Info about Wasteland Remastered:

Official game description:
Originally released in 1988, Wasteland brought the post-apocalypse to video games and inspired a genre. Play one of history’s defining RPGs with completely overhauled graphics, sound, and expanded musical score.  
The year is 2087, nearly a century after an all-out nuclear war turned vast swaths of the Earth into a radioactive hellscape. You are a Desert Ranger, a band of stalwart lawmen who are the only hope left in what was once the American southwest, and good people’s last defense against hunger, sickness, ravaging raiders, and mutants.  
Now something more secretive and sinister is menacing humanity, and it's your job to investigate. Recruit help and follow leads—the choices you make will shape the world around you. Choose wisely, your life and the lives of those you’re sworn to protect depend on it.  
*   Wasteland Remastered retains the spirit of the original game while updating visuals and audio.  
*   The original game’s physical storybook is available in-game, fully illustrated and with full voice over.  
*   An expanded musical score from the "Wasteland 1 - The Original Classic" release.  
*   Old bugs that have been around since Reagan was president have been fixed.  
*   Survive the apocalypse from the comfort of your couch with game controller support.  
*   Quality of life improvements that make the post-apocalypse a little friendlier.

Release date: Feb 25, 2020

Categories: Turn-based RPG, Post-apocalyptic, Non-linear Progression, Open-World Exploration, Grid-based Combat, Skill-based Progression, Permadeath, Choice-based Narrative

Feature scans:
- Wiki: score 75; verdict: External Data Overload; summary: The user feedback highlights a pervasive dependency on external data sources, such as wikis and walkthroughs, to navigate core aspects of the game. The most critical issues include the lack of in-game explanations for mechanics, the need to constantly reference external sources for inventory management, and the reliance on guides to progress without resource depletion. This creates a fragmented and frustrating user experience, where players are forced to juggle multiple external resources to avoid pitfalls or confusion.

- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Faithful remaster with modern upgrades (weight 0.85): The remaster remains extremely faithful to the original while introducing quality-of-life improvements like updated graphics, sound, and interfaces. This makes the game more accessible to modern players without altering its core experience.
- Challenging but rewarding gameplay (weight 0.77): While the game has a steep learning curve and complex mechanics, players find it deeply rewarding once they overcome initial hurdles. External guides are often recommended for newcomers.
- Historical CRPG significance (weight 0.76): The game is widely recognized as a pioneering title in the CRPG genre, preserving the charm and mechanics of classic pen-and-paper RPGs. Its influence on later games, such as Fallout, underscores its historical importance.
- Enhanced audiovisual presentation (weight 0.76): The remaster features upgraded graphics, a modern orchestral score, hand-drawn art assets, and fully voiced narration. These improvements enhance immersion and accessibility without compromising the original's retro aesthetic.
- Engaging story and player freedom (weight 0.75): The game offers an open-ended world with meaningful choices, multiple endings, and adult themes. Its narrative and quest design encourage exploration, critical thinking, and interaction with NPCs.
- Unique and innovative mechanics (weight 0.74): The game features distinctive mechanics such as health loss in deserts, rank-based leveling, and skill growth through usage. These mechanics were avant-garde for their time and contribute to its depth and replayability.
- Nostalgic appeal for retro fans (weight 0.74): The remaster successfully captures the nostalgic charm of the original, making it a must-play for fans of classic CRPGs and retro gaming. Its cult following is a testament to its enduring appeal.
- Quality-of-life improvements (weight 0.12): Additions like a full in-game journal, voice-over narration, auto-save functions, and multiple save slots enhance the gameplay experience. These features address common frustrations from the original version.

Common complaints:
- Lack of tutorials and guidance (weight 0.96): The game provides no in-game tutorials, tooltips, or hints, making it nearly impossible for new players to understand mechanics without external guides. This includes unclear character creation, skill explanations, and progression systems.
- Frustrating and repetitive combat (weight 0.96): Combat is described as tedious, requiring excessive button presses (e.g., 20+ per turn), with poor enemy visibility, unfair random encounters, and no strategic depth. Players also report bugs like invisible enemies and passive enemy behavior breaking immersion.
- Cumbersome and outdated UI (weight 0.94): The user interface is frequently described as clunky, unintuitive, and visually noisy, with poor organization and excessive menu navigation. Many players highlight issues like broken combat text, non-functional skills, and a lack of modern quality-of-life improvements.
- Excessive reliance on external guides (weight 0.94): Players must frequently consult online wikis or walkthroughs to progress due to obtuse mechanics, hidden clues, and unclear objectives. This includes solving puzzles, managing inventory, and understanding skill systems.
- Game-breaking bugs and permadeath (weight 0.91): The game features permadeath, softlocks (e.g., discarding quest items), and bugs that can block progression or corrupt saves. Examples include missing NPCs, broken quests, and invisible enemy squads in the remaster.
- Poor inventory and item management (weight 0.88): Inventory systems are cumbersome, with no sorting, risk of losing quest items, and inefficient healing mechanics (e.g., expensive hospitals). Players report frustration with text-based navigation and cluttered UIs.
- Unoptimized and buggy remaster (weight 0.87): The remaster introduces new bugs (e.g., wrong character portraits, invisible enemies) while failing to address core issues like UI/UX, inventory management, and spatial awareness in 3D environments.
- Outdated and archaic design (weight 0.87): Despite graphical updates, the game retains frustrating old-school mechanics like tile-by-tile exploration, no objective markers, and D&D-inspired systems that feel unrealistic or punishing (e.g., robbing a police armory without consequences).
- Unintuitive and inconsistent mechanics (weight 0.86): Keypresses differ between characters for the same skills, interactions are inconsistent, and some skills are useless. Players also note issues like non-functional character creation in certain languages and missing repeat-action functions.
- Macro dependency for efficiency (weight 0.84): The game requires macros to mitigate tedious tasks like manual skill checks, combat, and inventory management. Controller support is also criticized for being unusable without macro assignments.
- Low replayability and charm (weight 0.84): The game’s repetitive gameplay, lack of New Game+ mode, and weak narrative depth lead to quick burnout. Players report the charm wearing off after a few hours due to grindy mechanics and unsatisfying endings.
- Poor localization and translation (weight 0.78): The game suffers from poor translation quality, including shortened words, unclear quest phrasing, and inconsistent dialogue. This exacerbates confusion in puzzles and interactions.
- Save scumming required to progress (weight 0.11): Randomness in encounters, loot drops, and combat outcomes forces players to rely on quick saves/loads to avoid unfair losses or progression blocks. This disrupts immersion and adds frustration.

Gameplay feedback:
- Non-linear gameplay with high stakes (weight 0.52): The open-world design encourages exploration, with multiple endings and permanent consequences (e.g., discarded quest items). However, obtuse puzzles and lack of hints demand patience or external guides.
- Classic CRPG mechanics preserved (weight 0.46): The game retains turn-based combat, grid-based movement, and pen-and-paper RPG mechanics from the 1980s, including missable quests, random encounters, and permadeath. These elements define its old-school identity but may frustrate modern players.
- Combat depth with tactical limitations (weight 0.4): Turn-based combat offers range/positioning tactics but lacks cover/flanking. Enemies may flee or stall, and XP is tied to melee kills, creating frustrating balance issues (e.g., rabbits being deadly).
- Post-apocalyptic setting with exploration focus (weight 0.38): The game’s 2087 wasteland features dungeons, puzzles, and city restoration quests. Static isometric visuals and manual mapping emphasize exploration over visual fidelity.
- Skill-based progression system (weight 0.37): Skills improve through usage, requiring players to actively engage with mechanics (e.g., lockpicking, combat). However, the system is opaque, often necessitating external guides due to cumbersome UI and lack of tutorials.
- Inventory and party management challenges (weight 0.21): Inventory is limited (30 slots/character across 4 pages), and trading items between characters is clunky. Random encounters can drain resources, forcing frequent saves and meticulous planning.
- Text-heavy interactions and combat (weight 0.19): NPC conversations and combat rely on typed keywords or text-based actions, with no animations. Macros help streamline repetitive tasks (e.g., picklocking), but the system feels archaic.
- Healing and resource management (weight 0.06): HP is restored via camping (risky) or hospitals. Macros are often used to automate safe camping, highlighting the game’s punishing survival mechanics.

Performance notes:
- Critical gameplay bugs present (weight 0.06): Players report multiple bugs affecting core gameplay, including broken combat text, freezing during combat/item use, and invisible enemies. These issues can block progression and significantly disrupt the experience.
- Performance instability and low FPS (weight 0.06): Frequent reports of unstable performance, low FPS (20-30), and the need for quickloads or restarts. Partial gamepad support is also mentioned as non-functional, further degrading the experience.
- Radiation detection mechanics broken (weight 0.02): The game ignores the Geiger counter for radiation tiles, which may lead to unfair or unintended gameplay consequences, particularly in survival or exploration scenarios.
- Linux compatibility noted (weight 0.02): Some players successfully ran the game using Steam's Proton on Ubuntu Linux, though this does not address underlying gameplay or performance issues.

Recommendations:
- Genre fans with caveats (weight 0.42): The game is recommended for fans of post-apocalyptic RPGs, classic CRPGs, or those interested in the genre's history, but often with warnings about its flaws or the need for patience. Sales are frequently suggested as the best entry point.
- Not for modern players (weight 0.35): Many reviews advise against playing the game for those unfamiliar with classic RPGs, citing dated mechanics, frustration, and a lack of modern accessibility. Newcomers are often warned to avoid it or watch playthroughs instead.
- Nostalgia-driven recommendation (weight 0.31): The game is primarily recommended for players with prior experience or emotional attachment to the original, often citing nostalgia as a key reason to play. This includes veterans, retro fans, and collectors who appreciate its legacy.
- Remaster vs. original debate (weight 0.29): Opinions are divided on whether the remaster or the original is the better experience. Some praise the remaster for modern improvements, while others argue the original is more authentic or superior.
- Historical significance valued (weight 0.2): The game is praised for its role in shaping the CRPG genre and its connection to the Fallout series. This appeals to players interested in gaming history or the roots of modern RPGs.
- Price sensitivity emphasized (weight 0.19): Many reviews suggest purchasing the game on sale, often specifying a price threshold (e.g., under $10) to justify its value, given its niche appeal and flaws.

Other player notes:
No miscpoints

Emotions:
- Frustration (weight 0.3): Players experience frustration primarily due to outdated and clunky gameplay mechanics, including cumbersome combat, unintuitive interfaces, and lack of modern quality-of-life improvements. Bugs, random encounters, unclear progression systems, and excessive grind further exacerbate the difficulty and tedium, often leading to lost progress or reliance on external guides.
- Nostalgia (weight 0.14): Nostalgia is driven by the game's historical significance as a classic or pioneering title in the RPG genre, particularly its influence on later franchises like Fallout. Players appreciate revisiting childhood memories, familiar mechanics, and the charm of older games that required external resources, evoking a sense of personal connection and retro appeal.
- Disappointment (weight 0.13): Disappointment stems from the remaster's failure to modernize key aspects of the game, such as inventory management, UI, and tutorials, leaving it feeling outdated compared to sequels or contemporary titles. Poor optimization, persistent bugs, weak endings, and a lack of significant improvements (e.g., missing New Game+ mode) further diminish the experience, especially given the high expectations for a remaster.
- Appreciation (weight 0.09): Players express appreciation for the game's historical value, writing, and lore, recognizing its influence on the RPG genre. The remaster is praised for preserving the original's charm while updating graphics, sound, and some quality-of-life features, demonstrating care in making the game accessible to modern audiences.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.09): Satisfaction arises from overcoming the game's steep learning curve and challenges, often after investing significant time or effort. Players enjoy the remastered improvements, such as enhanced graphics and audio, and feel a strong sense of accomplishment from completing the game or mastering its mechanics.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.05): Enjoyment is derived from the game's old-school gameplay, story, and writing, particularly for fans of retro RPGs. Players appreciate the faithful recreation of the original experience, including its combat challenges and character progression, even if external guidance is sometimes required.
- Amusement (weight 0.02): Amusement comes from humorous or absurd moments, such as creating a useless character or encountering quirky glitches (e.g., graphics anomalies). Players find entertainment in the game's outdated mechanics once they become accustomed to them.
- Excitement (weight 0.02): Excitement is sparked by the game's updated visuals, audio, and quality-of-life improvements, as well as the sense of adventure and exploration in its post-apocalyptic setting. The opening cinematic and neon-lit environments also contribute to this emotion.
- Admiration (weight 0.01): Admiration is directed toward the game's historical importance as a pioneer in the post-apocalyptic RPG genre and the effort put into preserving its legacy. Players respect its influence on later titles and the care taken to remaster it for contemporary audiences.
- Annoyance (weight 0.01): Annoyance is caused by repetitive or cumbersome gameplay elements, such as frequent random encounters, poor combat visibility, and a clunky interface that requires excessive keypresses. These issues disrupt the flow of gameplay and frustrate players.
- Hope (weight 0.01): Players express hope for future remasters or similar experiences, particularly for beloved classics like Fallout 1 & 2. The game's revival sparks optimism for more preserved or updated retro titles.
- Gratitude (weight 0.01): Gratitude is felt toward the developers for preserving the original game's experience in a remastered format and for quickly addressing issues like character creation bugs. Players appreciate the effort to keep the game accessible.
- Challenge (weight 0.01): The game's complexity and lack of hand-holding are seen as a positive challenge for players who enjoy overcoming difficult or obscure mechanics. This appeals to fans of old-school RPGs who value depth and player agency.
- Anger (weight 0.01): Anger is triggered by game-breaking bugs, such as quest-related issues that block progression entirely. These critical flaws can ruin the experience and lead to strong negative reactions from players.}