and a very negative one.

Wasteland 2 won’t be for everyone. It’s a challenging game that only rewards those willing to sink real time into it. If you like your tactical battles with simple presentation and old-school RPG design, you won’t like this game. It’s deep, and it feels that way right off the bat.

Even though the story arc is guided, playing through Wasteland 2 engenders a real sense of ownership.

It’s not a classic of its genre, but it is ultimately a beacon of hope for a certain style of RPG – the video game pen and paper style – that many thought had been lost in more recent years.

Wasteland 2 brings back the magic and mystery of the isometric CRPG-genre. In spite of a few bugs, the game delivers a rich and compelling world to explore, solid combat mechanics, and great entertainment from start to finish.

The involved writing and story design more than make up for any shortcomings in graphical fidelity.

In Wasteland 2, InXile has a classical RPG that will vindicate its early supporters on Kickstarter.

Wasteland 2 is a game which appeals to a rather narrowly-defined set of gamers, but seems to deliver all the features and concepts that role-playing post-apocalyptic fans are interested in, which means that it can provide them with hundreds of hours of enjoyment.

Wasteland 2 demonstrates that classic role-playing is recovering. A game that will entertain us for hours -despite its poor technical aspect- and can be played again many times.

It has all of the familiar elements and even if some aspects of its presentation are not quite up to modern standards, its design and gameplay are timeless and welcome.

In many ways, though, Wasteland 2 represents everything about classic computer role-playing games that the modern iterations of Fallout aren't.

Wasteland 2 is the great cRPG we were waiting for. It isn't innovative and original as its latest competitor Divinty, but it's impressive in terms of screenplay, NPC characterization and art style.

Wasteland 2 is a great sequel to the post-apocalyptic computer RPG, but it’s not the masterpiece we were promised.

Wasteland 2 is huge. It’s not just the massive map, but the number of stories and the myriad ways they can play out. Though some moments left me disappointed, I always left the game eager to return. Inventive solutions to tricky standoffs, my failure to save a life, a silly line of text spotted in the corner of my eye - those are the things that stuck with me every time I pressed “quit”.

Wasteland 2 has everything a deep role-playing game should: a large open world, multiple decision paths, and a satisfying mix of serious themes and dark comedy. It can be a long journey, and one where the end is nowhere in sight, but it's an experience that's easy to get lost in.

After 25 years of waiting, Wasteland 2 is a great sequel to the post-apocalyptic computer RPG. It brings terrific atmosphere and endless possibilities to players. However it's only for "old school" tactical RPG fans.

Wasteland 2 may not be a looker or the most polished game around, but thanks to its rock-solid gameplay and good writing it is a great RPG and a tribute to all hardcore fans of the genre. Incidentally, it also shows to the industry what can be achieved with a budget of “just” $3 million, when that money is put to good use.

Wasteland 2 might be daunting to newcomers, then, but its a sequel that successfully captures the strategic depth and black humor of the original...Brian Fargo and his team at InXile have delivered a quintessential role-playing experience with infinite possibilities.

The story is pure pulp and the big picture is not that exciting, but as usual, the charm of Wasteland is in the stops along the way: location after location full of crazy characters and moral choices, and a writing team gleefully embracing the ability to do pretty much whatever they want.

Wasteland 2 isn't a flawless game, but it's a breed of lovingly crafted throwback we though we'd never see again: an old-school RPG full of moral choice and twisting, complex writing - and very much the one we wanted. [Dec 2014, p.72]

Only when your team arrives in Los Angeles which was unavailable in the Steam Early Access version, Wasteland 2 gets a second wind and becomes *that* classic RPG.

Wasteland 2 is an intriguing mix of wonderful ideas, haunting lore and deep gameplay, but it falls short in reaching great acclaim due to its balancing issues, bugs and problems that remained unfixed even after a 10-month early access beta.