Last October, inXile Entertainment announced the Wasteland 3 Fig crowdfunding campaign and quickly made their way towards hitting their goals for the next entry in the celebrated Wasteland series, a precursor to the Fallout franchise. The series last saw a release in 2014 with Wasteland 2, which arrived 26 years after the first Wasteland and for many was the true Fallout 3, as it featured the same isometric gameplay of the Fallout series, before Bethesda acquired the game and moved it into the first person open world realm of subsequent releases including the more street cred earning Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 4.

The game is tentatively scheduled for release in 2019 and after meeting it’s initial funding goal of 2.75 million USD, it wound up raising a total of 3.1 million USD hitting all but 1 of its stretch goals. One of the first goals was the Morningstar, a “commie loathing” talking car companion, which is certain to have a repertoire of biting quips.

In subsequent updates on the game, using the Fig platform similar to their associates, Obsidian’s Pillars of Eternity  2: Deadfire, the team has revealed some of what they’re working on. When it comes to combat, Wasteland 3’s combat will be similar to Wasteland 2: turn-based, party-based, and will offer a wide range of tactical choices, like cover and verticality. However they are looking at ways to revamp the system to speed things up and make it feel less tedious. One method they are considering is input queuing which can allow you to do things like move a character before another has finished moving. Encounters are also getting a design look, with plans to have changing scenes such as an enemy vehicle that arrives in the middle of the action. Weather elements will also play a role in sightlines. Loot you earn from these encounters is going to be much less random and more planned unique gear.

From an overall design perspective, NPC facial models are getting a lot of attention due to the game’s fully animated voiced dialogue. The content team is working on the storyline as well as area design and new NPCs and companions for the Colorado wasteland. They presently have a good chunk of the narrative and a full list of areas in the game. Working prototypes of major gameplay systems are also in the works, for features like combat, missions, exploration, skills and more. Many of these are heavily based in Wasteland 2 and will be used to work out how to incorporate the new gameplay elements like vehicles, multiplayer and the ice and cold mechanics. With so much planned, they’ve shared their vision document, which is a framework of sorts for what the game is and will be.

Locations that will be present in the game have also been given some attention. With the events taking place in the state of Colorado, it’s biggest city Denver is going to be a featured area. Most of Denver is in ruins in the events of the game, having been devastated itself by a nuke. What’s left are urban wilds where treasure hunters and scavengers do battle over the riches of the old world. The Denver airport has become a colony of artists, hackers, mad scientists and various other eccentrics. The center of this commune is the Space Shuttle Atlantis which landed here, and in the compound they are engaging in experiments and cyber spying against the Patriarch among other things. And speaking of the Patriach, the leader of Colorado, his call forms the catalyst of the game’s events which you can hear below:

The game has no release date set, but is already generating anticipation for what it’s going to be adding to the franchise, especially multiplayer and vehicles. We are excited to see it unfold and will be sure to keep bringing updates as the game’s development progresses!

Visit the Wasteland 3 Wiki

More on Wasteland 3