Wasteland 2

While it still bears some reputation as a scrappy little browser-game toolset (and that's no bad thing - it enabled much of the GMTK 2018 jam recently), ubiquitous game development platform Unity has spread to all corners. While I don't have a single creative bone in my body, the Humble Unity Bundle contains a pile of Unity tools and assets to build your dream game. Even…

In the mid-to-late 2000s, publishers abandoned the CRPG genre – an acronym describing the very specific genre of video games adapted from tabletop RPGs to be played on computers – which a decade earlier had been a cornerstone of PC gaming. They were more interested in accessible, console-friendly series like Mass Effect and The Elder Scrolls, and PC-centric RPGs all but died out.Then, around 2012,…

It's Summer Games Done Quick time again! You know what that means. The final seal has been broken, the rivers are turning to blood, and High Dread Azagorath is free to destroy the land. But while people wait, they're doing speed-runs. And in celebration of that, I thought I'd take a dig through the archives for a few particularly impressive and interesting ones that take…

We already knew Wasteland 3 [official site] was coming out and that it was set in the frozen hinterlands of Colorado, because we have an incredible repository of knowledge and wisdom. But we didn’t know exactly what would be waiting for us there. A short trailer accompanied the game’s crowdfunding launch on Fig today and it reveals what we should have guessed all along. The…

I ain't looked too close at Torment: Tides of Nutella [official site], even despite having its alpha installed on my PC, because if I'm gonna do this thing, I want to do it cold and I want to do it complete. But lately I realised that I knew barely a thing about inXile's spiritual sequel to revered-by-the-sort-of-people-who-revere-cRPGs cRPG Planescape: Torment, and had nothing more than…

inXile Entertainment's RPG Wasteland 2 revived a long-dead post-apocalyptic world with the help of crowdfunding, and now they're trying to return there. The studio today announced Wasteland 3, and it's no surprise that they're crowdfunding it again. They want to take the heroic Desert Rangers to frozen Colorado this time, giving them new toys like vehicles and an interesting take on cooperative multiplayer. They're taking…

At Gamescom, after a whirlwind tour of just a few of Torment: Tides of Numenera's [official site] many worlds, I sat down with inXile CEO Brian Fargo to talk about the past, present and future of his company, and of RPGs. As well as discussing Torment, I wanted to talk about Fargo's career as a whole, which spans 34 years, and covers the creation of…

Goshdarnit, inXile, not you too. You were the ones who gave the people the elaborate, old-school, spiritual-sequel RPGs they'd long desired, not the ones who chased down unrelated games with vaguely similar names to their own. I know, I know: absurd legal complexities mean that sometimes firms are forced to strong-arm other firms into changing the names of things, otherwise they risk losing their long-held…

News that inXile's spiritual Planescape sequel Torment: Tides of New Model Army [official site] won't, in fact, release its first beta during 2015 comes as little surprise, given there are only four and half minutes left of this year. Even so, it's good to have confirmation that a sizeable chunk of the soul-searching RPG will be with us "early next year", with the delay in…

As the dragons finally return to their nests to hibernate and the ghosts don their chains to help remind misers of the meaning of the season, we approach the end of another year. As is tradition, that is time for we at the guild-house to award both quests and questers the ceremonial Scrolls of Honour™. (Chorus of affordable angels)Scribed upon only the finest vellum in…

Even with Wasteland 2's enhanced edition [official site] in the bag, RPG revivalists inXile Entertainment still have a couple of irons in the fire. There's the not insignificant matter of Torment: Tides of Numenera, which began as one of the most successful gaming Kickstarters ever, and the recently announced The Bard's Tale as well. The company is expanding, with a New Orleans satellite studio set…

You think your copy of Wasteland 2 [official site] is plain and unadorned, do you? Go on, check your pocket. Like a street magician without the tight black t-shirt (you can't squeeze 40-odd people into one of those), inXile Entertainment have distracted you with their god-awful tattoos and some slick patter about the weather then quietly slipped into your pocket a copy of Wasteland 2:…

This month, it seems like just about every major RPG out there is getting a major update. Divinity: Original Sin. Wasteland 2. Guild Wars 2. Even Deus Ex! All we need is for someone to announce that they've secretly been upgrading Darklands on the sly and we'll have the whole set. Here's a quick look at what's taking a level up on a PC near…

Once a week most weeks, the RPS hivemind gathers to discuss An Issue. Sometimes it's controversial news, sometimes it's a particular game, sometimes it's a perennial talking point. This week is one of the latter: what do we all think about Kickstarter now that its mega-money heyday, at least for games, seems to have passed? Is it a well we'll keep going back to? What…

After releasing Wasteland 2 [official site] last September (it was pretty good, said we with a few grumbles), developers inXile Entertainment set about polishing it up. That was partially for a console release, but also to make it fancier for us all.Coming as a free update to owners of Wasteland 2, The Director's Cut brings improved graphics, new character perks and quirks, a rebalancing, and…

One of the most gratifying things about the recent-ish RPG revival is that they've almost all done well enough to warrant developer interest after release. (Oh, if only the adventure one had been as... no, no. Wrong column.) Call them Enhanced Editions, Director's Cuts or whatever else, they give their creators a second chance to fix mistakes or expand their worlds - and that's pretty…

A 'Game of the Year Edition' is, of course, the base game plus its DLC/expansions, released to put everything in one convenient bundle for newcomers and to boast that at least one person, somewhere thinks your game is amazing. That's not what Wasteland 2's [official site] GoTY Edition was going to be, so wisely they've changed the name.A new trailer shows off a little of…

What are the best Steam Summer Sale deals? Each day for the duration of the sale, we'll be offering our picks - based on price, what we like, and what we think more people should play. Read on for the five best deals from day two of the sale and how to play the monster summer sale game.

I don't know. Iiiiiiiiiiii ddddddddddon't kkkkkkkkkknow. A Wasteland sequel seemed like a fantastic idea, given the divisive actiony direction Bethesda took Fallout in. A Planescape: Torment follow-up was absolutely giving literate roleplayers what they wanted (hopefully, anyway - that one's not out yet). Bard's Tale, though? I know it's a landmark cRPG, but it's not one I've heard many people crying out for a new…

Despite generally positive buzz, I didn't get too far into Wasteland 2 [official site] because babies/RPGs are so long, but if there's one guaranteed way to make me revisit a game it's to improve its graphics. So many years of playing games, and still I'm such a moth to pixel-shaded flames. Pfft, like new graphics ever actually made a game more enjoyable, yet I choose…