Wasteland 3: The Battle of Steeltown

Wasteland 3 is a turn-based roleplaying game developed by inXile Entertainment and released in August of 2020. It is currently available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows, and macOS. The gameplay is presented from an isometric perspective, and the setting takes place in a post-apocalyptic frozen wasteland.

The game very recently received an update that added a new Permadeath option giving players a choice to add an extra challenge by giving only a limited number of turns to revive a fallen Ranger or lose them forever, and includes another difficultly related feature that increases the skill checks. Also included with the last update was the ability to respec your Ranger’s stats.

A few days ago, it was announced that Wasteland 3 would be receiving at least two expansions and that the first one will be released on June 3rd of this year. ‘The Battle of Steeltown’ will, of course, be adding lots of new content such as weapons, armor, equipment, and items. At this point, there is not much information about that, however. Suggesting on the trailer, it looks like there may be new robotic enemies for the player to fight. It also appears that there will be new music added to the game; continuing to be guided by music supervisor Mary Ramos and composer Mark Morgan, original scores and covers will provide an excellent backdrop and atmosphere for the expansion.

What is known is that the storyline for the expansion will be complex and interactive, with the player’s actions and choices having a direct effect on the path the story goes. According to the official announcement, the backstory for the expansion is that a factory complex in a place called Steeltown, which is the source of much of the technology that keeps life possible in the frozen wastes of post-apocalypse Colorado, has stopped production.

As a warlord, the Patriarch depends on the weapons, vehicles, and equipment manufactured there. Consequently, the Patriarch (Saul Buchanan) sends the Rangers to investigate. It appears that chaos has descended on Steeltown as bandit raiders have made the work impossible and the location unsafe. It appears to be more complicated than that; however, it seems like there may be a mystery for the player to untangle. As the Patriarch says in the trailer, the Rangers are there to “fix it”.

With combat, enemy, and gear scaling and no minimum level requirement, players will be able to go to Steeltown whenever they want. The expansion will include interesting new combat mechanics like powerful telegraphed attacks, stackable status effects, shields that protect from elemental damage, and non-lethal weapons.

Wasteland 3 The Battle of Steeltown will be available for $13.99 on Xbox One (also playable on the Xbox Series X|S through backward compatibility), on the PlayStation 4, and on the PC through Steam. Xbox Game Pass members will be given 10% off on their purchase.

Other than this, not much else has been made public. In the official announcement, the developers share their plan to continue updating us with more information over the next few weeks and months. Regardless of how little information is currently available, we are extremely excited to see a continuation of the Wasteland 3 storyline and more examples of the brilliant worldbuilding being done by the game’s creators. We’ll be sure to update you again around the end of next month when we have more information.