Who has enough time for a cRPG right now? Well, a lot of us and certainly me. But with everything going on and some stretches lately without as much gaming, for me jumping into something like Disco Elysium is a little daunting. I’ve been doing reading in books but after my reading time its kind of veg out time with everything going on.
In comes Wasteland 3. I have Gamepass and while I thought what I played of Wasteland 2 was boring and rough feeling enough for me to bail on it early, people are praising this.
And I was glad I did because this is some good solid cRPG action while also proving to be somewhat of a welcome lighter fare option without sacrificing much in the way of real mechanical depth.
Did I mention you can crush a American Nationalist Imperialist Fanatical leader in the process? Cathartic!
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Mechanically it builds off what came before. The combat systems and character development are both good and solid, if not great. The combat feels much like an XCOM or Divinity OS in its basics. It all works well and there’s a pretty fun progression to it where you can get real overpowered if you kind of game and plan out your character, which I enjoy a lot personally.
I played on the difficulty one above the normal default setting as I'm a tactical game obsessive.
I do feel like the game at some point though doesn’t know how to deal with the balance there so it simply makes enemies do huge damage, and the AI does a lot of focusing on the weak link in a way that makes sense but also feels robotic and in the end makes it so they usually are all focusing fire on one of you guys in the end game and blasting him to hell. But a quick revive does the trick, but makes it all feel kind of tedious by the end and without as much variation. Also, much like XCOM 2 I think deployables, like the decoy in XCOM 2 but there are several different options here from decoys to turrets to robots, are incredibly overpowered as distractions to soak up enemy attacks and basically always work.
There is also the "who starts combat" factor which ties into both how the game allows you to ambush enemies but most worth mentioning, the ties to your dialogue encounters. This part of the game can really suck when you catch the raw end of it and the enemy strikes first. At times its impossible to say why things will go that way too and there's that kind of disconnect. Its one of the clear parts of the game that needs work.
The game also has a overworld aspect as you drive around in your Kodiak truck which is fine if a little flimsy. It feels maybe less dynamic and alive than overworld maps from classic RPGs that came out around 20 years ago now. In the age of open world games that stands out. But it is quite cool when you get into a fight near enough to the level entrance, the truck can enter the fray and become a combat character, running over enemies or hitting them with powerful mortars and cannons.
The character development allows for fun as I mentioned but it is prevented from reaching greatness due to the nature of somewhat linear development it provides vs a true build diversity reached by other games like Divinity OS, as well as how many character will fill out so many of their progression opportunities. Your characters will almost certainly completely MAX out 3 of their core stats for one example. You will probably struggle to spend Perk points for some characters on anything that is useful to them. Some skills give you no perk options so if you happen to say make a Hard Ass guy who also Lockpicks, there are zero perk point options with either of those. Equipment is mostly very linear in its progression as you go as well which is always a boring choice.
Building your party is fun but as mentioned the build diversity issues do create a convergence among your characters by the end for sure, weapons and tools aside. The game gives you 4 slots for player characters and 2 slots for companions from some available NPCs. They do a good job with most of the companions giving them life in the world and things to talk about in certain interactions and locations. One in particular changes the game in a big way and I quite enjoyed. He is a warlord you can help lay claim to several of the big opposing factions you fight in the game in a kind of Genghis Khan archetype, and its cool to choose to roll with him.
These flaws aside, you can still do some real fun stuff and if you reach overpowered status it still was rewarding. A sneak attack based Rocketeer in this game is absolutely devastating and fun. Turning Iron Cordite into a walking cyborg fist fighting tank with some nasty Weird Science tricks was fun too.
The story is a continuation of the previous games but also disconnected enough that its an easy jumping in point. You are the Desert Rangers and that’s an easy enough thing to get and kind of put your spin on and enjoy. I do think the central conceit of the game, you are here to get supplies and aid for the base back in Arizona, does kind of fall flat if you haven’t played the last game/s and the game doesn’t do much to back up those stakes in game either, although I’m glad in ways (more on that in a moment).
The plot itself is rather straightforward. A Nationalist Dictator and his terrible kids are terrorizing the area and you have to bring the kids in and choose to either work with the guy, because maybe you like him or “to keep the peace” or not. Its all quite on the nose in a 80s Action Movie kind of way but I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it either. The guy sits on a Game of Thrones style throne made of missiles and drives a tank around called, I shit you not, Manifest Destiny. So if you feel a certain way about American fascism and Imperialism, there’s some nice catharsis here if you choose to turn on the state.
Light-ish spoilers about how the game factors things into the wrap up:
I personally quite liked also that the stakes constantly hung over your head were not dropped, on my ending at least when I choose to sack the old man and take the town but supported most other groups enough. It would have been kind of shitty, even if it felt like the promised consequences didn’t come, if it ended up you did need the dictator to keep peace. So I actually really enjoyed the subversion and it kind of shit on the Nationalist argument in one move.
The game does react a lot to your choices. A lot is tied up in the end game cutscene like many of the RPGs but overall its done quite well.
The in world and world building writing is actually part of the game that took me by surprise and I really enjoyed. From the heavy monster party vibes Monster Army, to the crunchy and friendly Robot Commune, to the drugged out nomadic wanderers the Breathers (which look like they walked right off the cover of Sleeps Dopesmoker), to the barbarians who fly human skin kites to talk to and make offerings to their God, to the Ronald Reagan AI worshipping Gipper cult, there is some really great and clever writing here . The characters and groups are established so well and are surprisingly deep and entertaining, a step above all but the best RPGs out there, and its all pulled off in a snappy way. The Breathers were cool arc for me, from going from a fodder silly enemy to a really cool faction once you talk to their leader, The Gift, that really is a an example that of the games fun/silly initial appearance to "wait this is actually good" progression that I had in response to a variety of its world and lore elements.
I also enjoy how a few common tropes are subverted, particularly the Synths, over the usual Blade Runner stock presentation of them and the tropes involving them being complete victims and almost always obviously ones any moral person would help. Here they can be subverted and controlled by other rogue murderous programs almost at any time, making them a big liability if not worse. Still, I did spare one of the Synths in the quest to hunt several down merely for lore and my personal response, completing the quest be damned, so it speaks to the layers here that I wasn't caring about min maxing it all over having some genuine responses about how I wanted my Rangers to operate.
There is no extended reading or long blocks of text anywhere in the game. You pick up audiologs exactly like a BioShock or what have you to tell story, and play as you run around the world in the same way.
However, as mentioned above, nothing feels shoddy or poorly written or tossed off. Those factions I mentioned all feel very cool if you do dig into them. Its impressive to me to feel fun, funny, and breezy without feeling dumb. Other RPGs that try for this kind of lighthearted tone would be for example, Divinity OS I, where the writing is actually terrible and everything feels like a cliche.
I don’t say that to suggest its an improvement over how much reading is in a Disco Elysium or the like (personally I would say it creates a different feel that ultimately probably can never quite reach the same heights for a cRPG), but to say its a really nice and welcome differentiation. If you like cRPGs and tactical strategy combat but right now you kind of want something easy to get through and along the way you might want to blow up some American psychotics, this is a great option. I would also say if you like an XCOM, you should check this out based on the combat, if the rest appeals to you at all. The lack of a dumbing down while achieving the balance this game does, all alongside good quality execution, is very commendable and makes this a very welcome addition to the cRPG space.
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