After 26 years of waiting, Wasteland fans will finally get their hands on the sequel, Wasteland 2, in late August, developer InXile Entertainment announced today.
Back in 2012, InXile hoped to raise $900,000 through Kickstarter in order to develop a sequel to classic RPG Wasteland. The project became one of the highest-funded the crowdfunding site had seen up to that point, raising more than $2.9 million. That sum caused its initial release target of October 2013 to get pushed back as the scope of the game was increased.
Those who backed the game on Kickstarter have had access to a beta version of it through Steam Early Access since late last year. InXile has been releasing updates for that version of the game in the meantime, the latest of which--the release of the full Arizona portion of the game--is now live for those with beta access.
GameSpot recently reviewed the Early Access version of Wasteland 2, finding that it "spectacularly balances the older style of classic PC RPGs and more modern sensibilities."
"It's exciting to be in the home stretch on a game I've been wanting to get to for the last two decades," said Wasteland 2 director Brian Fargo. "The feedback from our backers on the early beta has been great and I'm proud of the way Wasteland 2 is shaping up. The scope of the game is immense with a word count that is greater than The Lord of the Rings novels and a solid 50 hour+ game experience that has diversity from beginning to end. My goal has been to over deliver on our backer's expectations for Wasteland 2."InXile hasn't provided a specific date in August for when the game will be available. When that day comes at the "end of August," Wasteland 2 will be available on PC, Mac, and Linux.
The original Wasteland, which was released in 1988 and was also directed by Fargo, was developed by Interplay Entertainment. That company would go on to create what's considered the spiritual successor to Wasteland, Fallout, more than a decade before Elder Scrolls developer Bethesda took over the reins and released Fallout 3, dramatically raising the profile of the series.
