Classic apocalypse RPG Wasteland Remastered is out now

The original Wasteland hails from the 80s—those rose-colored years before RPGs set in the nuclear apocalypse were an entire genre of their own. Wasteland Remastered is almost (almost) an entire do-over with dramatically updated graphics and some ancient bug fixes. InXile proclaim that Wasteland and the remaster are "punishing" as old RPGs are wont to be. The remaster is out as of yesterday, so you can head back to one of the old guard versions of irradiated America.

If you didn't play the original Wasteland, you could probably throw some darts at the ol' "nuclear apocalypse RPG" dart board and hit most of the high points. The year is 2087. Earth is now an irradiated hellscape thanks to nuclear war. There are folks who look like radiation aliens. You know the drill. "You’ll direct the actions of the Desert Rangers, a squad of peacekeepers sent to investigate a series of disturbances that have been affecting the camps and townships in the vicinity of your base of operations in what was the Southwestern US," says Wasteland Remastered's description.

As for updates, InXile say that some of Wasteland's original sound design has survived but new character voice acting and narration have been added. The original classic look of Wasteland has been totally ditched and replaced with 3D environments instead. They've also recreated character and creature portraits in an animated style meant to reflect the originals. Also, "old bugs that have been around since Reagan was president have been fixed," InXile say.

InXile have put together a blog post of tips for those setting out as a ranger for the first time. You can grab Wasteland Remastered on Steam, GOG, and the Microsoft Store for £10/€15/$15. It's also part of the Xbox Game Pass for PC.

This isn't the last for Wasteland in 2020. InXile are also working on Wasteland 3, which is planned to launch on May 19th.