Brian Fargo has announced the next beta update for Wasteland 2 is next week, February 24th. It brings with it a number of changes like a UI overhaul following extensive feedback, and new locations to visit.
Existing locales get spruced up with destructible objects, more combat animations, ambient sounds and other atmospheric tweaks. The inXile team is ”in the final stretch” of the RPG.
They’ll be trying to lock everything down over the coming three months, where they hope to focus intensely on bugs afterwards. This doesn’t mean a full release is close.
”I must confess that we dared to make an ambitious game. Wasteland 2 is big in every conceivable way, from the amount of writing, hours needed to complete, re-playability options, graphic diversity etc.,” said Brian Fargo.
”One might argue that it’s more ambitious than it needed to be but from the outset we wanted to create a classic that would hold a spot in your mind along with the other top RPGs of our time. We know we have some big shoes to fill and we want to push the envelope for what makes a great RPG.”
The three month plan…
”To outline our current plan: we will have the team working to lock down every aspect of the game within three months such that we are only addressing bugs. On the systems side of the game, over those three months you will see a number of iteration passes on combat which covers things like crouched stance, ambush mechanics, weapon jamming, special attacks, further UI enhancements, and a few surprises.”
”On the skills we need to make several more passes on making them more useful or better message how they are working. We are adding AI to the remaining enemy types and adding the appropriate animations.”
”Art wise we are wrapping up the LA maps and adding additional combat animations and particle effects to give the game more flavor. And most importantly we are continuing our iteration passes on choice and consequence, providing new options that come from the results of your actions.”
The studio still can’t give a precise date for when Wasteland 2 will finally be launched in its entirety, as right now the beta build contains less than a third of the complete game. Fargo also announces that inXile will give backers who didn’t spring for beta access the chance to ‘upgrade’ for $10 to gain a beta key, and this limited offer launches February 24th.
The Wasteland 2 team will be live streaming Monday, February 24th at 11am PST (UTC 19:00) to showcase the new incoming features with the major beta update. They’ll give a lot of attention to the new UI designs.
