Wasteland is a role-playing video game created by Interplay Productions and published by Electronic Arts in 1988. The first game in the Wasteland series takes place in a futuristic, post-apocalyptic America, which was destroyed by a nuclear holocaust many generations ago. The game was originally designed for the Apple II computer and later made available on the Commodore 64 and MS-DOS systems. In 2013, it was re-released for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux through Steam and GOG.com, and again in 2014 via Desura. A remastered version called Wasteland Remastered was released on February 25, 2020, to celebrate the original game's 30th anniversary.
Wasteland was highly praised by critics and achieved commercial success. It was planned to have two sequels in the 1990s, but Electronic Arts later stopped claiming Fountain of Dreams was a sequel, and Interplay's Meantime was canceled. The game's setting and ideas influenced Interplay's 1997 role-playing game Fallout and the Fallout series. Many years later, inXile Entertainment, a company started by Wasteland's director Brian Fargo, released two official sequels: Wasteland 2 in 2014 and Wasteland 3 in 2020.
Gameplay
Wasteland's game mechanics are inspired by those found in tabletop role-playing games, such as Tunnels & Trolls and Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes. These games were created by Ken St. Andre and Michael Stackpole, who also designed Wasteland. In Wasteland, characters have seven attributes: strength, intelligence, luck, speed, agility, dexterity, and charisma. These attributes determine how characters use skills and weapons. Players earn experience points through combat and by using skills, which helps characters level up. The player's group starts with four members and can grow to seven by recruiting citizens and creatures from the wasteland. Unlike other computer role-playing games from the same time, non-player characters in Wasteland might refuse to follow the player's orders, such as when asked to give up an item or perform a task. The game is known for its high difficulty. The text on combat screens, such as phrases like "reduced to a thin red paste" and "explodes like a blood sausage," led to an unofficial PG-13 sticker on the game's packaging in the United States.
Wasteland was one of the first games to include a persistent world. This means changes made to the game's open world are saved and remain even after the player leaves an area. Unlike other games of the time, which reset areas, Wasteland allowed players to return to places they had previously visited in the same condition. In 1988, hard drives were rare in home computers, so players had to copy the original game disk before playing.
Another feature of the game was a printed collection of paragraphs that players read at specific times. These paragraphs described events, conversations, and provided clues. Because disk space was very limited, most of the game's story was printed in a separate manual instead of being stored in the game itself. The manual also acted as a basic form of copy protection. Players who used copied versions of the game might miss important story details and clues needed to progress. The paragraphs included a made-up story about a mission to Mars to confuse players who read them without instructions, as well as fake passwords that could trick cheaters.
Plot
In the year 2087, many years after a worldwide nuclear war in 1998, a small group of the United States Army, known as the Desert Rangers, works in the Southwestern United States. They protect other survivors and their children. A team of Desert Rangers is sent to look into strange events in nearby places. They visit areas where people still live, such as the ruined city of Las Vegas.
As their investigation continues, the rangers find signs of a bigger danger that could destroy the remaining humans. An old artificial intelligence from before the war is working at a military base called Base Cochise. It is building armies of deadly machines and humans with mechanical parts. With the help of Irwin Finster, the former base commander who is now crazy, the AI is planning to take over. Finster has become a cyborg, controlled by the AI.
The AI's goal is to finish Finster's "Project Darwin" and replace humans with people who have perfect genes. With the help of an old android named Max, the player finds the needed technology and weapons. They face the AI at Base Cochise and destroy it by causing the nuclear reactor to melt down.
Development
In an interview with Hartley and Patricia Lesse for MicroTimes in 1987, game director Brian Fargo stated that Interplay Productions began working on the game in 1986. He explained that the game was developed for the Apple II, which he considered as important as the Commodore 64. Fargo described the game as a mix of the Ultima series and The Bard's Tale, featuring a post-apocalyptic setting similar to the Mad Max film series. He noted that the combat system resembled that of The Bard's Tale and included strategies such as splitting or disbanding the party and changing the player's character perspective.
In later interviews, Fargo said the game was created after the success of The Bard's Tale and Interplay's goal to develop another role-playing game for Electronic Arts, separate from a sequel. He mentioned the setting was inspired by his interest in Mad Max 2 and post-apocalyptic fiction. During the game's development, the team discovered the gameplay system from Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes. Its author, Michael Stackpole, was named the writer for Wasteland in 1987.
Alan Pavlish was the lead developer, writing the game in Apple II machine language and programming it to respond to player choices. Ken St. Andre shared that Fargo pitched him a game set in a post-nuclear holocaust, allowing weapons that could cause area effect damage and a map that could change during gameplay. Fargo confirmed the game took five years to develop.
St. Andre stated that Interplay aimed to create a best-selling game to improve the team's reputation. He explained the story-writing process lasted over a year, as the team tested many scenarios to see how the game would react. St. Andre and Stackpole wanted to create something new with the story.
The original plot was similar to Red Dawn, involving Russians occupying the United States and Americans fighting to free their country. St. Andre later changed the story to one about killer robots trying to destroy humanity, blending elements of The Terminator and Daffy Duck. Fargo approved this new storyline. The game's locations were chosen based on St. Andre's knowledge of real-world places to ensure accuracy.
The game was copyrighted in 1986. Near its release, Interplay requested it be labeled PG-13. Wasteland was first released in 1988 for the Apple II, Commodore 64, and IBM compatibles. It was re-released in 1995 as part of Interplay's 10 Year Anthology: Classic Collection and included in the 1998 Ultimate RPG Archives through Interplay's DragonPlay label.
Reception
Wasteland sold about 250,000 copies when it was first released.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Computer Gaming World praised Wasteland for its gameplay, story, problem-solving challenges, character skills, computer-controlled characters, and the difficult choices players had to make. The magazine named Wasteland the Adventure Game of the Year in 1988. In 1994, the magazine said Wasteland showed that "older, less advanced game systems can still create excellent games."
Orson Scott Card wrote a mixed review of Wasteland in Compute!, saying he liked the science fiction setting but thought the game lacked a clear main story. James Trunzo, however, praised the game in the November 1988 issue of Compute!, noting its flexible design, multiple ways to solve puzzles, unclear goals, and the ability to adjust player abilities.
Julia Martin’s review in Challenge recommended Wasteland for fans of role-playing and adventure games, comparing it to Twilight: 2000. She praised its combat system, choices, and its departure from typical fantasy themes involving swords and magic. She criticized the need to use a special "A" disk to play the game after copying it from four disks, the save system, and the fact that characters started with unhelpful items.
In 2000, IGN ranked Wasteland as the 24th-best PC game of all time, highlighting its creative ideas.
In 2012, Richard Cobbett of Eurogamer wrote in a review that "even now, Wasteland offers a unique role-playing world and experience… a complete fallen civilization filled with puzzles, characters, and things to explore, all fitting into less than a megabyte of space." That same year, IGN’s Kristan Reed wrote in another review that "time has not been kind to Wasteland, but its core ideas remain strong."
Legacy
In 1990, a game called Fountain of Dreams was created as a planned follow-up to Wasteland. However, it was not successful and did not share any code or staff from Wasteland. Electronic Arts later said it was not a sequel to Wasteland in 2003. A game called Meantime was developed by Interplay and described as a spiritual successor to Wasteland, but it did not take place in the same world. Meantime was nearly finished, and a test version was made, but it was canceled because the Apple II computer market was shrinking.
Interplay later described the first Fallout game as a spiritual successor to Wasteland. According to IGN, Interplay created Fallout partly because it could not take the Wasteland brand name from Electronic Arts. Fallout and Fallout 2 include elements that honor Wasteland.
In 2003, Fargo's inXile Entertainment bought the rights to the Wasteland franchise from Electronic Arts. In 2014, inXile released Wasteland 2, which was developed by original Wasteland designers and funded through a Kickstarter campaign. In 2016, inXile started another crowdfunding campaign through Fig to make Wasteland 3, which was released in August 2020.
In August 2013, Chris Keenan, the leader of the Wasteland 2 project, announced that an agreement with Electronic Arts allowed the original Wasteland to be released on modern operating systems. Backers of Wasteland 2 received the re-released version for free, and it was also sold on GOG and Steam. The re-release included improved graphics, new music, and updated features like higher-resolution portraits and expanded save options.
In November 2013, the re-released version, titled Wasteland 1: The Original Classic, was approved for sale on GOG and Steam. Based on player feedback, inXile added features like smoother graphics, support for Mac and Linux, and the ability to swap character portraits. Those who backed Torment: Tides of Numenera and received Wasteland 2 also got the re-release for free.
The Original Classic edition was released on November 8, 2013, and downloaded over 33,000 times before its official release. It became available on GOG on November 12 and on Steam for Windows, Mac, and Linux the next day. On March 11, 2014, it was also released on Desura.
In 2019, inXile Entertainment announced a remastered version of Wasteland to celebrate its 30th anniversary, developed by Krome Studios. At E3 2019, Brian Fargo said the game would be released on Windows and Xbox One. Screenshots of the game were shown, and the release date was set for February 25, 2020. The remastered version was released on GOG, Steam, and Microsoft Store for Windows, OS X, and Linux. The Xbox One version was published by Xbox Game Studios. The game features updated graphics, 3D models, voice acting, and new character portraits. It also includes cross-save support and Xbox Play Anywhere support. Like the original, the remastered version received a "Teen" rating from the ESRB.