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Wasteland 3 review: Packed with hard choices to get caught up in

Choice is a defining feature of video games, but the post-apocalyptic world of Wasteland 3 takes it to extremes. Such flexibility has a price, finds Jacob Aron

By Jacob Aron

7 October 2020

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

A post-apocalypticColorado is full ofdangerous challenges

Inxile Entertainment


Wasteland 3 inXile Entertainment
PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

VIDEO games offer something unique among media: choice. Putting aside choose-your-own adventure books, such as the Fighting Fantasy series, or films like Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, the chance to influence and craft a narrative is something only video games can provide. Of course, there are limits imposed by genre and software – play a first-person shooter and you won’t be able to put your gun down and host a tea party – but for some games, choice is their defining feature.

In Wasteland 3, making…

Article amended on 14 October 2020

We have corrected which video game involves aliens

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