More than two years ago, Brian Fargo’s InXile Entertainment scored $2.9 million in crowdfunding on Kickstarter to raise money for Wasteland 2. Now the company has finally scheduled a release window for the game at the end of August.
Judging from Wasteland 2’s scope, the team hasn’t been wasting its time, as Fargo promises more than 50 hours of gameplay and a script with a word count that is greater than The Lord of the Rings.
The Newport Beach, Calif.-based InXile helped stir a lot of excitement for both its sequel to the classic postapocalyptic game Wasteland as well as raising lots of money for well-known game franchises on Kickstarter.
In preparation for the final shipment, InXile Entertainment has released the entire Arizona portion of the game via the Wasteland 2 early access beta, which is available on the Steam digital distribution service.
The turn-based role-playing game offers an alternative history for America after a nuclear holocaust. Players take command of an elite squad of desert rangers, who hold the traditions of the Texas and Arizona Rangers from U.S. history. They try to help humanity survive against hordes of bandits, insane criminals, and mutants.
“It’s exciting to be in the home stretch on a game I’ve been wanting to get to for the last two decades,” said Fargo, CEO of InXile Entertainment, in a statement. “The feedback from our backers on the early beta has been great, and I’m proud of the way Wasteland 2 is shaping up. The scope of the game is immense with a word count that is greater than The Lord of the Rings novels and a solid 50 hour-plus game experience that has diversity from beginning to end. My goal has been to over deliver on our backer’s expectations for Wasteland 2.”
The team includes role-playing game designer Chris Avellone (best known for Planescape: Torment) and with a musical score composed by the legendary Mark Morgan. Wasteland 2 enables players to make choices in customization, character creation, and story events that carry consequences. It will debut on the PC, Mac, and Linux.
Besides Wasteland 2, InXile is also working on another crowdfunded project, Torment: Tides of Numenera — a game inspired by Planescape: Torment.