Wasteland 2: Director's Cut Reviews

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SO GOOOD SO GOOD SOO GOOD

S'good for a main.

Old School CRPG. Before Bethesda turned Fallout into an FPS, there was Fallout: BOS. an absolute crap game. Before Fallout: BOS, there was Fallout Tactics. a fun tactile game but not a an RPG. Before there was Fallout Tactics, there was Fallout 1 & 2. BEFORE FALLOUT. There was Wastelands. The first true Post Nuclear CRPG. Once Fallout 1 came out in the late 90's, Wastelands was all but forgotten. Usurped by it's clone. Years latter, developers of the original Fallout and Wastelands returned to their forgotten CRPG. Hours of fun and excitement matter, choices actually matter, and all sorts of goofy fun in the wasteland. Create not one, not two, not 3, but 4 (count 'em!) 4 unique characters and recruit a variety of NPC teammates. Is it as good as Wastelands 3? No. Is it great still? Absolutely. Wastelands 1 crawled so Fallout 1, 2, and Tactics could walk. Fallout Walked so this game could run. This game ran so Wastelands 3 could soar.

[b]Long ago, when the HDDs were still young, a young RPG lover played a game of great and terrible power which he did not understand. But that game erupted into a conflict which threatened to destroy his entire insatiateness on RPG games, until that brave and powerful lover beated the game, enjoying it among the mystical bunch of Millennium garbage games.[/b] There was only one save issue that crashed the game, and that was due to Steamcloud save files. Sometimes in the battle, camera angles went crazy, other than that, it was a real pleasure to taste this banger. I attempted to play it some time ago, but for reasons that are not clear to me, I did not complete it. I finished Wasteland 3 a few years ago, so I thought I would resume playing it now. Wasteland 3 has a lot of quality improvements for sure, but, clearly I choose WL2 over WL3. Characters, plotline, base gameplay (actually this one has better management and trades) and its milieu was quite another story. I think the main problem with both games is that the final chapters were kept a bit simpler, but as far as I could remember, you left more satisfied at the end of the third. I can also understand why they did the story flow like that in the third. Could complain a bit, but, nevermind. Wasteland is now in my all-time-greats game series list.

This game has heart. And so did Phantom Doctrine, I refunded it (but got it on sale on GoG later). But my bad review is gonna be a drop in the bucket of overwhelming praise so I might as well express my opinion. First, I appreciate the unique dialogue system, and the smooth real time to turn based transition. That being said: the balance is totally wack. This does the thing all old school RPGs do and pad out the game with useless skills and abilities, which would be fine for roleplay if you didn't need an optimized combat build to survive. The most insane part, I can't stress this enough, is the goldilocks-esque "ideal" aiming zones. Who thought this was a good idea? Some QoL stuff...your guys don't shoot around corners of cover like they do in XCom...micro managing items between 4+ party members...

Awesome game. Replays many different ways. Lives up to the franchise.

Wasteland 2 is old-school, tactical RPG goodness with a post-apocalyptic twist. As the spiritual successor to the original Wasteland (and granddaddy of Fallout), it delivers deep turn-based combat, tough moral choices, and a world that reacts to your every decision—sometimes in hilariously brutal ways. The game’s writing is sharp, filled with dark humor, strange factions, and quests that rarely have a clear “right” answer. Squad customization is top-notch, letting you build a team of Desert Rangers suited for diplomacy, hacking, or just good old-fashioned shootouts. Every bullet counts, every decision matters, and the wasteland never plays fair. Sure, it’s tough, a little clunky at times, and doesn’t hold your hand—but for fans of classic CRPGs, Wasteland 2 is a must-play. Just remember: save often, and never underestimate a guy with a sawed-off shotgun.

Great post-apocalypse background. Interesting story. Good game mechanics.

Is it the greatest CRPG you can play? No. But I find myself loving it anyway. There are plenty of bad decisions that should not have happened - percent based skill rolls, wonky camera controls, some unintuitive quest design, etc. - but it is full of great design that rewards understanding and investment - deep character builds, decent reactivity and choice, constant progression, etc. It leaves me highly recommending this game if you deeply love CRPGs or TRPGs and want a fix. I don't think I'd recommend it to someone new to the genre, but I wouldn't tell people to avoid it.