You will die. A lot. Keep playing. The next run will be better.
I received this as a part of my kickstarter package for Torment: Tides of Numenera. I am a huge fan of the Fallout series, from top-down RPG to FPS RPG. I own every game, some for multiple systems, and have beaten every one at least once, most multiple times. That's for context. That being said, Wasteland 2 feels like the younger, earthy, brother of the Fallout series... and as far as I can tell it's supposed to. Anyone who has played the original Fallouts knows what to expect from a purely mechanical point of view. There are only so many ways to do turn-based combat and bonuses-negatives without requiring a graphing calculator and a spreadsheet every time you want to shoot a cannibal raider in the face. Wasteland 2 handles this fairly elegantly, in a simple, but challenging, way. Where this game really shines is the story, and the inter-dependent and interchanging elements. Some times waiting to do a quest after levelling up will affect the world, and may substitute in a new quest. Each major action you do is incorporated into the interactions, random conversations, and plot events that take place in the world. Some times shooting that raider in the face will lead to his boss blaming you for his dog dying. There is one thing to note for this: It is, at its heart, an old-school RPG. Old-school, trial-and-error, sometimes obtuse, unforgiving, and grind-tastic. This is not a bug, but a feature. Do not expect the game to hold your hand from town to town in a normal, and natural power progression. You have to put time, money, and effort into it. Sometimes skullwork, sometimes backtracking, and the game will not warn you when you are about to screw yourself over royally. Plus, picking up every last thing on the ground and trying to pawn it off on the local junk merchant may be in order as well. A worthy, though imperfect, spiritual successor to the original Fallout games. Anyone who was fond of those, owes it to themselves to pick this up.
