Back at E3, InXile showed off a more gameplay-oriented trailer for the upcoming third installment in the Wasteland series, focusing on the title's comedic side. At that point, we knew that the developer was shooting for a Spring 2020 release and that’s exactly what was announced today at X019, along with the unveiling of a much darker trailer.
For those not familiar, the original Wasteland came out at the beginning of 1988, and was developed by Interplay – then led by founder Brian Fargo – and published by Electronic Arts. The sci-fi RPG, despite its limited colour palette, formed the basis of what would later become one of Interplay’s most well-known titles, 1997’s Fallout. In 2014, Wasteland 2 was released, developed by inXile Entertainment (founded and still operated by Brian Fargo) and published by Deep Silver. The third game has the same publisher as its predecessor.
Among other changes, this upcoming installment is set in a frozen Colorado, has a reworked action system, and implements story-driven synchronous and asynchronous multiplayer. This means that players get to explore different areas, depending on which choices they make. Also new to the series is the player vehicle, which will help folks traverse the various environments of the party-based RPG much easier.
The game will be completely standalone compared to its predecessors, meaning you won't need to have played the first or second game in the series. It features half a million lines of voiced dialog, and the soundtrack is created in collaboration with Mary Ramos, the music supervisor for a number of Quentin Tarantino movies.
Wasteland 3 is set to launch on May 19, 2020, for Windows, macOS, Linux, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and will be included in Game Pass at launch. You can pre-order now on Steam and the Microsoft Store.
You can check out our other X019 coverage here.
