Popular post-apocalyptic tactical RPG Wasteland 3 now includes a permadeath mode, as introduced in the game’s latest update. Along with a handful of additional features and improvements, this presents a great opportunity for new and returning players alike to experience the game at its most merciless.
Wasteland 3 depicts a ruined version of Colorado in the 22nd century, destroyed by a nuclear war. Members of a peacekeeping force from neighboring Arizona, known as the Arizona Rangers, arrive at the behest of the local leader, known as the Patriarch. What makes Wasteland 3 stand out is its strong emphasis on player choice; while exploring Colorado to fulfill the Patriarch’s requests, the Rangers discover the region is politically unstable. Ultimately, the player has the chance to dramatically reshape Colorado, while contending with a range of wrenching decisions along the way.
The game’s newest update, 1.3.3, called the Death and Taxes update, adds a handful of features, the most exciting being optional permadeath. This appears to impact both player-created characters and any NPCs in the player’s squad. Additionally, the player can now use the new Difficult Skill Checks option to increase requirements for the many skill checks that appear throughout the game. Players will need to be even more rigorous in optimizing Wasteland 3 character builds than before, or risk being locked out of many quests’ best outcomes and rewards.
There is still one factor that makes the permadeath option less sadistic than it could be. Namely, the player can generate new party members in Colorado Springs’ Ranger HQ at any time. What’s more, these characters scale to the party’s level, meaning one can replace fallen characters with nearly identical ones. Plus, the Death and Taxes update goes further to allow already-created characters to be re-spec’d, which was not previously possible. That said, recruiting and redistributing stats now both cost money, limiting how players can use these features.
That said, player characters who die will likely take their cybernetic augmentations with them. As cybernetic upgrades take time to acquire and install, this would be quite a waste. Additionally, the various pre-named NPCs who can join the player’s party have unique dialogue in a range of situations, and can learn some very useful skills. Losing them would leave gaps in both the game’s worldbuilding and the player’s party composition. Especially if the lost character were to be a difficult-to-recruit one like Ironclad Cordite, squandering hours of effort to a single mistake will likely be maddening.
On a less dour note, the update adds a range of additional character customization options. These include post-apocalyptic clothing options designed by renowned real-world artists Dimitry Zaitsev and Oliver Bindel. Given that fans of futuristic gaming are likely soured by Cyberpunk 2077 leaving out some requested customization features, it is nice to see similar games making an effort to expand these options after launch.
Wasteland 3 is out now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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