Wasteland 3

 PC
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 526 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 361 out of 526
  2. Mixed: 98 out of 526
  3. Negative: 67 out of 526

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  1. spuloo
    Jan 30, 2021
    5
    Played this without having played the first two games. That being said, I found it underwhelming. I don't know if there would be backstory from the previous games that gave me the motivation to find the story from the beginning of this one to be interesting, but nothing in this game alone is going to make a lot of people care about the overall story arc. The main story dilemma didn'tPlayed this without having played the first two games. That being said, I found it underwhelming. I don't know if there would be backstory from the previous games that gave me the motivation to find the story from the beginning of this one to be interesting, but nothing in this game alone is going to make a lot of people care about the overall story arc. The main story dilemma didn't really give me a compelling reason to go for either of them. I just found myself not caring and basically flipping a coin on which direction to go. I guess with story options, writers aren't supposed to make one way more attractive than the other, but imo that should be accomplished by writing them both as compelling, instead of writing them both as uncompelling. I found the story to be uninspired, derivative of the opening "oh you were attacked, so at least dislike these people" with a few funny quirks in the identities of some factions. So that's the main pro - factions that have quirky, memorable identities. But quirky wont make you have a tough decision if circumstance invites you to completely obliterate them to finish some quest to be rewarded with a random widget. Other cons are the armor and weapon mod system that discourages using mods until you get to your endgame weapons, and I felt like every mechanic was borrowed from 100 other top-down turn-based games. Some weapon categories, it just seemed like the developers got tired of making them once they got to like 7-8 tier, so that's where they topped out. Idk, I guess it wasn't terrible, which is why I'm giving it a "mixed" level score, but it was a disappointment and I'd probably rather have the hours of my life back.… Expand
  2. Enik
    Feb 15, 2021
    5
    It's generally pretty good. But it also gets pretty repetitious as enemies and tactics used don't really change all that much. I got about 25 hours in and just grew tired of it. Overall 6/10 but one point knocked off for excessive PC nonsense. Most of the best results require you to follow the "woke" path too.
  3. NotGoodEnough
    Aug 21, 2021
    5
    (For people that have played the game)

    Close but no Brygo's cigar. CONS: - What is with this UI? I don't understand how you make a "loot-galore" game and have this counter intuitive inventory? No way of telling your gear apart, just a complete mess. - Grouping and un-grouping your squad is confusing. One moment I am looting, talking to an npc etc. and somehow I am now ungrouped and    (For people that have played the game)

    Close but no Brygo's cigar.

    CONS:
    - What is with this UI? I don't understand how you make a "loot-galore" game and have this counter intuitive inventory? No way of telling your gear apart, just a complete mess.
    - Grouping and un-grouping your squad is confusing. One moment I am looting, talking to an npc etc. and somehow I am now ungrouped and running solo with my main character so now I have to wait until the rest of the squad catches up. This is not terribly annoying early on but 30 hours later it gets tedious.
    -Mods and armor: Why on earth isn't there a perk that lets you exchange your mods without breaking them. Some areas require fire dmg, some energy dmg. Let people play around and be strategic and don't punish players. And the fact you can field strip guns but not armor is bs.
    -Weapons: Whats with the gigantic penalties on mods? +12 dmg -12 dmg? +10% Evasion but -2 Armor? Ok let me just grab my calculator and do the positives contra negatives on that one real quick. Just mind-boggling.
    -Companions/pets: A neat feature that feels upgraded from W2 but why can't you heal or cure your followers? Right after a fight, I manage to walk over a gas mine and now my whole team is poisoned and I can't heal or cure my companions so they just have to die cause of low health and slow hp regen. So stupid.
    -Missions: Main missions and side missions feels too similar and ultimately like a choir. I never understood why you cant just make a game with a solid story and then after you have finished said story you can continue playing the game and THEN play side-missions. You rush thru dialogue as a result.
    +/-Crafting: Great addition and a great function but another UI mess where you can't even read what ur chosen item will even do? Even if you have previously made it. Confusing. Why would I sacrifice an item/mod for something unknown? Just let me see what exactly I'm investing in before I spend precious resources.
    -Bugs: And plenty of them but one that stands out is when in combat, if you attack your next target "too fast" before your character has finished its animation he/she just randomly shoots any target or just right in to the wall. That is insanely game-breaking as you have now wasted AP/Ammo doing NOTHING.
    -Environment: Feels even more dead than the deserts of W2. Just like a re-skin with a snow mod on top.
    -Radiation is back! Maybe that's just me but just put up roadblocks instead of injuring my team for trying to drive thru the wrong snowy valley. So much for exploration.

    PROS:
    +Talents/perks feels more compact and streamlined.
    +Skills usage also is now much faster and no need to micro manage anymore.Just click on door/safe/alarm and it happends automatically.
    +/- Cutscenes! Even tho they are few and far between, still a welcomed addition.
    +Vehicle customization
    +/-Story: Feels same old same old. Nothing new and nothing special.
    +Load times: They seem to have fixed the load times cause I remember it being slow as hell a couple of updates ago but now runs pretty good on a SSD.

    There are more positives but ultimately gets overshadowed by the negatives. Feels too much in the middle, which is a shame cause I remember Wasteland 2 feeling fun and fresh but this just seems uninspired. I also remember seeing early "gameplay" videos pre-release and that looked like a completely different game all together. I guess we can thank the pre-purchase people for another failed franchise.

    Overall I wouldn't recommend unless its on sale

    80% off.    … Expand
  4. Thothistox
    Oct 12, 2020
    7
    Combat is fun, but this game lacks any interesting villains. Most of the game is spent blasting psychotic clowns of one type or another. This would be okay if their motivations were presented in a relatable way somehow, but they're not. For every moment where the characters are presented convincingly, there is another situation where it feels like a chatty individual from a contemporaryCombat is fun, but this game lacks any interesting villains. Most of the game is spent blasting psychotic clowns of one type or another. This would be okay if their motivations were presented in a relatable way somehow, but they're not. For every moment where the characters are presented convincingly, there is another situation where it feels like a chatty individual from a contemporary B-movie has wandered into your game and is completely unfamiliar with the gravity of whatever situation you're in. For lack of a better word, it's immersion breaking. I wish that W3 either took itself completely seriously or not at all. Instead it swings back and forth in a chaotic way and there is no method in the madness.

    Combat is fun though. Fun enough for me to have played it twice. I'm told that the normal mode is too easy, which is why I tried hard and ultra hard. I recommend hard mode. Ultra hard is full of absurdities. I spent the first third of the game constantly running out of ammunition. Most enemies can one-shot you... but not your pets, which have 10 times your hp and much better armor than you do. The robot I had following me was also much tougher than my characters, and even though it can't be revived once killed I managed to keep it around until the end of the game.

    Another problem is that the game is short. In W2 there were two maps, and here there's only one. It's also drab. I know it's post-apocaliptic but I expected some elements of beauty in the wasteland. Instead it feels as if I've spent 50 hours wandering around a derelict psychiatric hospital, unable to look up at the mountains.

    The main quest feels a bit weak. I honestly thought it was just a prelude to something grander and more elaborate. However, there is a decent amount of C&C in the game. You can take the Patriarch's side to the end, which I thought was pretty cool.    … Expand
  5. STpure
    Sep 9, 2020
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game has a good base upon which could many good things have been built. Unfortunately it didn't happen. Whole game's story feels like chapter 1 of a supposed to be much bigger game plot wise. There are no interesting plot twists, no interesting or secret antagonist behind the scenes, no nothing..
    The early game tricks player into thinking that this is an awesome game, a masterpiece. But as time goes on it becomes clear that it's not. I was constantly expecting something to happen in the ranger base, like some prisoners escaping, some interesting guests coming with interesting propositions, maybe someone coming to look for one of my companions or something...didn't happen. Nothing unexpected or thrilling happened. It felt like something should happen with certain characters after making some choices, but it didn't happen as well. Game feels like there is a lot of cut or unfinished content. Another weird thing is that companions feel like empty husks. They are boring, there are almost no missions or agendas of their own, no interesting dialogue with the player. World map exploration is lacking big time.Voice in my mind said: "now i am gonna find some bunker with secrets and some good mystery quest".Nope, didn't happen.. Almost all quests end up in combat.. Combat on supreme jerk difficulty is good in the early game and in one area in late game. All other time it's not challenging. Weapons are unbalanced. With some of them killing even strongest enemies in one turn,or even one shot(snipers), others taking all day and night to kill with. Combat AI is kinda dumb. Turrets killing friendly targets, enemy killing it's allies as well, weird enemy positioning and tactics. There is no respec in the game, only new characters creation and removal of old. Yes you can create character with same name and looks but it becomes a chore after a while. An you lose some perks gained from npcs. In a crpg game with a lot of posible builds, respec option is a must. On top of all these things, loading screens are time and mood killers. They take forever. Inventory management is a mess. These are negatives, and i am not even talking about bugs.
    On a positive side game has lots of well written dialogues, which are voice acted. But sometimes i found myself skipping them. Don't know why, maybe because most of them are about the same apocalyptic craziness and most of them starts to feel like forced crazy. Its like game writers made a bet who's gonna think of more over the top crazy **** and forgot to write some other dialogues for the game. But still, dialogues and options during them are good. The game's looting system is awesome. One click- loot all room. Amazing feature, i've never seen before. There is no inventory weight, no fuel for exploration. It's perfect that way. There is also npcs reaction to certain things you have done, choices and consequences. But it feels it should be more of that. There are also couple of good songs, but they play one time each only. Sound effects are good. Animations are also cool, for example something exploding. Game has it's moments, but you cannot build a great rpg game mostly on dialogues and comedy. Without a good story, memorable characters, mystery and intrigue there is no soul.    … Expand
  6. Cold_IcedCoffee
    Aug 29, 2020
    7
    Played enough to see some of the most annoying bugs. I had to load back on old saves a few times already. I love Wasteland 2 and the lore Wasteland 3 offers. I am enjoying the role playing and choices the game has so far. This needed a little more work and does not feel polished enough. I could have waited another month.
  7. BenyGi
    Aug 30, 2020
    7
    Aftger putting several hours into the game (singleplayer!), all dialogs crashed and I am not able to progress the game - not even loading old savegames worked....This along with many other bugs is a joke - who even allowed to release game in such state??!! Wasteland 2 was a huge mess, Wasteland 3 is the same messy - they didn't learn a thing....Fix, then release it!

    As for the rest    Aftger putting several hours into the game (singleplayer!), all dialogs crashed and I am not able to progress the game - not even loading old savegames worked....This along with many other bugs is a joke - who even allowed to release game in such state??!! Wasteland 2 was a huge mess, Wasteland 3 is the same messy - they didn't learn a thing....Fix, then release it!

    As for the rest (judging by 4-5h of gameplay...) - graphics is fine, voiceacting is very good, locations are nice (however fog of war is akward...), guns mechanics feels satisfying. Can't say much about story :/    … Expand
  8. AnaSarkweefian
    Oct 16, 2020
    5
    Its a great game with a intriguing story but the game lags alot and crashes every 20 minutes. I would rate it higher but at the moment there are too many glitches.
  9. realfire23
    Aug 30, 2020
    5
    it could be a 9 maybe even a 10, but I dont know why someone releases a game in this state. It really feels if QA was not really in place :-(
    phoenix point was/ is in the same state since 9 month
    1.) bugs, bugs, bugs. Crashs every few hours. Flying guns in fog of war. 2.)slowest possible loading times even on the fastest available consumer m2 ssd. Travelling is such a pain in this game    it could be a 9 maybe even a 10, but I dont know why someone releases a game in this state. It really feels if QA was not really in place :-(
    phoenix point was/ is in the same state since 9 month

    1.) bugs, bugs, bugs. Crashs every few hours. Flying guns in fog of war. 2.)slowest possible loading times even on the fastest available consumer m2 ssd. Travelling is such a pain in this game
    3.) Sneaking is not nice solved m
    4).) selecting the whole group is always a pain


    Nevertheless its a great game, i wouldnt recommend it right now but it offers

    1. Great setting
    2. Great dialogues
    3. Great voice acting
    4. Great quests
    5. I like the peogression skills and weapon.
    6. Animal taming +++ and Clones
    7. Garage and KI is fun
    8. Nice robots and chickens    … Expand
  10. tufrull
    Sep 6, 2020
    5
    unfinished, a lot of bugs, unbalanced combat, weak story. Wasteland 2 far more better game than this.
  11. Syrona7
    Aug 30, 2020
    6
    This game can be described with one word: Mediocrity.

    Voiceacting is mediocre. Graphics are mediocre. Characters are mediocre. There is no memorable character whatsoever. Combat is mediocre. This game had absolutely nothing that could blow me away, it's just a small upgrade from Wasteland 2. If you're a fan of Wasteland 2 (for some reason), then sure, you will like this game. But    This game can be described with one word: Mediocrity.

    Voiceacting is mediocre.
    Graphics are mediocre.
    Characters are mediocre. There is no memorable character whatsoever.
    Combat is mediocre.

    This game had absolutely nothing that could blow me away, it's just a small upgrade from Wasteland 2. If you're a fan of Wasteland 2 (for some reason), then sure, you will like this game. But if you expect quality like Divinity: Original Sin 2 or, god forbid, some Fallout 2-esque game...then go away, this ain't it, chief.

    I managed to play it for 6 hours before the boredom became unbearable.

    And of course a mediocre game gets a mediocre score.    … Expand
  12. Nemyue
    Sep 8, 2020
    7
    It became a bit casual compared to the prequels but the dev managed to make the change in a good way. It could be even better if they got more budget from crowdfunding I guess.
    the battle system is fun and good enough.
    the game mechanism became simpler but more enjoyable. The plot, dialogues, and voice actings are good enough overall. WIsh It had more choice tho. I can not think of any    It became a bit casual compared to the prequels but the dev managed to make the change in a good way. It could be even better if they got more budget from crowdfunding I guess.
    the battle system is fun and good enough.
    the game mechanism became simpler but more enjoyable.
    The plot, dialogues, and voice actings are good enough overall. WIsh It had more choice tho.
    I can not think of any critically bad things about this game compared to the prequel.
    But there are some bugs which are a bit annoying.
    The characters could be more interesting if dev managed to make more quests about them.    … Expand
  13. dryerlaw
    Feb 21, 2021
    5
    Graphics looked like it released in 2012. Gameplay's OK; story isn't as engaging as Wasteland 2. But the biggest issue is the uninspiring visual style & dated textures.
  14. bonzibuddy1992
    Sep 15, 2020
    5
    Wasteland 2 was a janky, weird, broken, fantastic roleplaying game. It maintained a sort of gallows whimsy throughout its playtime that was bound to leave an impression on anyone, good or bad. The struggle between the rangers trying to rebuild some semblence of the old world and their nemesis insisting at knifepoint that all the old ways must die was as fascinating as it was (sometimes)Wasteland 2 was a janky, weird, broken, fantastic roleplaying game. It maintained a sort of gallows whimsy throughout its playtime that was bound to leave an impression on anyone, good or bad. The struggle between the rangers trying to rebuild some semblence of the old world and their nemesis insisting at knifepoint that all the old ways must die was as fascinating as it was (sometimes) screen-smashingly difficult. The depth of occasional frustration as well as occasional brilliance panned out to a unique and memorable RPG in the spirit of niche nerd titles of days gone by. It was developed for PC after a lengthy crowdfunding period and ported to console a few years later.

    Wasteland 3 is an isometric-3D tactics game with a fully voice-acted narrative and RPG elements. Unlike its predecessor WL3 was released simultaneously on console and PC rather than being ported to console later. In many ways this choice doomed this game to sell much better than its predecessor while simultaneously being a buggy mess on console and an utter mediocrity on PC.

    Combat is both the highlight and the main gameplay loop. WL3 is indeed a fun tactics game. The combat overall feels both strategic and punchy, though I was well sick of the slow animation speed by midgame. Your journey is mostly linear but every mission has a recommended level listed so stumbling into fights you can't win is unlikely...in fact, even on the highest difficulty, I was thoroughly OP for the last third of the game.
    Combat losing its zest is a ubiquitous RPG problem, by endgame one is usually either steamrolling everything or fighting improbable bullet sponges...it's at this point that an RPG would fall back on worldbuilding, narrative and characterization to give proper gravitas to the final battles, even if the mechanics of the battle have become boilerplate to the player. Unfortunately WL3 presents an anemic story told by 'functionally' voice-acted cardstock NPCs on a bleached paper background that we are assured is snowy colorado and not just a blank page.
    The camera is pulled quite far back and all of the VFX are layered on like varnish. The audiovisual experience is a swampy mess much of the time, overlaps and strange volumes and brightnesses...everything looks and sounds slightly like a postapocalyptic wasteland and slightly like a glitchy game about to crash. There ARE impressive details sprinkled about that help to give the setting some presence but too often they are all but invisible, swallowed up by ambience and bloom.
    The story is told with a low word count, limited player interaction and inconsistent charecterization. None of the villains are interesting or in any way morally grey or likeable. The main antagonist has a silly anime hammer and an "Iron Throne" made of missiles...my eyes rolled across the floor. That's about as deep as it gets, he may as well have been an anthropomorphic truck the whole time.

    TL;DR

    If you are a die-hard fan of turn-based tactics combat this game is probably worth your time.

    If you like Wasteland 2 and were hoping for a more iterative followup WL3 will likely leave you frustrated and disappointed.    … Expand
  15. CharlePL
    Sep 3, 2020
    6
    +story
    +meaningful choices
    +overall game mechanics
    -performance
    -frame drops
    -slow fights
    -loading times
  16. D3D11
    Nov 15, 2020
    7
    This is an awesome game.

    It is much more polished than Wasteland 2, unnecessary elements are excluded, other great ones are added. If you liked the previous one, you going to like this one a lot more. It is still nothing compared to the Fallout 2's mechanics, which is a bad thing, but for a turn based strategy game, it does its thing. It worth its price, but you not going to play    This is an awesome game.

    It is much more polished than Wasteland 2, unnecessary elements are excluded, other great ones are added. If you liked the previous one, you going to like this one a lot more.

    It is still nothing compared to the Fallout 2's mechanics, which is a bad thing, but for a turn based strategy game, it does its thing.

    It worth its price, but you not going to play it twice, that's for sure.    … Expand
  17. trotzku2323
    Dec 11, 2020
    7
    Nieco gorsza od dwójki, uproszczenie mechanik paradoksalnie zabrało jej nieco uroku. Poza tym nierówna. Są fragmenty fenomenalne (Reagan), jak i wypełniacze fabuły. Niemniej i tak byłoby 8, gdyby nie problemy techniczne, których - przynajmniej tuż po premierze - było sporo.
  18. Drizzdal
    Aug 31, 2020
    5
    No toggle walk/run option....................... why? Goodbye Wasteland III.
  19. nabla
    Sep 2, 2020
    7
    Wasteland 3 is a good game. It copies Wasteland 2 gameplay mechanics almost 90% and increased the production value significantly. Unfortunately it's not a great game for several reasons.

    It has some bugs, extraordinary long loading times and a few performance issues (e.g. the Scorpitron fight in the Tellur mine was more of a slideshow, on a 1080TI with Quad Core processor...). These are    Wasteland 3 is a good game. It copies Wasteland 2 gameplay mechanics almost 90% and increased the production value significantly. Unfortunately it's not a great game for several reasons.

    It has some bugs, extraordinary long loading times and a few performance issues (e.g. the Scorpitron fight in the Tellur mine was more of a slideshow, on a 1080TI with Quad Core processor...). These are issues that can be fixed in upcoming updates and I won't subtract score points for them. However, there are a few other things broken (at least in my opinion) which are not easily fixed or changed.

    First of all the game feels too linear. Free exploration is possible but since the game is heavily focused on combat you cannot simply explore any region you like because most (if not all) sidequests involve combat and thus have a minimum level requirement.

    Exploration is not rewarded. Loot seems to be partly predefined but generally randomized and the armor/weapons you find are mostly crap and never interesting. Vendors always sell the same stuff, I've never seen them restock with higher-level items, except for the HQ vendor. I find the item system lacking in every sense.

    The skill system was overhauled to create a steady feel of progression by spamming the player with attribute and skill point allocation on every level-up. I don't like the new system at all. You're constantly assigning points every few minutes which is very annoying, but you don't really notice the changes in combat because of its low granularity so what's the point? On the other hand, having the opportunity to assign skill points every few minutes makes it too easy to progress your character's skills. I never had the problem that e.g. my safe cracking skill was too low because I would just wait for the next combat to give me enough XP for the next level and then I'd assign the required points. That lowers the replayability significantly because you will have seen all of the content in the first run already.

    Interface is ok, but unfortunately it's not optimized for PC. It still works but it could be better. What I really dislike is the missing filter for the individual weapon types and subtypes. I'm constantly browsing the list trying to find the submachine guns or assault rifles. This should be fixed in a patch!

    Quest design is good but as I said everything is centered around combat. I wouldn't have thought I'd ever say this but why is there not a single fetch quest? Or an exploration quest without combat? It tries to stay true to its predecessor but a little bit more role-playing would have been appreciated.

    I don't know if I'm too stupid to understand it but I think there is nothing like a stealth system implemented in this game. There is a stealth perk somewhere in the tree but I'm not sure what it does exactly. Standing within the perception radius of any hostile creature will make them spot you after some given time, no matter what you do. This makes it impossible to get through a crowded area without triggering combat. On the other hand I think the game's simply not designed to work that way which is a real shame because it would have opened up other ways of playing it which was one of the strengths of Fallout 1/2 which some people seem to compare W3 to. In my opinion W3 does not share anything with Fallout except for the general setting.

    The world map is just a gimmick. It looks good but navigating sucks. You can't scroll or zoom, which is extremely counterintuitive. I like the idea with the truck that can be used in combat but then again its usage is limited to exterior areas.

    All in all it was fun to play but it wasn't really what I expected. I expected either an improvement over Wasteland 2 in terms of gameplay mechanics or a deviation from the original towards a more role-playing centered experience. What we have here is just a Wasteland 2 in a higher production value package with a lot of X-Com mixed in, heavily optimized for todays generation of impatient casual and console gamers.    … Expand
  20. bobbodu2873e1
    Feb 27, 2021
    7
    Completely broken sadly... wasted 3 days of my life to this game, only to find that the gippers vs godfishers fight is so utterly broken, there is no way to progress beyond that point. For every time I try the quest it gliches in a new and different way and have to restart from the save before the fight.
  21. Anastasyah
    Oct 11, 2020
    7
    I liked previous wastelands, but this hasn't changed a bit. That's why it's boring. Super long loadings. What are you loading?! It's an isometric game. And I have SSD. I liked the plot and heroes, a variety of weapons, LOR.
  22. Kelloliver
    Sep 5, 2020
    5
    A lot of annoying bugs, not gamepad friendly, difficult is a mass too hard in normal too weak in easy. There is no fast travel so you gonna take a lot of time just walking. Main chars dont have any personality. But gameplay is very fun and story too.
  23. HollidayMan
    Aug 31, 2020
    6
    +fun combat
    +fun dialogue(sometimes)
    +fun locations -very terrible performance issues -many game breaking bugs -voice acting -tons of long load screens -writing feels too over the top Overall, i strongly suggest you don't buy this at the full price of $60 if you want to play. This feels like an early access game, complete with tons of bugs and performance issues.Wait for a    +fun combat
    +fun dialogue(sometimes)
    +fun locations

    -very terrible performance issues
    -many game breaking bugs
    -voice acting
    -tons of long load screens
    -writing feels too over the top

    Overall, i strongly suggest you don't buy this at the full price of $60 if you want to play. This feels like an early access game, complete with tons of bugs and performance issues.Wait for a price drop or download it from the xbox game pass if you really want to play . The theme and combat of the game is good, but they are both overshadowed by its many problems.    … Expand
  24. bancandrei
    Apr 1, 2021
    6
    The game itself is solid, but there is little to make it special or a worthwhile experience. All the while I was thinking that I would rather be playing Shadowrun instead. Or the old fallouts.
  25. drlowdon
    Aug 24, 2023
    6
    In a post-apocalyptic world, the Desert Rangers try to rebuild society from the ashes, but they’re fighting a losing.

    Despite enjoying this type of RPG in the past, Wasteland never quite clicked with me. This was partly due to the fairly regular disconnections when trying to play online multiplayer, but also because the storylines weren’t as interesting as games like Divinity. That    In a post-apocalyptic world, the Desert Rangers try to rebuild society from the ashes, but they’re fighting a losing.

    Despite enjoying this type of RPG in the past, Wasteland never quite clicked with me. This was partly due to the fairly regular disconnections when trying to play online multiplayer, but also because the storylines weren’t as interesting as games like Divinity. That being said, the level of freedom is impressive, and the combat fairly deep, so fans of the genre should still check it out for themselves.    … Expand
  26. karlito31
    Mar 5, 2021
    7
    All great on the RPG front, strong 9.
    Game mechanics, not that great. No real stealth, abysmal Worldmap navigation, no fast travel, no respec ... barely 7
    Graphic presentation dated and near ugly thin 6 In total 7.3 In addition, all this overemphasized goofiness and silyness, which constantly reminds you that this is just a game, comes into serious conflict with any attempt at    All great on the RPG front, strong 9.
    Game mechanics, not that great. No real stealth, abysmal Worldmap navigation, no fast travel, no respec ... barely 7
    Graphic presentation dated and near ugly thin 6
    In total 7.3

    In addition, all this overemphasized goofiness and silyness, which constantly reminds you that this is just a game, comes into serious conflict with any attempt at deeper immersion. Just when you solve some serious moral problem, you run into a cyborg chicken. Or a two-headed mutant goat who likes to talk. Or discobot, exploding pigs, clown gang .... Funny? Sometimes a little. Anoying? All the time completely.    … Expand
  27. Mandulum
    Sep 8, 2020
    7
    While the game is quite fun, with solid gameplay and an entertaining story, there are a few (IMO) inexcusable bugs that are beyond annoying and drag down my enjoyment. My least favorite, and frequently encountered, was the broken Final Actions. "Out of Range"?? Even worse than the bugs, the story ruined my party in the final hours, didn't release their gear, and forced me to sub-inWhile the game is quite fun, with solid gameplay and an entertaining story, there are a few (IMO) inexcusable bugs that are beyond annoying and drag down my enjoyment. My least favorite, and frequently encountered, was the broken Final Actions. "Out of Range"?? Even worse than the bugs, the story ruined my party in the final hours, didn't release their gear, and forced me to sub-in recruited (non-created) members. I had to put Scotchmo in my party ... SCOTCHMO!

    Date Completed: 2020-09-08
    Playtime: ~ 30h
    Enjoyment: 7/10
    Recommendation: Worth a play, especially if you've played the previous Wasteland or like these types of games.    … Expand
  28. DavorJ
    Sep 9, 2023
    6
    I really like the concept of Wasteland games, but I think the series, if it continues to evolve in this direction, will worsen over time. Hence an overview of the good and bad.

    * Plot: I think it was well conceived although the Deth-path was not well fleshed out. Learning about the Patriarch involves secondary missions, hence I can image that people that don't explore those, don't    I really like the concept of Wasteland games, but I think the series, if it continues to evolve in this direction, will worsen over time. Hence an overview of the good and bad.

    * Plot: I think it was well conceived although the Deth-path was not well fleshed out. Learning about the Patriarch involves secondary missions, hence I can image that people that don't explore those, don't understand well why Angela calls him a tyrant. (8/10)
    * Music: OST is probably the only place where the game really excels. There are a couple of really good songs such as the Jong's Down in the Valley to Pray and Barton's Monster Mash. On the other hand, these are individual performances, and their incorporation into the game is not always ideal. (10/10)
    * Voice acting: very good, with some memorable performances: McTavish, The Prisoner, Dorseys, Scotchmo, … It was clear that there were lots of well-chose actors. (9/10)
    * Design: the overly punk-style design. Car exhaust pipes on armors, oversized spikes that impede movement, constant fireworks effects on explosion-modded weapons, … all over-fantasized that even 8-year olds wouldn't buy. But at the same time the target audience is PEGI +17. W2 was better here. (4/10) Scorpions were great though!
    * Atmosphere: in some places there is a post-apocalyptic feel, in others (e.g. DLCs) you feel like you are in some futuristic setting having technology hardly imaginable to be possible at all. "Post-apocalyptic" implies some restrictions, and they should be respected. Again, I felt the old Fallout 1&2 and W2 scoring better here. (5/10)
    * Combat: mechanics seem to be dumbed down versus W2. Spike meter versus aimed shots? Distance-based accuracy of weapons no longer visible. And so on. The biggest issue is that the initiative has become completely obsolete and replaced by being completely determined by who starts the battle. This has a profound impact on the battle outcome since the turns are per squad, and no longer per character, hence starting second often means losing directly on Supreme Jerk. (6/10)
    * Character development: my occasional google almost always resulted in someone complaining about min/max-ing the rangers. In my case, all my rangers were equally exceptionally good in coordination because it directly affects AP, and were equally unlucky, because it is probably the most useless attribute. That is I think due to the broken attributes system. Why not penalize it, like the skills system? And why not make important skill checks on it during the game? We are two decades later, and I still feel that the original Fallouts (and Fallout Tactics) had the best character design. Why fix things that aren't broken? (6/10)
    * Companions: underdeveloped, like usual. And then you have the custom rangers that have practically no background at all. W2 forced one to have 4 custom rangers, in W3 you are forced to 2. I hope in W4 we will finally reach 1! Hence (8/10) just for being optimistic.
    * Difficulty: Supreme jerk was enjoyable as it made you prepare for every encounter, although I don't like it when the difficulty merely impacts the "tankiness" of the opponents. And the latter is unfortunately the case. (8/10)
    * SFX: Special effects were probably the most bothersome. Burning trashcans at 5 meter distance sound as if standing in the middle of an inferno, blasting my eardrums out. And then this click-pop sound over and over at HQ armory and many different locations is just maddening. I don't remember ever (!) experiencing SFX this disturbingly bad. I literally had to constantly adjust the SFX volume to not loose sanity. (1/10)
    * DLC: God I hate those, and this was again such an experience. I remember a few times were DLC felt OK: in Neverwinter Nights and Dragon Age: Origins as separate (!) mini-stories with a clear beginning and end. In W3, both DLC are placed as primary quests, with no effect on the main story. What is more, they introduce new gameplay elements and design choices that are not in line with the original, hence feel as if you are playing a new game within a game, completely breaking the immersion and feeling like an endless chore just to "check" boxes. There were two occasions where I considered quitting the game, and both were related to the DLCs. (2/10)

    Hence although some elements were good, like the music, voice-acting and even the story, some aspects seem as if directed by some young grads, as if the old veterans weren't involved at all. So overall, 6/10, and without the DLCs it would have been 7/10.    … Expand
  29. Sminky
    Oct 6, 2020
    7
    Very Enjoyable but missing so many quality of life asspects that it's rather frustraiting. Certein equipable items such as 'Utlity' have no tab, so they get burried in your infernate inventory. You can not respec in a game where you are intialy going to make bad choices and every point is crucial due to the games reasonble difficulty. It all feels rather 'cheap' but there is a great gameVery Enjoyable but missing so many quality of life asspects that it's rather frustraiting. Certein equipable items such as 'Utlity' have no tab, so they get burried in your infernate inventory. You can not respec in a game where you are intialy going to make bad choices and every point is crucial due to the games reasonble difficulty. It all feels rather 'cheap' but there is a great game in there if you can wade through a rather a lot of amaturish development descions. 20 hours in i have yet to hit any bugs any else has mentioned. Also this game needs to be on a SSD.… Expand
  30. deathweeper
    Sep 15, 2020
    6
    This seemed like a really nice turn based RPG but it gets bogged down by WAY too many skills that it's no longer fun and instead your just running the numbers on a spreadsheet. When you realize that your 10 or 20 hours into the you also realize you haven't started having fun yet and that it's not coming.
  31. supe
    Nov 17, 2020
    6
    This review may be updated after a patch or three. As it is, the day one release is nearly unplayable for me. My experience thus far:

    - On character creation, select The Boss to add a point to Hard Ass, add a second point to Hard Ass, now I cannot remove that second point * restart character creation - On my second attempt, the Quirk I selected on the first round of character creation    This review may be updated after a patch or three. As it is, the day one release is nearly unplayable for me. My experience thus far:

    - On character creation, select The Boss to add a point to Hard Ass, add a second point to Hard Ass, now I cannot remove that second point
    * restart character creation
    - On my second attempt, the Quirk I selected on the first round of character creation cannot be selected
    * exit game and restart character creation
    - Finally playing. In the tutorial battle, the turret explosion kills my team. No auto save at the start.
    * restart character creation
    - Beat the tutorial mission and meet the Patriarch. Hard crash right after. Auto save takes me to beginning of Patriarch meeting, but trigger to start dialogue doesn't fire and I cannot speak to him.
    * loads quick save *
    - Given the option to create new recruits. Upon confirming first recruit, I cannot click anything, the UI appears to be unresponsive. Eventually discover there's a dialog box that cannot maintain focus, have to randomly click the screen until I accidentally click the close button on the invisible window.
    - Talk to refugee leader. Hard crash.
    - Talk to paper boy at Colorado Springs. Hard crash.

    W3 was one of my most anticipated games this year. But for me it plays like a pre-alpha build. It seems not everyone has had so many issues, so buy at your own risk I guess.

    Updated: completed the game and updated my review. The gameplay is "good enough", lacking the depth of X-Com or the subjective fun of DOS. I liked the story for the dark humor and some difficult RP decisions, but I felt the decision for the main story arc was strangely one-sided (i.e. there's only one logical choice to me). Overall it's a very good Fallout-style RPG weighed down by bugs. Buy at a discount.    … Expand
  32. watchm824
    Mar 10, 2021
    7
    Good game. I played with pleasure. But the plot of the story is not very hooked. A little disappointing about the limited variability in the development of the plot.
  33. S3XU4LH34L1NG
    Jun 28, 2023
    5
    this game is just tedious. The good parts are too short make up the long winding boring dialogue scenes and the slugish movement sections. Uninstalled after couple of hours.
  34. BrandonSaidWHAT
    Sep 7, 2020
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The game is pretty good but it does have some flaws like I play on Xbox one and get crashes a lot I usually have to reload the game again and go back to everything I just done before and sometime the enemies in the beginning of the game are hard like after you finish doing the dame beginning mission u will encounter some really high level enemies like I was level 3 and I was fighting enemies that where so high they 1 shot me or I’ll get ambush and they would destroy my hole team if it was very balance in the beginning of the game it would be very fun to explore and learn and adapt to this game but with The crash is in the high-level the enemy is a kind of makes his game frustrated… Expand
  35. Karlosos
    Sep 29, 2020
    7
    Nice in terms of graphics. Good gameplay. But the game currency is not very well done.
  36. LionAlhazred
    Apr 25, 2023
    6
    A good game, if not excellent. The gameplay is still nice and will remind the fans of the first fallout games, the style of these games but there are some design choices that annoyed me.

    The fights that start automatically when you haven't moved your characters yet. The thing is that depending on the characteristics of this or that character, if they are uncovered they will get their    A good game, if not excellent. The gameplay is still nice and will remind the fans of the first fallout games, the style of these games but there are some design choices that annoyed me.

    The fights that start automatically when you haven't moved your characters yet. The thing is that depending on the characteristics of this or that character, if they are uncovered they will get their races smoked. Because obviously in these cases, the enemy group has the advantage of the turn even if you have a high initiative. It's quite annoying since the characters get smoked and you can't do anything at all. Just pray they don't all die.

    The level design of the battle arenas is often bad, especially indoors. The layout of the different covers is bad. The best way to play indoors is to stay out of the rooms where the enemies are concentrated, wait for them and beat them with overwatch (Activating overwatch during your turn allows you to automatically attack the enemy when he comes in range during his turn).

    The scenario is far from being exceptional, it is nicely written but the story itself is basic. Excellent dubbing though.

    And don't take the DLC, they are lousy, they add game mechanics that look good on paper but are badly executed. I don't want to elaborate, look at the reviews on the page of the said DLC.

    Optimized with the ♥♥♥. I had crazy framerate drops, I was going from 120fps to . 30 fps in a totally random way. (I7, 16go, RTX 3070 laptop version)
    It can happen anytime, anywhere without any logic. I went to see on the internet and I'm not the only one in this case.
    Bard Tales 4 was also badly optimized, a constant with this studio.

    I only broke the game but I still had fun in the end, that's why I gave it a blue thumb. The exploration is rewarding and the combat gameplay is fun once you know the game systems and how to operate it but Wasteland 3 lacks elegance in its design choices in general.

    I'm still curious to see what inXile will do next. After all, Wasteland 3 was a game paid for by crowdfunding and it's not doing too bad under those conditions. Now, with Microsoft's billionaires, it's time to turn the tables.

    Brian Fargo and Chad Moore, I count on you.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

23
#23 Best PC Game of 2020
25
#25 Most Discussed PC Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
85

Generally favorable reviews - based on 60 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 58 out of 60
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 60
  3. Negative: 0 out of 60
  1. CD-Action
    Nov 16, 2020
    90
    Wasteland 3 should actually be called Fallout 3, as it has much more in common with two legendary Interplay/Black Isle Studios games than any later entry to the Fallout series. If that’s not a sufficient recommendation, let me put it plainly: Wasteland 3 is the best turn-based post-apocalyptic RPG in many, many years. Yes, at the time of writing this review there were many gameplay and technical issues that needed to be addressed as soon as possible, but the fun this game offered made it very easy to look past them. [11/2020, p.46]
  2. Vgames
    Oct 26, 2020
    95
    Wasteland 3 is one of the best RPG's of 2020. Your choices matter, your build matters, everything you do matters. You don't just play this game, you live in it.
    Read full review
  3. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Oct 21, 2020
    79
    Clichés and predictability don’t make the playthrough of Wasteland 3 any less enjoyable. After all, good post-apocalyptic RPGs are always in short supply. [Issue#248, p.36]
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