The Wasteland games have always been a mix of gritty and silly, with slavery and cannibalism offset by mutant killer bunnies and the like. That's one thing that hasn't changed in Wasteland 3, which is still an RPG where, if you have the "toaster repair" skill, you can crack open a broken toaster and get some sweet loot.
What is different is the setting. The endless sands of Arizona and California have been replaced by the endless snowfields of Colorado. You were sent north to make deals with prosperous local leaders to get supplies your hometowns desperately needed. From Reagan worshippers to Hispanic killers, each of your three grown children has sided with a different and bizarre faction, and you are sent off into this political shit war with only your wits, an AI car, a lot of guns, and three points you probably shouldn't have put into "toaster repair."
Another difference is that "Wasteland 3" is more streamlined and no longer has the deliberate archaism of "Wasteland 2." That one has you find a loot container, have a character with Perception check it for shenanigans, have a character with Alarm Disarming or Demolitions make it safe, and if it's locked, have a character with Lockpicking, Safecracking, or Brute Force to actually open the door if it was locked. Now some of these skills have been deprecated (even Lockpicking can open safes, and the game is now a game of "safe" and "safe"), and the game is now a game of "safe" and "safe.
Turn-based combat has also been streamlined. Mousing over before moving highlights opponents who can attack from there and modifies the overhead percentages, just like in XCOM 2. Gone are the text tickers describing attacks, replaced by a diegetic UI, but easier to navigate.
At least, most of the time it is. Equipment items are placed in a bottomless shared pool without the need to distribute them individually, which means that random trash that is confusing to sort through, such as frozen ferrets, yellow snowballs, and dead clown wigs, can quickly multiply. There are filters, but utility items and cybernetic mods don't have their own categories, so you have to scroll through to find them. At least there is a 'sell crap' button during transactions to cut down on the clutter a bit.
Let's get back to combat: As your character attacks, the strike meter goes up and you can eventually unleash a precision attack. Most guns have options to target body parts, such as headshots that deal bonus damage, fuel tanks that trigger explosions, or robotic CPUs that turn allies into enemies. Other weapons have their own precision strikes, and rocket launchers somehow gain a radiation bonus to damage and transform into nukes in flight. These precision strikes make clicking around so that the hit probability is 88 percent instead of 85 percent a little more diverse and exciting.
My one complaint about the battles is that the animal sidekicks, robots, and NPCs that follow you around for half the game but don't speak English were not under my control. They charge at you like headless chickens, and even the ones that aren't actually chickens with metal skulls inevitably need to go through patches of fire and radiation to recover. The cyborg chickens died because the battle ended with them bleeding out and the suture kit did not arrive in time. Since there is no way to pause and issue commands during a battle, I would have to clumsily rush to recover any remaining status effects each time the battle was over. Since I am not a complete monster, I kept the cat alive until the end, but everyone else was left behind once I got fed up with the shepherding.
Still, the combat remained interesting as I approached the 50 hour mark. I know a lot of people like the game, but the second half of the game was a bit tedious, with the puzzle-solving combat and quests becoming abortive. This time around, there is a twist to the combat, and sometimes you can bring in vehicles and cannons, and often you can stealth into position, crouch behind cover, and then attack with a character with the Sneaky Shit skill to do bonus damage.
Wasteland games tend to have interesting factions but no interesting characters, and the only one I consistently remember is Angela Death. In this game, I've seen characters like Scotchmo, the comedy alcoholic, and Vic, the mocking serial killer, up close and personal, so I'm a little more attached to them. It feels more personal.
Most conversations are played from a slightly zoomed-in version of the isometric view, but several key characters have first-person scenes, with expressive interactions, like sipping from a bottle or fumbling with a weapon, played out in mocap and dialogue choices. They reminded me of the theatrical NPCs in Vampire: this is high praise.
However, I had trouble recalling the names of the cyborg gang leader and the green-skinned ranger I recruited. Only a few of the members of my own party could show their personalities, because there was no way to talk to them other than walking around hoping to stumble upon a conversation starter. If you don't want to make up your own, you can even choose from a pre-prepared pair of PCs.
Like its predecessor, "Wasteland 3" is a game in which the most interesting stories are the ones you create yourself, thanks to the juxtaposition of seriousness and silliness. I created a character dressed like a clown, threw yellow snowballs at enemies for status effects, and went into battle along with a pack of ferocious animals.
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