''Wasteland'' is a
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
open world role-playing video game
A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immers ...
developed by
Interplay and published by
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...
in 1988.
The game is set in a futuristic,
post-apocalyptic
Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astro ...
America destroyed by a
nuclear holocaust
A nuclear holocaust, also known as a nuclear apocalypse, nuclear Armageddon, or atomic holocaust, is a theoretical scenario where the mass detonation of nuclear weapons causes globally widespread destruction and radioactive fallout. Such a scenar ...
generations before. Developers originally made the game for the
Apple II
The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...
and it was
ported
In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally desi ...
to the
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...
and
MS-DOS
MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...
. It was re-released for
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
,
OS X
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
, and
Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...
in 2013 via
Steam
Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
and
GOG.com
GOG.com (formerly Good Old Games) is a digital distribution platform for video games and films. It is operated by GOG sp. z o.o., a wholly owned subsidiary of CD Projekt based in Warsaw, Poland. GOG.com delivers DRM-free video games through it ...
, and in 2014 via
Desura
Desura was a digital distribution platform for the Microsoft Windows, Linux and OS X platforms. The service distributed games and related media online, with a primary focus on small independent game developers rather than larger companies. Desur ...
.
Critically acclaimed and commercially successful, ''Wasteland'' was intended to be followed by two separate sequels, but Electronic Arts dropped claims of ''
Fountain of Dreams
''Fountain of Dreams'' is a 1990 role-playing video game developed and published by Electronic Arts for DOS as a successor to 1988's ''Wasteland''.
Gameplay
The gameplay is similar to that of ''Wasteland'' since ''Fountain of Dreams'' was or ...
'' being a sequel and Interplay's ''
Meantime'' was canceled. The game's general setting and concept became the basis for Interplay's 1997 role-playing video game ''
Fallout
Nuclear fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and the shock wave has passed. It commonly refers to the radioac ...
'' and the
''Fallout'' series.
inXile Entertainment
inXile Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and a studio of Xbox Game Studios based in Tustin, California. Specializing in role-playing video games, inXile was founded in 2002 by Interplay co-founder Brian Fargo. The studi ...
released a sequel, ''
Wasteland 2
''Wasteland 2'' is a post-apocalyptic role-playing video game developed by inXile Entertainment and published by Deep Silver. It is the sequel to 1988's ''Wasteland'', and was successfully crowdfunded through Kickstarter. After the postponement o ...
'', in 2014, and ''
Wasteland 3
''Wasteland 3'' is a role-playing video game developed by inXile Entertainment and published by Deep Silver. It is a sequel to ''Wasteland 2'' (2014) and was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on August 28, 2020. It was po ...
'' was released in 2020. A remastered version of the game titled ''Wasteland Remastered'' was released on February 25, 2020, in honor of the original game's 30th anniversary.
Gameplay
''Wasteland''s game mechanics are based on those used in the tabletop role-playing games, such as ''
Tunnels and Trolls
A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube const ...
'' and ''
Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes
''Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes'' (''MSPE'') is a tabletop role-playing game designed and written by Michael A. Stackpole and first published in April 1983 by Blade, a division of Flying Buffalo, Inc. A second edition was later published by ...
'' created by ''Wasteland'' designers
Ken St. Andre
Kenneth Eugene St. Andre (born April 28, 1947) is an American fantasy author and game designer, best known for his work with ''Tunnels & Trolls'' and ''Wasteland (video game), Wasteland''. He was born in Ogden, Utah, and has been an active member ...
and
Michael Stackpole
Michael Austin Stackpole (born November 27, 1957) is an American science fiction and fantasy author best known for his ''Star Wars'' and ''BattleTech'' books. He was born in Wausau, Wisconsin, but raised in Vermont. He has a BA in history from ...
.
Characters in ''Wasteland'' have seven attributesstrength, intelligence, luck, speed, agility, dexterity, and charismathat allow the characters to use different skills and weapons. Experience is gained through combat and skill usage. The game generally lets players advance using a variety of tactics: to get through a locked gate, the characters could use their picklock skill, their climb skill, or their strength attribute; or they could force the gate with a crowbar or a
LAW
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
rocket.
The player's
party
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature f ...
begins with four members and can grow to as many as seven by recruiting citizens and wasteland creatures. Unlike other
computer role-playing games of the time, these
non-player characters
A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster o ...
might at times refuse to follow the player's commands, such as when the player orders the character to give up an item or perform an action.
[ The game is noted for its high and unforgiving difficulty level.][ The prose appearing in the game's combat screens, such as phrases saying an enemy is "reduced to a thin red paste" and "explodes like a blood sausage", prompted an unofficial ]PG-13
The Motion Picture Association film rating system is used in the United States and its territories to rate a motion picture's suitability for certain audiences based on its content. The system and the ratings applied to individual motion pictures ...
sticker on the game packaging in the U.S.
''Wasteland'' was one of the first games featuring a persistent world
A persistent world or persistent state world (PSW) is a virtual world which, by the definition by Richard Bartle, "continues to exist and develop internally even when there are no people interacting with it". The first virtual worlds were text-bas ...
, where changes to the game world were stored and kept.[ Returning to an area later in the game, the player would find it in the state the player left it, rather than being reset, as was common for games of the time. Since hard drives were still rare in home computers in 1988, this meant the original game disk had to be copied first, as the manual instructed one to do.]
Another feature of the game was the inclusion of a printed collection of paragraphs that the player would read at the appropriate times. These paragraphs described encounters, conversations and contained clues. Because disk space
Computer data storage is a technology consisting of computer components and recording media that are used to retain digital data. It is a core function and fundamental component of computers.
The central processing unit (CPU) of a computer ...
was at a premium, it saved on resources to have most of the game's story printed out in a separate manual rather than stored within the game's code itself. The paragraph books also served as a rudimentary form of copy protection
Copy protection, also known as content protection, copy prevention and copy restriction, describes measures to enforce copyright by preventing the reproduction of software, films, music, and other media.
Copy protection is most commonly found on ...
; someone playing a copied version of the game would miss out on story elements and clues necessary to progress. The paragraphs included an unrelated story line about a mission to Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...
intended to mislead those who read the paragraphs when not instructed to, and a false set of passwords that would trip up cheaters.[
]
Plot
In 2087, generations after the devastation of a global nuclear war in 1998, a remnant force of the United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
called the Desert Rangers operates in the Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Ne ...
, acting as peacekeepers to protect fellow survivors and their descendants. A team of Desert Rangers is assigned to investigate a series of disturbances in nearby areas. Throughout the game, the rangers explore the remaining enclaves of human civilization, including a post-apocalyptic Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
.[
As the group's investigation deepens, the Rangers discover evidence of a larger menace threatening to exterminate what is left of humankind. A pre-war ]artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...
operating from a surviving military facility, Base Cochise, is constructing armies of killer machines and cybernetically modified humans to attack human settlements with the help of Irwin Finster, the deranged former commander of the base. Finster has gone so far as to transform himself into a cyborg
A cyborg ()—a portmanteau of ''cybernetic'' and ''organism''—is a being with both organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline. under the AI's control. The AI's ultimate goal is to complete Finster's "Project Darwin" and replace the world's "flawed" population with genetically pure specimens. With help from a pre-war android named Max, the player recovers the necessary technology and weapons in order to confront the AI at Base Cochise and destroy it by making the base's nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat from nu ...
melt down.
Development
In an interview with Hartley and Patricia Lesse for MicroTimes in 1987, game director Brian Fargo
Frank Brian Fargo (born December 15, 1962) is an American video game designer, producer, programmer and executive, and founder of Interplay Entertainment, inXile Entertainment and Robot Cache.
Biography
Early life
A descendant of the family ...
said that Interplay started work on the game in 1986. He also said the game was created on the Apple II
The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...
, as it was equally important to him as the Commodore 64
The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...
. Fargo described the game as a hybrid of the ''Ultima series
''Ultima'' is a series of open world fantasy role-playing video games from Origin Systems, Inc. ''Ultima'' was created by Richard Garriott. Electronic Arts has owned the brand since 1992. The series sold over 2 million copies by 1997.
A signi ...
'' and ''The Bard's Tale
''The Bard's Tale'' is a fantasy role-playing video game franchise created by Michael Cranford and developed by Brian Fargo's Interplay Productions (1985–1992) and inXile Entertainment (2004–present).
The initial title of the series was ''T ...
'', with a post-apocalyptic
Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astro ...
setting similar to the ''Mad Max
''Mad Max'' is an Australian post-apocalyptic Action film, action film series and media franchise created by George Miller (filmmaker), George Miller and Byron Kennedy. It began in 1979 with ''Mad Max (film), Mad Max'', and was followed by thre ...
'' film series. As to the combat, Fargo stated that it resembled that of ''The Bard's Tale'' and contained additional strategy elements, including the ability to split or disband the party and change the player's character point-of-view.
In later interviews, Fargo said ''Wasteland'' came about after the success of ''The Bard's Tale'' and Interplay's desire to make another role-playing game for Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...
separate from a sequel to the game. He added that the setting was inspired by his love for ''Mad Max 2
''Mad Max 2'' (released as ''The Road Warrior'' in the United States) is a 1981 Australian post-apocalyptic action film directed by George Miller. It is the second installment in the ''Mad Max'' franchise, with Mel Gibson reprising his role a ...
'' and post-apocalyptic fiction. While searching for a gameplay system for their new game, they came across the system of ''Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes
''Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes'' (''MSPE'') is a tabletop role-playing game designed and written by Michael A. Stackpole and first published in April 1983 by Blade, a division of Flying Buffalo, Inc. A second edition was later published by ...
''. Its author Michael Stackpole
Michael Austin Stackpole (born November 27, 1957) is an American science fiction and fantasy author best known for his ''Star Wars'' and ''BattleTech'' books. He was born in Wausau, Wisconsin, but raised in Vermont. He has a BA in history from ...
was announced as the writer for ''Wasteland'' in 1987.
Alan Pavlish was the lead developer of the game, writing it in Apple II machine language and programming the game to react to player choices. Ken St. Andre said Fargo's pitch to him was for a post-nuclear holocaust game that allowed for weapons capable of inflicting area effect damage to be used and the map be modified "on the fly". Fargo said the game was in development for five years.
Writing
St. Andre stated that Interplay wanted to make a best-seller that would elevate the team's reputation. He added that the story-writing process took more than a year, mostly due to feeding various scenarios into the game to see how it would react. According to him, he and Stackpole wanted to create something new with the story.
The original plot was supposed to be similar to ''Red Dawn
''Red Dawn'' is a 1984 American action drama film directed by John Milius with a screenplay by Milius and Kevin Reynolds. The film depicts a fictional World War III centering on a land invasion of the continental United States by an alliance ...
'', with Russians occupying the United States and fighting against Americans engaged in liberating their nation. St. Andre eventually decided to change this and pitched a new story involving killer robots wanting to wipe out and replace humanity, calling it a sort of cross between ''The Terminator
''The Terminator'' is a 1984 American science fiction action film directed by James Cameron. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, a cyborg assassin sent back in time from 2029 to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), whos ...
'' and Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon fictional character, character created for Warner Bros. Cartoons, Leon Schlesinger Productions by animators Tex Avery and Bob Clampett. Styled as an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic American black duck, black ...
, with Fargo accepting this new storyline. The game's location was chosen due to St. Andre's familiarity with the area and ability to ensure the locations of real-world places were accurate in the game.
Release
The game was copyrighted in 1986. Close to release, Interplay insisted that it be labeled PG-13
The Motion Picture Association film rating system is used in the United States and its territories to rate a motion picture's suitability for certain audiences based on its content. The system and the ratings applied to individual motion pictures ...
. ''Wasteland'' was originally released in 1988 for the Apple II, Commodore 64, and IBM compatibles. The IBM version added an additional skill called "Combat Shooting" which could be bought only when a character was first created. ''Wasteland'' was re-released as part of ''Interplay's 10 Year Anthology: Classic Collection'' in 1995, and also included in the 1998 ''Ultimate RPG Archives'' through Interplay's DragonPlay label. These later bundled releases were missing the original setup program, which allowed the game's maps to be reset while retaining the player's original team of Rangers.
Reception
''Computer Gaming World
''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through ...
'' cited ''Wasteland''s "ease of play, richness of plot, problem solving requirements, skill and task system, and graphic display" as elements of its excellence. Scorpia favorably reviewed the game in 1991 and 1993, calling it "really the only decently-designed post-nuke game on the market". In 1992, the magazine wrote the game's "classic mix of combat and problem-solving" was the favorite of its readers in 1988, and that "the way in which ''Wasteland''s NPCs related to the player characters, the questions of dealing with moral dilemmas, and the treatment of skills set this game apart." In 1994, the magazine cited ''Wasteland'' as an example of how "older, less sophisticated engines can still play host to a great game".
Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card (born August 24, 1951) is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is the first and (as of 2022) only person to win both a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for both ...
gave ''Wasteland'' a mixed review in ''Compute!
''Compute!'' (), often stylized as ''COMPUTE!'', was an American home computer magazine that was published from 1979 to 1994. Its origins can be traced to 1978 in Len Lindsay's ''PET Gazette'', one of the first magazines for the Commodore PET ...
'', commending the science fiction elements and setting, but stating that "mutant bunnies can get boring, too ... This is still a kill-the-monster-and-get-the-treasure game, without the overarching story that makes each ''Ultima'' installment meaningful." However, James Trunzo praised the game in the November 1988 issue of ''Compute!'', citing its non-linear design and multiple puzzle solutions, the vague nature of the goal, and customizable player stats.
Julia Martin's review for '' Challenge'' favorably recommended the game for those into RPGs and adventure games, comparing it to ''Twilight: 2000
''Twilight: 2000'' is a 1984 post-apocalyptic military tabletop role-playing game published by Game Designers' Workshop (GDW). Set in the aftermath of World War III (the "Twilight War"), the game operates on the premise that the United States/NATO ...
'', praising its combat system, choices and for differing from the usual sword-and-fantasy genre. She called the game well done and stated it offered hours of fun. She also criticized having to insert the primary "A" disk in order to play the game after copying it from four disks, the game's save system, and characters starting out with useless items.
The game was a hit and sold around 250,000 units on release. ''Computer Gaming World'' named ''Wasteland'' the Adventure Game of the Year in 1988. The game received the fourth-highest number of votes in a 1990 survey of the magazine's readers' "All-Time Favorites". In 1993, ''Computer Gaming World'' added ''Wasteland'' to its Hall of Fame, rated it as the ninth-best PC video game of all time in 1996 for introducing the concept of the player's party "acting like the 'real' people." In 2000, ''Wasteland'' was ranked as the 24th-best PC game of all time by the staff of IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
, who called it "one of the best RPGs to ever grace the PC" and "a truly innovative RPG for its time."
According to a retrospective review by Richard Cobbett of Eurogamer
''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson.
Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EGX ...
in 2012, "even now, it offers a unique RPG world and experience ... a whole fallen civilisation full of puzzles and characters and things to twiddle with, all magically crammed into less than a megabyte
The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Its recommended unit symbol is MB. The unit prefix ''mega'' is a multiplier of (106) in the International System of Units (SI). Therefore, one megabyte is one million bytes o ...
of space."[ In another retrospective article that same year, IGN's Kristan Reed wrote that "time has not been kind to ''Wasteland'', but its core concepts stand firm."][
]
Legacy
Sequels and spiritual successor
''Wasteland'' was followed in 1990 by a less-successful intended sequel, ''Fountain of Dreams
''Fountain of Dreams'' is a 1990 role-playing video game developed and published by Electronic Arts for DOS as a successor to 1988's ''Wasteland''.
Gameplay
The gameplay is similar to that of ''Wasteland'' since ''Fountain of Dreams'' was or ...
'', set in post-war Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
. The game neither contained any of the code from ''Wasteland'' nor involved any of the staff that worked on it. Electronic Arts eventually decided to downplay its connection to ''Wasteland'', and said it was not a sequel in 2003. Interplay worked on '' Meantime'', which was advertised as a spiritual successor to ''Wasteland'' and did not take place in the same universe. Coding of ''Meantime'' was nearly finished and a beta version was produced, but the game was canceled as the Apple II
The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...
market declined.
Interplay has described the first ''Fallout
Nuclear fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and the shock wave has passed. It commonly refers to the radioac ...
'' game as the spiritual successor to ''Wasteland''. According to ''IGN'', "Interplay's inability to prise the ''Wasteland'' brand name from EA's gnarled fingers actually led to it creating ''Fallout'' in the first place."[ There are ''Wasteland'' homage elements in '']Fallout
Nuclear fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and the shock wave has passed. It commonly refers to the radioac ...
'' and ''Fallout 2
''Fallout 2: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game'' is a 1998 role-playing video game developed by Black Isle Studios and published by Interplay Productions. It is a sequel to ''Fallout (video game), Fallout'' (1997), featuring similar graphics and ...
'' as well.
Fargo's inXile Entertainment
inXile Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and a studio of Xbox Game Studios based in Tustin, California. Specializing in role-playing video games, inXile was founded in 2002 by Interplay co-founder Brian Fargo. The studi ...
acquired the rights to the franchise from Electronic Arts in 2003. The studio developed and published ''Wasteland 2
''Wasteland 2'' is a post-apocalyptic role-playing video game developed by inXile Entertainment and published by Deep Silver. It is the sequel to 1988's ''Wasteland'', and was successfully crowdfunded through Kickstarter. After the postponement o ...
'' in 2014. The game's production team included original ''Wasteland'' designers Alan Pavlish, Michael Stackpole, Ken St. Andre and Liz Danforth
Elizabeth T. Danforth is an illustrator, editor, writer, and scenario designer for role-playing games and video games. She has worked in the game industry continuously since the mid 1970s.
Early life and education
She received her BA in Anthrop ...
, and was crowdfunded through a Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
campaign. In 2016, inXile announced a crowdfunding campaign Fig
The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of small tree in the flowering plant family Moraceae. Native to the Mediterranean and western Asia, it has been cultivated since ancient times and is now widely grown throughout the world ...
to develop ''Wasteland 3
''Wasteland 3'' is a role-playing video game developed by inXile Entertainment and published by Deep Silver. It is a sequel to ''Wasteland 2'' (2014) and was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on August 28, 2020. It was po ...
''. It was released in August 2020.
Re-release
In an August 2013 Kickstarter update for ''Wasteland 2'', project lead Chris Keenan announced that they had reached an agreement with Electronic Arts to release the original ''Wasteland'' for modern operating systems. He added that it will be given for free to backers of Wasteland 2 on Kickstarter, in addition to being made available for purchase on GOG and Steam
Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
. The re-release was designed to run on higher resolutions and added a song by Mark Morgan, higher resolution portraits, the ability to use the original game's manual in-game and the paragraph book's text, and expanded the save-game functionality.
In November of that year, Keenan announced that the re-release titled ''Wasteland 1: The Original Classic'' had gone gold, and had been submitted to GOG and Steam for approval. In response to the player feedback, inXile included the ability to turn off smoothing, including the manual in tooltips, swapping and tweaking portraits while making it work on Mac OS X
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. Within the market of ...
and Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...
. Those who backed '' Torment: Tides of Numenera'' and received ''Wasteland 2'', also received the re-release for free.
The Original Classic edition was released on November 8, 2013, and was downloaded more than 33,000 times before its general availability. On November 12, the game was released on GOG. The next day, the game was also released on Steam for Windows, Mac and Linux. On March 11, 2014, it was released for Desura
Desura was a digital distribution platform for the Microsoft Windows, Linux and OS X platforms. The service distributed games and related media online, with a primary focus on small independent game developers rather than larger companies. Desur ...
.
Remaster
inXile Entertainment announced a remastered version in honor of the original's 30th anniversary, to be produced by Krome Studios
Krome Studios Pty Ltd. is an Australian video game company. Its headquarters were in Brisbane and it previously had offices in Adelaide and Melbourne (Krome Studios Melbourne). Krome Studios is best known for their '' Ty the Tasmanian Tiger'' g ...
. During E3 2019
The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2019 (E3 2019) was the 25th E3, during which hardware manufacturers, software developers, and publishers from the video game industry presented new and upcoming products to the attendees, primarily retailers a ...
, Brian Fargo announced it was coming to both Windows and Xbox One
The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
. He also released screenshots of the game. On January 23, 2020, the release date was revealed as February 25. It was released on GOG, Steam
Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
and Microsoft Store
Microsoft Store (formerly known as Windows Store) is a digital distribution platform operated by Microsoft. It started as an app store for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 as the primary means of distributing Universal Windows Platform apps ...
. The graphics and sounds were completely overhauled and the game uses 3D models. In addition, it features voiced lines and new portraits for characters. The "remastered" edition also includes cross-save support
and Xbox Play Anywhere
The Xbox network, formerly and still sometimes branded as Xbox Live, is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft. It was first made available to the Xbox system on November 15, 2002. An ...
support.
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wasteland (Video Game)
1988 video games
Alternate history video games
Anti-war video games
Apple II games
Cancelled Amstrad CPC games
Cancelled ZX Spectrum games
Commodore 64 games
DOS games
Electronic Arts games
Interplay Entertainment games
Linux games
MacOS games
Open-world video games
Post-apocalyptic video games
Role-playing video games
Science fiction video games
Video games featuring protagonists of selectable gender
Video games set in the 2080s
Video games set in Arizona
Video games set in California
Video games set in the Las Vegas Valley
Video games set in Nevada
Wasteland (series)
Windows games
Xbox Cloud Gaming games
Video games developed in the United States
Single-player video games