Apocalyptic games have certainly been gaining popularity in recent years. While some may think of the Fallout series as a sort of pioneer to this genre, Wasteland was actually one of the inspirations for Fallout. Funded by a very successful Kickstarter, inXile entertainment has revived the series and invited us back into the heart of the Southwest in Wasteland 2.

Back in 1988, Wasteland introduced us to a future where the world was ravaged by war. In the American Southwest, a group of soldiers known as the Desert Rangers were sent to find the source of some strange disturbances, and after a lengthy adventure, your group of ragtag soldiers became heroes. In Wasteland 2, your party of Rangers are thrust into the game world without a second thought and sent to investigate the death of a Desert Ranger Captain.

But before you’re even in game, you’ll be greeted with the ability to craft your own characters or choose from a variety of premade personalities. The character creation system is robust, and includes many different skills and attributes to select in order to suit your playstyle. Want to have a brutish oaf who can’t keep his mouth shut and will punch anyone’s face in without a second thought? Put some points into melee mastery and give him the Smart Ass skill. Conversely, the opposite is possible as well, or anything in between. There’s also a skill specializing in Toaster Repairs. How’s that for variety?

Your adventure through the wasteland is not linear in the slightest. You are essentially given free roam of the entire Southwest, provided you don’t run out of water. There’s times when you might have a choice between paying a toll to merciless bandits and slaughtering them. You might have to figure out how to sneak past a minefield, how to approach a certain upcoming battle, or maybe how (if at all) to rescue civilians that need help. The choice is really up to you, and despite how morally questionable your reactions are, you’re never judged for your decisions. The choice between a savior or a vigilante is up to you to make.

Seeing as Wasteland 2 stars a party of Desert Rangers, it’s no surprise that the meat and potatoes of Wasteland should involve the combat. Unfortunately, as this time, the combat can be a bit clunky. Combat is turn based with each player’s actions using up their AP, or action points. As of now, it seems to be pretty bare bones, but inXile undoubtedly has some new features in the works. Then again, many of the enemies you fight in the beta follow fairly standard AI patterns. As of right now, Wasteland 2′s combat system is probably most similar to the recent XCOM games, but lacking many of the intricacies that made XCOM so memorable.

Admittedly, the interface takes awhile to get used to. The inventory and stats screen is large and unsightly, and is just generally inconvenient to use. From what I gather, there is no easy way to use common items such as bandages and healing items unless they are in your hotbar. Additionally, the character status screens could use a redesign, or at the very least, some hotkeys.

Visually, Wasteland 2 looks great for its current state in development. Most of the areas aren’t exactly colorful, but they don’t need to be in order to immerse you in the Wasteland. Character models up close can be pretty rough, especially the faces. Luckily, unless you play zoomed in, this isn’t a big deal. The audio fares well for the most part, and much of the music is composed by Mark Morgan of Fallout 1 and 2.

One of the most impressive things about Wasteland 2 is the writing. Everything is very descriptive in that you can picture the scene perfectly, and fill in any blanks with your imagination. The writing and dialogue is equally well versed with many characters having a distinct and believable personality. This goes a long way towards providing a suspension of disbelief that may be hard to experience in these cRPGs.

For what inXile has produced so far, Wasteland 2 is extremely well polished and fun to play. Keep in mind there are problems as this is still a Beta. The UI is a bit sloppy, the combat is a tad weak and skills are absent, but the core mechanics are all there. The team at inXile is well on their way to creating an enthralling adventure in a relatively neglected genre. If you are interested in learning more about Wasteland 2, you can head on over to their website. You can also prepurchase it on Steam right now, and that’ll get you access to the Beta.