10 Most Underrated Recent RPGs

6. Wasteland 3

Wasteland 3 is the third entry in a long running series whose first entry, Wasteland, initially came out before even I was born, yep, even before me, in 1988.

If this one rings a bell that’s because the setting for Wasteland, which was at the time produced by EA, laid the foundation for its cooler, hotter, younger sister Fallout. Developer Interplay couldn’t get Wasteland away from EA so they just went and made Fallout on their own instead. While Fallout went on to impress everybody and gain many suitors, it wasn’t until 2003 that inXile Entertainment bought the rights to Wasteland and released Wasteland 2 in 2014, and then six years later brought out Wasteland 3. The brilliant thing about Wasteland 3 is that it retained the story-riddled isometric game world and dense RPG mechanics that Bethesda left by the wayside in the case of Fallout in favour of offering up a more accessible experience.

Where Fallout went the way of first-person action adventuring and, well, multiplayer, Wasteland still offers up that wonderful old school experience you would have had in Fallout 1 and 2.

Beyond that, there are meaningful choices to be made, locations are unique and memorable, the story is engrossing, and the titular Wasteland is appropriately threatening. There’s plenty to do here and many chances to prove your mettle in this entry which respects your skills and expects you to prove mastery over its mechanics.