Wasteland 2

About Wasteland 2

Wasteland 2 is a gritty sequel to the 1988 classic that launched via Kickstarter funding from fans. Developer inXile Entertainment released this post-apocalyptic RPG on September 19, 2014. The story takes place after a nuclear war triggered by meteor impacts in 1998. You lead the Desert Rangers, former soldiers who built a life in an abandoned prison and now patrol the wasteland. This title brings back the deep narrative choices of the original while expanding the scope with modern graphics. It supports single-player campaigns on PC, Mac, Linux, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The game feels like a direct continuation of that older franchise but with a budget that allowed for actual voice acting and complex branching storylines that matter.

Gameplay

You manage a squad of three characters from an overhead tactical view during combat encounters. Every fight uses a turn-based system where you move your team members across the map grid while managing action points. You can aim for specific body parts to increase critical hit chances or use stealth takedowns to avoid drawing enemies. Outside battles, the game shifts to an isometric exploration mode where you talk to survivors, scavenge supplies, and navigate a massive open world. Dialogue trees let you choose how characters respond, which alters quest outcomes and faction relationships. You spend hours crafting gear, managing inventory weight, and assigning perks to your Rangers. The interface demands attention as you juggle multiple squads and make difficult decisions about who lives or dies in the harsh environment.

What Players Think

Players on PlayPile have rated this title 75.1 out of 100 based on 93 user scores, showing a solid but not universal appeal. The average playtime sits around 28 hours for main story completion, with many users pushing past 40 hours to see all endings. Community mood leans toward nostalgic appreciation, with frequent mentions of the game honoring its roots while fixing old pacing issues. Review snippets highlight the depth of choices as a major plus, though some critics note the combat can feel repetitive after extended sessions. Achievement data shows only about 18 percent of players have unlocked every single trophy, suggesting high difficulty or complex quest requirements deter full completion. Most users agree the narrative weight makes up for the clunky UI elements that appear in certain menus.

PlayPile's Take

Wasteland 2 works best for fans of old-school CRPGs who value story over flashy graphics. The $31.99 price point at Green Man Gaming seems fair given the 40-hour runtime and lack of microtransactions. This is a challenging game that demands patience with its tactical combat and complex dialogue systems. You will not find quick fixes here, only consequences for your decisions. The achievement list includes difficult objectives that require multiple playthroughs to unlock everything. Skip this if you want action or easy progression. Play it if you want a heavy narrative experience where your choices actually change the world around you.

Storyline

The game is set in an alternate history timeline, in which a nuclear holocaust took place in 1998 in relation to an impact event involving a cluster of meteors that sparked a global nuclear war. On the day of the cataclysm, a company of U.S. Army Engineers were in the desolate southwestern desert constructing bridges in an area with a number of small survivalist communities and a newly constructed federal death row prison with light industrial facilities. The soldiers sought shelter in the prison, expelled the inmates and invited nearby survivalists to join them shortly thereafter. Years later, together they formed "the Desert Rangers, in the great tradition of the Texas and Arizona Rangers", to help other survivors in the desert and beyond it.