Wasteland 2

Wasteland 2 is a direct sequel to the 1988 original, the game that indirectly stood at the birth of the Fallout series and defined the post-apocalyptic RPG genre long before it became popular. Development was funded by one of the first major Kickstarter campaigns in the video game industry, led by veteran Brian Fargo, and the result is an isometric post-apocalyptic RPG set in the wastelands of Arizona and California. The player leads a squad of Rangers, builds up their skills, and resolves situations through a combination of turn-based combat, dialogue choices, and exploration, with decisions carrying long-term consequences for the world and the fate of the individual factions the squad encounters along its journey.

The game consciously embraced the legacy of classic 1990s CRPGs – an emphasis on freedom of choice, dark humor, and morally ambiguous characters stood in contrast to the more action-oriented RPGs of the time, which focused on quick fun rather than deliberate decision-making. The atmosphere was rounded out by stark, parched music and a desert presented without embellishment, with all the hardships of a civilization destroyed by nuclear conflict, water shortages, and surviving factions fighting over the remnants of pre-war technology. After release, the game faced criticism for its technical immaturity, occasional bugs, and an unbalanced combat system, which the developers addressed with an extensive Director's Cut update that significantly polished the game, added full voice acting for dialogue, and adjusted the pacing of the story's first act.

Wasteland 2 became one of the symbols of the classic CRPG genre's revival alongside titles like Divinity: Original Sin and Pillars of Eternity, and demonstrated that crowdfunding could revive even decades-old franchises that major publishers would otherwise consider commercially unviable. It opened the way to the even more successful Wasteland 3 and remains, to this day, among the titles that stand for a return to carefully written RPGs faithful to player choice, with an emphasis on the consequences of one's own actions.

Why play it: For fans of carefully written CRPGs with an emphasis on the consequences of their own decisions, it's a title that reminded everyone how powerfully crowdfunding can revive forgotten franchises.