Xbox Game Pass subscribers across Xbox One, Xbox Series S, and Xbox Series X claim there is an RPG available in the subscription as good as Baldur’s Gate 3. The RPG in question hails from 2020, three years before the release of Baldur’s Gate 3. In 2020, the likes of The Last of Us Part 2, Hades, Ghost of Tsushima, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Genshin Impact, DOOM Eternal, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Persona 5 Royal, Half-Life: Alyx, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Demon’s Souls, Crusader Kings 3, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Spelunky 2, and Call of Duty: Warzone headlined what was a fairly stacked year for game releases.
In a year like 2020, some releases undoubtedly fly under the radar. According to Xbox Game Pass subscribers on Reddit, one of these games is Wasteland 3 from developer inXile Entertainment and publisher Deep Silver. Before the release of the game, Xbox acquired the former, but the game did end up being published not by it, but Deep Silver.
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Upon release, the game garnered an 85 on Metacritic. It didn’t light the world on fire commercially though, which is perhaps why under Xbox inXile Entertainment has shifted to a different, new IP.
Those interested in playing the sequel to 2014’s Wasteland 2, which was a sequel to 1988’s Wasteland, can do so for free via Xbox Game Pass as long as you have a PC, Standard, or Ultimate subscription. In the libraries of these versions of Xbox Game Pass, it is a permanent addition. It is not available via Xbox Game Pass Core though.
“Everyone should play Wasteland 3,” reads one of the top posts on the Xbox Game Pass Reddit page right now. “I barely ever hear about Wasteland 3. Hell, I have had Game Pass since 2020 and look up this sub for recommendations and nobody talks about it. I’m 30 hours in, and I can say it is almost as good as Baldurs Gate 3. The writing, the characters, the comedy is pure gold. If you guys like CRPGs, this one is a must.”
“Wasteland 3 is very underrated,” reads one of the top comments on the post. “One of my favorite CRPGs ever. Shoutout to the soundtrack also they have some real bangers in there, some church hymns remixed as creepy post apocalyptic cult songs, it’s amazing!”
“In Wasteland 3 you take command of a squad of Desert Rangers, lawmen and women in a post-nuclear world, trying to rebuild society from the ashes,” reads an official blurb about the game for those unfamiliar with it. “More than a century after the bombs fell, you’re fighting a losing battle to keep your beloved Arizona alive. Then the self-proclaimed Patriarch of Colorado radios, promising aid if you’ll do a job he can only entrust to an outsider—rescue his land from the ambitions of his three bloodthirsty children.”
Those who do decide to check out Wasteland 3 based on these recommendations, be prepared to set aside 35 to 50 hours to beat the game, with the variance coming down to how much side content you engage with. Meanwhile, completionists will need closer to 70 hours with the game.
