Okay, so before we even begin with this thing – this game is for people who want old school, hardcore PC gaming. Proper old school, hardcore PC gaming. And I mean older-even-than-the-original-Fallout-old. This is an old school, hardcore, RNG-focused, text-oriented, obscurity-riddled game that shouldn’t be played by anyone who just wants to play a fun game. Because this game is not that, this game is for self-flagellation and proving that you can play something that was clearly made long before game devs knew how to craft an accessible experience.
You play Wasteland Remastered at your own risk.
The original Wasteland released back in 1988 and then, in the late 90s, the original Fallout released as something of a spiritual successor to it. This means that, like the game that would eventually succeed it, it’s a post-apocalyptic story with a whole bunch of dark humour thrown in for good measure. In the game, you play a team of Desert Rangers who are meant to go around and help the people of the post-apocalypse with whatever problems they have, such as exterminating mutated farm pests or cleansing a town of its gang problem. Otherwise, it’s your usual post-apocalyptic fare.
There’s radiation, overbearing desert heat that can kill you, a bunch of diseases to get your hands on, a large world filled with places to loot and explore, et cetera. You can definitely see the bones of later RPGs in there. However, if you’re expecting the kind of storytelling you’re used to in something like Fallout, you may be disappointed because much of the game involves meandering around a large overworld map, and completing random odd jobs here and there before eventually seeing a larger story unfold – but that takes time and dedication. And unless you’re onboard with the game’s many issues, you probably won’t ever get to that point in the narrative.
Now, when I say “issues” some people may say “features”. If you want that old school, hardcore experience then the fact that the game doesn’t hold your hand is probably a pro rather than a con, but many modern gamers probably won’t have the patience for those “features”.
The game is unintuitive and there’s no tutorial to speak of, so you may often find yourself lost and unable to figure out what you’re supposed to do. There’s no real dialogue system, the user interface is atrocious and requires far too much clicking (you may even need to look online to figure out how to do things like heal party members or trade items through those endless menus), the combat is turn-based but also text-based, there isn’t much space for strategic thinking seeing as your options are “attack” and “evade” and little else in the way of tactical planning, you can only move one space at a time in combat (the notion of “action points” as you’ll find in later RPGs clearly didn’t exist yet), and you don’t even get to determine your own characters’ stats seeing as you have to work on a roll system that randomly assigns attribute points (although you can reroll your character until you get points that work with your play style).
So, if those issues (or features) didn’t scare you off then the game may be suitable for you – but the original Wasteland was re-released on digital storefronts back in 2013, and those who wanted the game probably already have it. And if you’re already a fan of the original game and wanted an update, there isn’t much to say in terms of visual improvements. The overworld map looks like something off a Gameboy Advance, the character models are very dated, and the animated character portraits you see in encounters are little more than GIFs with a few pixels of animation to emulate movement. So, when it comes to remasters, it’s a bit of a weak one.
I therefore have a very hard time actually recommending this game to anyone who’s accustomed to modern gaming. If you love your old school, hardcore PC games, then this might be for you, but otherwise it isn’t worth playing. If you want to play an old RPG with a similar vibe, you’re better off playing the first two Fallout games.