Wasteland 3 - Brian Fargo Interview

Post Apocalyptic Media has interviewed Brian Fargo:

Wasteland 3’s Brian Fargo Talks Beta Feedback, DLC Plans, and Wasteland 4

The Wasteland franchise runs strong in my blood. The original game was my entire life in 1988 and as I look forward to Wasteland 3’s launch on August 28th, I can’t help but get a major case of nostalgia fever.

So I took this opportunity to reach out to original Wasteland game director, developer, and co-founder of Interplay Entertainment, Brian Fargo, to talk about how Wasteland 3 will advance the series and what we can expect from the future of Wasteland.

It’s important to note that one thing I really enjoyed about 2014’s sequel, Wasteland 2, was the way it catered so heavily to fans of the original game. I took this as one big inside joke at first — one that I was giddy to be in on, but Fargo points out that this was never really the intention. “We take the same philosophy to any sequels, prequels, or games set in the same world. We never demand knowledge of the prior games, so any new player can jump in and fully enjoy and appreciate the world. However, we want to reward players by making nods to the older games, delivering inside jokes, and giving more detail on characters and places they’re familiar with. Players who are familiar with Wasteland 1 and 2 will appreciate the throwbacks, and it’s a reminder of the heritage.”

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But immediately after the release of that remastered original game, a little something called COVID-19 rocked the entire world. Wasteland 3 was originally supposed to launch around that time, but the team at inXile had to further postpone release until August 28th. Fargo reassures me that precautions were immediate and the overall effect on development was minimal.

    “I think it’s a great history lesson on how far the medium has come and it’s a chance for new fans to understand where Wasteland and Fallout were born.” – Brian Fargo

“We were technologically set up quite well due to us having offices in both Orange County (California) and New Orleans (Louisiana), as our infrastructure was already set up for not being in the same office together. However it was a very abrupt move that we made. I started reading the scientific reports and we decided within 48 hours to immediately send folks home on March 12th. Lots of packing up needed to be done, we needed to make sure the computers were set up properly, and we needed to establish new ways to communicate.

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Thanks Old Grognard!