Wasteland 3 News

Patch 1.3.3: New Features Announced

Do you remember that time we offered a new difficulty mode that was easier than easy, and it caused everyone in the community to think we’d lost our minds? We remember. We remember it so hard that we’ve been tossing and turning in our beds thinking of a way to show you we hadn’t lost our minds. Because we haven’t lost our minds. We haven’t, so stop saying we have, Mother!

Early March we’re targeting the release of Patch 1.3.3, lovingly titled “Death & Taxes.” You can tell that we’re not messing around here. This is exactly the sort of update that those among you who chided the idea of a story mode are going to love. And we get it, because pain is fun. In this update we’re adding a few new features, including Permanent Death (aka “Permadeath”), an optional Difficult Skill Checks Mode, and Respeccing. Read on for the gory details.

[h2]“Permadeath” Mode[/h2]

No matter how many bullets fly past you or how many enemies you’re assaulting at one time, you’re never really going to feel the threat of despair until you’re able to lose a character. And by lose, we don’t mean misplace, we mean lose to death. With permadeath, you’re going to get exactly that because it works exactly how you think it should. When activated at a game’s start, it turns your nearly immortal-ish digital characters into something more or less mortal (for a video game), and means they’ll croak when their health reaches zero.

One other important note here is that we’ve made the decision to keep Permadeath as a single player-only feature which cannot be enabled in multiplayer. As much fun as is to watch your friends subjected to painful and horrific video game deaths, co-op splits the team down the middle, and one player losing everyone and then watching for (potentially) hours until the other can make it back to Ranger HQ just isn’t a good time.

The Permanent Death feature also cannot be disabled once you have opted in at the start of your game. So choose, and choose wisely.

If you have the Permanent Death feature enabled:

When life runs out a Ranger will go into a Downed state, and you'll have X rounds to bring them back into the battle. If you fail to do so you'd normally be able to bring them back with a Nitro Spike or visit to a Doc, but with Permadeath turned on party members permanently DIE. This is really going to bum someone out who didn’t read the fine print.
When a party member dies, they will dump their equipment to the local party’s shared inventory. Though they may not still be with you in your journey, at least you've robbed their corpse of their worldly belongings.
Once a party member shuffles off their mortal coil, their Party Portrait is removed from the HUD and other game interfaces, and they can no longer be selected or used. This is because they are dead.
Lest you thought that you would be able to commune with the dead via the Party Screen back at HQ, you cannot. Much as necromancers would have you believe otherwise, you cannot add the dead back into your party.
God forbid, if all Rangers in your party are killed permanently at any one time, you will earn a non-negotiable, do-not-pass-go, Game Over death screen. This is because the light of life has been extinguished from the party and the forces of evil have triumphed. Unless you were the forces of evil, in which case perhaps the forces of light and good prevailed when they killed you.

As an additional note, permanent death enabled games will be noted as such in the save game directory menu – that way you’ll have a good idea at a glance at which of your sessions are more prone to give you indigestion and make your heart palpitate wildly from time to time.

[h2]Difficult Skill Checks[/h2]

Perhaps the idea of permanently dead Rangers isn’t your speed? Or maybe you’re looking for the ultimate challenge with Supreme Jerk, Permadeath, AND something that’ll put your point-spending prowess to the test. Introducing Difficult Skill Checks Mode.

This option is toggleable when starting a new game on the Select Difficulty Window, within the Customize Difficulty sub-menu. When turned on, this will increase all skill checks in the game by +2, up to a maximum of 10.

World interactions (Ex: locked doors)
Conversation interactions (Ex: kiss-ass checks in conversations)
Hacking and Taming checks on animals and robots
Item skill requirements on gear (ex: weapons have skill requirements)
Attribute requirements on gear (ex: heavy armor requires strength)

(Look. We know. We know it's not just skills. But we wanted to go the extra mile for you. Yes, you, reading this, right now. You're worth it.)

This optional mode was designed to force your Ranger team to hyper-specialize to be successful, making your jack-of-all-trades 'master-of-all' party no longer possible. This is great for a 2nd run-through if you want to be forced into some hard character build decisions.

[h2]Respec Feature[/h2]

Also coming in 1.3.3, you’re going to be able to re-specialize your characters, with a caveat or two. Firstly, this can only happen back at Ranger HQ, within the Manage Squad screen. HQ is a relatively warm and comfortable place, so naturally it makes sense that we’d offer such a posh option there. Secondly, there will be a cost for respeccing or recruiting Rangers beyond the first two at HQ. No one teaches for free (except maybe those folks on YouTube) so expect to eventually shell out some in-game coin to be able to do so.

If you are loading a pre-1.3.3 save beyond the initial recruitment point at Ranger HQ, we’re still going to offer you two more free recruit customizations. Beyond that, the cost for respeccing increases by 1.75x (rounded to the nearest $50), up to a maximum of $3000, each time you use it. Additionally, Hiring and Retraining fees increase across the entire squad, not per-character.

[h2]Character Customization Additions[/h2]

When you’re digging into that new Permadeath run you’re going to be able to do so in style. It’s not like a cool helmet design is necessarily going to save the day, but it might just make you feel badass enough to do the thing that makes the thing happen that blows up the thing. In Patch 1.3.3 we’re baking in 23 new character customization options (tattoos, scars, and helmets) that were born of another partnership with renown post-apoc costume designers. We’ll share more specific details about those in an upcoming article. Stay tuned.

[h2]Colorado’s Just Getting Warmed Up[/h2]

Well heck! We’re not even into the meat of the year and Colorado is already looking 100% finer than it did at the close of 2020. Did we mention 1.3.3 is getting a heck-ton* of improvements and fixes as well? Well it is! Full patch notes will be delivered when the patch goes live next month.

Thanks all for your continued badassery and general attention to helping us improve Wasteland 3. You rock, and we salute you for that.

*Actual unit of measurement recognized in some countries.

Wasteland 3 gets a big patch with a new mode to enjoy the story

Wasteland 3 from inXile Entertainment has a big new free update out with the Robots & Rangers" patch, and it's looking to be a good one for all players.

Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2021/01/wasteland-3-gets-a-big-patch-with-a-new-mode-to-enjoy-the-story

Patch 1.3.0 "Robots & Rangers" Now Live!

It is a mystical time in the mysterious land of Wastelandia! Dragons are afoot, and rogue knights parlay with wicked constabularies to win over fair maidens’ hearts… Ok, ok, fine. None of that is true. There’s nothing mystical about burnt out Colorado in the post-apocalypse, and there most certainly are no dragons mucking about.

So if there’s no dragons and wizardry, then what in the hell is with the dungeon spelunking theme? Well, it’s a strange world, people dress up like clowns and dead presidents, and our last patch was themed after a bowl of cannibal chili, so, whatever. It’s a weird world.

Let us get back on thine proper track! Last week we announced that Patch 1.3.0 would be getting the first set of free costumes, as well as a tease of a new difficulty setting: Tourist mode. Of course that’s not all, and this patch is packed full of fixes and changes to improve the quality of your life—which is our #1 goal.

Alright, well, time to dig into the patch notes!

Update: We originally said PlayStation was going to be delayed, but it’s not! All platforms will be published around the same time.

[h2]Wasteland 3 Patch 1.3.0 “Robots & Rangers”[/h2]

Highlights

New difficulty mode: Tourist
- Tourist mode is easier than Rookie, letting you enjoy Wasteland 3’s story, with combat difficulty taking a back seat.
New cosmetics!
- New Hair, Beards, and Pants have been added to character creation.
- The Handmade Wizard and Knight costumes will let you roleplay all your Robots & Rangers fantasies. Anyone already past the Cornered Rats mission (Garden of the Gods) will receive them automatically, while anyone progressing through the quests will want to head back to Ranger HQ to claim the care package outside the front doors. Equip the costumes at the wardrobe in Ranger HQ or the clothing shop in Downtown Colorado Springs ... and attack the darkness!
Intelligence now gives +1 skill point for every point of Intelligence spent, up from +1 every other point.
- This change applies retroactively to existing save games.
The Book Learnin’ and Answering Machine achievements are now achievable.
- Note: The missing Book Learnin’ note becomes available after passing a Leadership skill check when first meeting the Patriarch and then speaking to Magistrate Silas Watkins in Downtown Colorado Springs.
- The missing cassette tapes "Kidnappers in Trouble" is in the Gett Family Homestead in a new container. "A Proposal" is in the Machine Commune, just west of Vivisecto.
Resolved an animation stutter that appeared as a framerate drop while moving, and was particularly noticeable on the PlayStation 4.
More actions are now able to be bound to keyboard and mouse, most notably camera panning. The game will also unmap double-bound keys to prevent input conflicts, and warn you about missing keybinds before you leave the menu.

Gameplay

Rangers who have been downed should now be visible after transitioning to a new scene, as though you dragged their bloody corpse along with you. :D
An issue preventing some players from being able to proceed through the slides during the song at the end credits has been resolved.
Loading a save game where a Ranger was incapacitated will now keep them incapacitated, where before they would be in a selectable-but-unusable zombie-like state.
Fixed the issue that could cause a game over screen immediately upon loading a save game.
Fixed bugs that could prevent companions from joining the squad under certain conditions.
Ironclad Cordite now comes with the Cyborg Mods perk unlocked, because, duh.
Resolved a blocker in the Hard Knox Life quest where the Head Rancher would restart the quest rather than allow completion. We’re aware of some oddness that can still occur during this quest and are looking to clean it up in a future update.
Creepy Dolls have an extra info field in the Archive Screen now with creepy, creepy lore.
Fixed an issue with Poindexter quirk that could cause CON to go below 0.
You can now reselect the "No Quirk" option in the character creation screen. But… come on. They’re cool. Pick one.
Fixed a bug where creating more than 6 custom characters would prevent the player from scrolling down to the companions in the Manage Squad Screen.
Fixed softlock occuring after the last character with AP kills themselves.
Fixed a bug that could cause an infinite enemy turn after declining La Perla’s mission and attacking her while she leaves.
Fixed an issue where re-adding Lucia Wesson could sometimes cause a black screen.
Resolved a softlock occurring when loading into Ranger HQ after sending Lucia to the Garden of the Gods.
Ditso Gogo now drops a Clown Wig Ornament.
Grenade boxes in Yuma are reachable now.
Fixed a bug that was preventing the Minesweeper perk from working with gas mines.
Fixed a bug that was causing Heavy Machine Guns to ignore the Friendly Fire setting. Fire through your friends with gusto.
- Note: Deliberately targeting a friendly when you attack will always cause damage, regardless of Friendly Fire setting. Shoot responsibly.
The Call to Action mission can no longer be completed multiple times.
Revive AP cost shown in the prompt is now consistent with its actual value.
Mechanics skill shows the correct Repair Kit effectiveness value at level 5.
Fixed an issue where the first Ranger in the squad would always attempt to use Charm Animal, even if you had a higher-skilled character.
Fixed a frw typos.
Fixed a bug in which the Pyromaniac quirk was triggering when any elemental damage was used, not just explosive and fire damage.
Fixed an issue where attacking Marshalls would appear to add reputation points in the pop up. This was a display issue only; they were properly subtracted from the reputation.
Prasad’s health bar will appear ‘injured’ during the damn fight, as she’s mere moments from her guts oozing nice like a melted malted.
The Prasad Memorial Hologram can no longer be targeted and killed for XP and loot. You monsters...
Players can no longer bypass the initial Cordite/Mechanic confrontation by retrieving him from Ranger HQ after entering Yuma County Speedway the first time, which would cause unintended issues later in the quest.
[Localization] In Polish, the Sadomasochist quirk now has correct extra text in its description.
Payasos in the Clown Museum scene now have visible bodies after reloading a save. Something, something, scary invisible clown joke. Whatever.
Fixed a bug in which the player could leave a conversation too early with Liberty Buchanan in Yuma County Speedway.
The Stormer Perk no longer consumes AP for an attack even if its trigger conditions have been met.

Balance

Intelligence now gives +1 skill point for every point of Intelligence spent, up from +1 every other point.
- “We want smart characters to FEEL smarter. We weren’t satisfied with how intelligence related to your character’s build. Also, given our recent nerf to the crit chance that intelligence granted, we wanted to give it a little boost.”
We’ve updated how the Suncatcher works in Garden of the Gods. Rather than doing tons of impact damage directly to targets, we’ve updated it to instead focus on spreading fire-patches around the battlefield.
- “We weren’t happy with how much the sun-catcher trivialized that otherwise difficult fight in Garden of the Gods. We wanted taking the back route to feel like a distinct advantage, but still wanted the player to feel challenged.”
We’ve adjusted the Scar Collector fight in Ranger HQ to be more challenging. We’ve updated the enemy composition, as well as the number of NPC Rangers likely to be around during that fight.
- “We found that players didn’t really need to participate in that fight to win it. The NPC Rangers would ultimately clean up that fight for you without any significant losses. We’ve shifted the power in the fight so that if the player does not actively stop the Scar Collectors then the Rangers will suffer significant losses. The fight should be more challenging overall.”
We’ve updated the duel vs. Steeltrap to be more interesting. We’ve updated the enemy’s starting position and composition to provide a more interesting set of choices, and Steeltrap no longer starts combat directly in front of the player’s squad.
We’ve increased the number of enemies in the final boss battles of the game.
If the only remaining enemies in a combat are either hacked robots or tamed animals, the robots will automatically self-destruct and the animals will flee from combat. No more being forced to murder your temporary allies!
We fixed that Meat Maker weapon damage exploit. You knew it was going to happen eventually.
Doctors no longer cure mutations gained from World Map radiation. They can now only be cleared using No-Glo. This is so players are better able to choose whether or not to remove their mutations.
The game launched with a bug that allowed you to change your Quick Slot items in the middle of combat. This update fixes that. It’s a decision that’s intended to be made before a fight breaks out.
We've updated several interior spaces to deal more appropriately with grenades. Grenades can no longer be thrown over walls (through the ceiling) in interior spaces like the Survivalist Bunker or the Sans Lux Apartments.
Shotguns no longer take Scope mods. If your save game had a Scope mod installed onto a Shotgun, it'll be put back into your inventory.
Non-hostile World Map encounters that give free loot, such as camp sites, are now less common.

UI & Controls

UI elements across the game have been polished, refined, and adjusted.
Main menu options will no longer be grayed out incorrectly. Note: this issue may still occur while in the Options sub-menu, which will be resolved in a future patch.
Ability tooltips now more accurately reflect the damage or healing that you will do, including benefits from skills such as First Aid and Explosives.
The game will now accurately display the percentage of CON damaged or healed by certain abilities inside of ability tooltips.
Holding down right click with your mouse to direct your squad will now have the camera follow them around. As god intended.
The edge scrolling speed (moving your mouse to the edge of the screen) is now the same value as the speed at which the camera moves using the keyboard. They can be adjusted in the options menu.
Junk and mission items, by default, are now hidden in the default All Items view of the Inventory. They're still viewable in the Junk and Mission Items tabs. This was done to reduce the clutter on the main Inventory view. If you prefer the old behavior, you can change it back in the Options Menu.
When shopping for stackable items (such as ammo) at a merchant, the UI will now display how many of that item you already own.
Recruiting and replacing a squad member will now correctly update portrait and tooltip in Inventory and Attributes tabs.
Alt-tabbing out of the opening cutscene with subtitles enabled no longer causes them to desynchronize.
Friendly Fire damage text will no longer appear when crouching, defending, prepping, or ambushing.
You can now appropriately drag and drop companions in the Hire Companion Screen.
A sound effect has been added that plays when you try to buy something that you cannot afford to help underscore that your life choices have all led to this single disappointing moment.
In the Vehicle Customization Screen, the scroll wheel will now properly scroll the info in the tooltip if it’s too long, rather than cycling to the next option in the list.
We fixed several bugs relating to dragging, dropping, and equipping gear on characters while in the Merchant Screen.
We've unified the tinting of our ability icons so they're more visually consistent.
An audio stinger was added to the combat turn start banner in co-op.
Players can now drag and drop items between their Quick Slots.
Added improved UI messaging for when the player tries to equip/unequip items during combat.
The save game name field is now selected by default so you can immediately start typing your game name without having to click on the text field.
Fixed an issue where players were unable to use Select Character keys in the Merchant Screen by using keybinds.
Animal Companions and Followers such as the Provost now show their CON bars when hovering over them during exploration gameplay.
Fixed an issue with the secondary weapon preview not displaying in the Manage Squad Screen.
[Controller] Resolved a few objects and characters that couldn’t be easily interacted with when using a controller. E.g. the Slicer Dicer in Ranger HQ.
[Controller] Inspecting pits in Garden of the Gods will no longer result in ‘infinite’ interactions occurring.
[Controller] [Microsoft Store] The controller setting will now persist when closing and restarting the game.
[Controller] Rotating your camera while aiming an AoE weapon will no longer cause the AoE indicator to move.
[Controller] The crouch / stand button now grays out when not usable.
[Controller] Fixed some d-pad wonkiness when navigating between status effects and inventory.
[Controller] Fixed a bug in which gamepad users were able to attempt to buy the non-existent 11th point of a skill or attribute. Nice try, bucko.
[Controller] Status Effect descriptions will now appropriately disappear when players close the inspect window.

Co-op

GOG players can once again invite each other to a co-op game using the Galaxy overlay.
Fixed an issue where a Merchant Screen would continue showing when disconnected from a multiplayer session.
Multiple people trying to join the same co-op lobby at the same time will no longer result in one of them being stuck on a black screen.
The Minimap will now be present for the guest when initially loading into a MP session.
Fixed an odd bug where the host could in a rare instance be able to run the Kodiak around a zone like it was a squad member.
Fixed an issue where passing a Ranger to another user in the Manage Squad Screen would not allow that Ranger to be moved/removed from their squad until the screen was opened and closed again.
Fixed a UI issue where attempting to modify the same weapon/armor at the same time caused the UI to be partially unresponsive.
Fixed an issue where co-op players were sometimes not able to add companions to their squad even though they had room.

Art & Audio

Jarett Dorsey's brain will now explode even more spectacularly than before. Huzzah!
Strike attack effects have been changed to use a blue color palette, making them more visually consistent and distinctive.
The Golden Toaster companion has had its sound effects improved.
Added sound effects for when the player repairs the Kodiak using a Repair Kit.
Drools are now a bit noisier.
Torches in the Bizarre Warrens are a bit noiser.
Added additional sound effects to the Mission Notification Banner.
Improved the visual effect of the Flamesaw Cannon.
Ash is now easier to hear when he speaks to you over the intercom in Little Hell. Say it for the people in the back!
Ranger HQ now has sliding doors instead of swinging doors. Sliding doors are cooler.
Rocket launchers that deal cold damage now use a cold explosion visual effect.
Approaching a Scorpitron should no longer produce an ear melting effect that sounds like giant robots making sweet love to each other.

Misc.

The Time Capsule Challenge contest has ended, and the note and badge have been removed and replaced with the winner-designed item.
GOG users can now unlock achievements while offline.

The best tactical RPGs on PC

While this list may have a lot in common with our guide to the best RPG games on PC, tactical RPGs (or, TRPGs if you want some shorthand) tend to focus more on squad-based combat and have roots in the classic table-top RPGs of old. Games in this niche are often turn-based strategy games, though to make the distinction relevant we're focusing on games with more pronounced RPG features.

It's less about the story itself, and more about how your character or characters evolve over time as they interact with the narrative, whatever it is. The nature of progression and the choices you can make means that your abilities and journey may never quite be the same across multiple playthroughs, and unlike traditional RPGs there are more tools focused on tracking these changes and evolution over time. They're also about just offering some really robust combat mechanics, making best use of your squad as a team working towards a common goal.

Whether you're saving the entire planet or guiding a band of misfits around in a struggle for survival, there are plenty of great options available, so let's take a look at some of the best tactical RPGs on PC.

Read the rest of the story...

Fantastical Costumes Coming to Wasteland 3

The sun crests the horizon as the party approaches the heart of the broken town. The smoldering embers of the previous day’s battle with the Filthurburgs (semi-human denizens of the bog) fill your lungs, and the stench of turmeric and sulfur weave together with notes of dead flesh and wet dog. Ahead of you, Farani Brygoson’s parapet looms in the distance. (You’ve already been summoned so you won’t have to roll for initiative this time.) As you enter the gate to the forlorn castle within the township’s walls, a Fel-Gnome assaults you with its ugliness before attempting to assault you with its fists. Fortunately, you’ve brought with you Glamdror the Magnificent, and Sir Kelkeep the Brave! There are others but you’ve forgotten their names…

As the Fel-Gnome lashes out from the archway, Glamdror incants a spell learned from ye olden dayes when magic filled the sky and wizards would stand naked on the hilltops early in the morning and cry out to the heavens. Faster than the blink of an eye, the mage thrusts his arms forward with rapacious delight. As his eyes are lit from the mystical blue glow emanating from his hands you hear a *sizzle pop* before a temporary blindness overcomes you. A moment later you can see that Glamdror has encased the sad and stinky creature before you in some kind of ice that seems less cold than freezing but is probably cooler than warm.

Through their translucent arcane prison, the beast looks upon you with bewilderment and a slight hint of mournful curiosity as they begin to shimmy inside… they’re attempting to break free!

What do you do?

Venture into Wasteland 3’s next big update—Patch 1.3.0 “Robots & Rangers”—with two free new costumes, the Handmade Wizard and Knight! Patch 1.3.0 is undergoing some final fixes and testing, and we expect it to release by the end of the month. You’ll receive these new costumes after completing the Garden of the Gods—either claiming them from a package in front of Ranger HQ for new playthroughs, or automatically added if you’re past that point—and can equip them at the wardrobe in Ranger HQ or at the clothing shop in Downtown Colorado Springs.

The ‘Handmade Wizard and Knight’ costumes were a collaboration between inXile and Dimitri Zaitsev, an accomplished post-apocalyptic costume designer and artist. We were excited to work with Dimitri and asked him if he’d walk us through his thoughts and process for creating post-apocalyptic costumes and props.

Q: Have you done anything like this before? Blending fantasy and post-apoc?
I’ve never done a post-apoc wizard or knight before, but the general thought process behind them was not new to me at all. The genre lends itself extremely well to ALL kinds of inspirations, and that is one of many reasons I love it. While there are prominent examples and tropes, there is actually no unified definition of what "post-apo" even means for the most part. The only fixed thing is that it´s "something after an apocalypse". But what the world looked like before or what has evolved after - that´s always the interesting problem for artists and designers to solve.

Wasteland Knight concept by Dimitri.

But the more important question here is: how do the designs fit Wasteland specifically? Wasteland is based on a retro-futuristic version of America during the 80s and 90s, followed by a nuclear apocalypse. That per-se is not fantasy, but the universe has a TON of humor and fantastic elements in the mix as some of its integral defining parts. There are a lot of super-crazy factions, characters, designs and even gameplay mechanics already. Just think of the Payasos, or the Monster Army, or the goat mortar you can mount on your car, or the one NPC who wears pristine suits and never curses.... So I don´t think that these new outfits deviate from the game´s baseline level at all.

Q: What were your first thoughts and inspirations when the initial idea was proposed?
My first thought was "Hell yeah!", and my inspiration were wizards and knights - what else could it be? :)

Aaron (Aaron Meyers, Wasteland 3 Art Director) and I agreed that it would make sense if those outfits were created by wastelanders who got wind of knights and wizards being a thing in the world before the Deluge of Fire, became fans of those ideas, and decided to (re)create them - or at least take some inspiration from them. Historical fact and fiction would get mixed up, so maybe the Wizard thinks that wizards were real, and that the 12-sided die worn around the neck is a real magical amulet. Or maybe they know it´s not real but have assumed the persona anyway. They might mean it dead-serious, or they might be wearing it ironically or just for fun, or even to scam others by selling them "magic potions" which are just frog pee. Or maybe before joining the Rangers the wizard used to travel around towns and use their "magic" powers to give real medical aid to sick children & tell them stories while doing so. Or maybe those costumes were simply used by a post-apocalyptic theatre group to create plays of knights and wizards for their audience. There can be so many interpretations for this, and I love it.

Wasteland Wizard concept by Dimitri.

Part of my task was to create something that looks aesthetically appealing and well-balanced while still maintaining the idea that the fictional in-game person who made it had to work with limited resources & skills available to them. You can see that the knight was able to scavenge some authentic armor parts from a museum, the wizard has repurposed an electric Christmas star, and both characters have used a lot of various scrap materials & whatever tools they could get their hands on in this world of scarcity.

Other than that, I just took the archetypes of a wizard and a knight and mixed them with the ideas described above. It was important that the designs look as cliché as possible in their main shapes, so that they are immediately recognizable as what they are supposed to be.

Q: Are there any core design ‘tenets’ or rules you have when thinking in the post-apoc mindset and how you approach a given design?
Post-apoc or not, I just think about how things would work in the given part of the given universe, and then I create the design going from large parts to small ones while applying the core fundamentals of art (color, composition, etc.) to make it visually pleasing. Doing so feels as immersive and mentally rewarding as playing a game or watching a movie.

Final models and textures for ‘Handmade Wizard and Knight’.

Specifically in a post-apocalyptic setting though, you have to think about what materials and tools people would have available. Most of the time it´s going be something dilapidated, rusty, broken down, and improvised. Or sometimes not - some things can be found in bunkers, be manufactured rather well by post-collapse societies, and thus look new, and even employ futuristic technologies. But then you have to balance them out with dirtier gear to achieve an overall look of what´s easily understood by the player as "post-apocalyptic" - in most cases anyway, there can be no 100% dogmatic approach to this. You also must think about what would be reasonably practical in general, and then balance practicality with "the rule of cool".

As for finding ideas for the details of a design, I just think of "what could any given item be used as, regardless of it´s original intended pre-war purpose." And sometimes I go a step further and think "…but what original intended purpose would make its current use even more interesting?"

In-game Handmade Knight and Wizard costumes.

There is a LOT more to all of this once you really start breaking it down though. I could fill whole volumes with this stuff. Anyone who wants to hear more from me about art, post-apo costuming, and gear should check out my YouTube channel.

Q: Thanks for taking the time to give us more insight! Anything else you want to share with readers?
Check out my Facebook, Instagram, and ArtStation, and I hope you will have fun with these outfits when (re)playing Wasteland 3! And hey, there miiiiiight be more of my designs showing up in the game soon, who knows. ;)

Who knows, indeed! (Actually, we do.) Thanks again to Dimitri for helping us create these fantastical costumes. Keep an eye out for more news regarding Patch 1.3.0 releasing for Wasteland 3 soon, and more costumes to help you RP it up in future patches.