About nine months since the base game’s original release, Wastleland 3 receives its first expansion in the form of a $14 DLC pack called The Battle of Steeltown. This new DLC includes several hours of additional story content, new missions, enemies, armor, weapons, and other goodies for players to check out.
Now, I hadn’t played Wasteland 3 in quite a long time having reviewed it last year. The game had received numerous patches since then, which were needed and seem to have gone a long way to improve the game’s technical performance. The patching did more than just address problems; some patches, like v1.4.0, also added in significant gameplay features like crafting, more on that in a bit. Anyway, upon installing The Battle of Steeltown, players are alerted to a new location in the gameworld that they can travel to. You must be a level nine to enter, which isn’t asking much, but obviously this is not something you will be at on your first play of Wasteland 3 if you’re wanting to dive right into this expansion content straight-away. For those much higher than level 9, the enemies are scaled such that it’s supposed to provide a balanced challenge. Personally, I found Steeltown quite challenging.
The premise of this expansion is that this massive industrial zone, Steeltown, is where all of the tech (for combat especially) for Colorado is made, making it very important to the Patriarch. However, things have gone quiet there, shipments have practically ceased, and the Patriarch needs answers. You’re tasked by him to lead your Desert Rangers there. It’s up to your crack team of operatives to enter Steeltown, root out the source of the corruption, and determine the fate of Steeltown’s leader in the process.
A crafting table is used in Steeltown to help you make the new non-lethal weapons that are exclusive to the DLC. These allow you to make less, well, permanent decisions in regards to how you handle the factory workers. Taking them out non-lethally poses more of a challenge, but, also yields more of a reward in that additional quest options are unlocked and ultimately it was the way I try to play anyway when dealing with non-lethal opposition.
A few side quests that are sprinkled in add to the experience, too. In typical Wasteland fashion, and as one of the hallmarks of the series that makes it as good as it is, there are many gray area decisions to be made. Plus, decisions that players have previously made in the base game influence your experience here, and all new decisions players have to make also shape how this well-written narrative unfolds.
For die-hard Wasteland 3 fans, this expansion offers a compelling reason to return, but at a price that’s a little bit proud. For more casual players, or those who have yet to dive into Colorado, you may be well advised to wait for the inevitable complete edition that will probably release next year.
###
