《废土 2》的多结局是我喜欢它的一个原因。你不必一直玩到达成所谓‘正常’的结局才叫赢，毕竟怎么才叫‘赢’，这是个故事对吧？而你则是在叙述着属于你的故事。所以我们重新定义了赢的意义。

One of the things we liked about Wasteland 2 is there were multiple endings along the way. You didn't have to play the game all the way to the ‘normal' ending to win. Because what's a ‘win'? It's a narrative, right? You're telling your own story. So we redefined what winning means.

Chris Keenan
《废土 2》导演

Chris Keenan,
Wasteland 2's director

对于许多玩家来说“接受失败继续前行”是一种陌生的理念，但对我们这些能理解这一概念的人来说，它所提供的自由度弥足珍贵。

任务内容从严肃到搞怪均有涉猎。你会和一群有组织的杀人犯作战，在一场长达数小时沐浴在鲜血和恐惧之中的战役里攻打他们的堡垒；过后则献出世上仅存的洗发水让一个被判有“头皮屑罪”的人免于被处决。

《废土 2》中的各个区域由一个广阔的世界地图串联起来，地图上充满了致命的辐射、随机的事件和秘密。一旦进入某个区域，游戏就会切换为一个与《辐射》相似的第三人称俯视视角，只不过镜头是可以全方位旋转的。游戏采用带有一定策略要素的回合制战斗，但相较于战术应用其更侧重于各项的数值。在 2015 年的导演剪辑版中的“精准射击”（called shots）进一步加深了战斗纵深，而不仅仅是一个简单的伤害技能,比如游骑兵击伤敌人的手臂可能会干扰他的行动目的，以此为队友争取时间来干掉他。

构建角色的不仅有属性和技能，还包括了与《辐射》中类似的特性（Perks）系统。我团队中的代表人物是一位嗜血（Bloodthirsty）的机会主义者（Opportunist），他在受到伤害后会有额外的加成，并且可以通过击杀敌人来获得额外的行动点数；还有一个皮糙肉厚（Thick-Skinned）、老练（Hardened）且饱经风霜（Weathered）的近战屠夫（Slayer），他就像头水牛一样闪转腾挪，并且几乎坚不可摧。

“Failing forward” is a foreign concept to many gamers but, for those of us who appreciate the concept, the freedom on offer here is rare and precious.

Missions range in tone from deadly serious to outright goofy. You'll battle an organised gang of murderers by assaulting their fortress in an hours-long campaign of blood and horror; then save a man from being executed for the crime of dandruff by donating Earth's last surviving bottle of medicated shampoo.

W2's areas are connected by a sprawling world map, replete with lethal radiation, random encounters, and secrets. Once inside an area, the game assumes a ¾ perspective reminiscent of Fallout's, now fully rotating in 3D. Combat is turn-based with light tactical elements, focusing more on statistics than strategy. The addition of “called shots” in the 2015's Director's Cut edition gave combat more depth than simple hit point attrition: one Ranger might shoot an enemy's arm to spoil his aim, buying the others time to kill him.

Character-building includes not only stats and skills, but Perks à la Fallout as well. My team featured a Bloodthirsty Opportunist who received a bonus when attacking wounded targets and scored extra Action Points for finishing off enemies, and a Thick-Skinned, Hardened, Weathered melee Slayer who moved with the grace of a buffalo but was virtually indestructible.

2015 年，Brian Fargo 与其他投资人联合创建了众筹平台 Fig，支持者可以从自己支持的项目中获得部分利润。2016 年，inXile 利用这个平台为《废土 3（Wasteland 3）》筹集了 3121716 美元的资金。

In 2015, Brian Fargo joined with other investors to create Fig, a crowd-funding platform where backers would also get part of the profit from projects they backed. inXile used the platform to fund Wasteland 3 in 2016, raising $3,121,716 USD.

这就要引出游戏的平衡问题了。这点它做得并不好，我在游戏困难难度“游骑兵（Ranger）”的结尾时，我所有角色的每一次攻击都有百分百的命中率，而且分配不均的难度曲线代表我的护甲可以防御住任何非核子武器的攻击。尽管我仍能从中收获乐趣，但若想来点实质性的挑战的话，我建议把难度设置成最高难度“超级混蛋（Supreme Jerk）”。

游戏内容是相当的丰富，其中具有代表性的便是其可能要四十到五十个小时的游戏流程。这是一把双刃剑，这让一方面玩家很难重新再玩一遍《废土 2》，另一方面反过来又让玩家很难理解自己所做的选择及其所导致的后果。如果我一开始就做了不同的决定，谁知道最后会发生什么呢?而这值得再花 40 个小时去回溯吗？

然而，没有看到所有选择的结果反倒让我觉得自己所做出的决定更多是发自真心的。就像一个人不会把“冒险书”（CYOA book）重头到尾读一遍一样，因为这根本就不是其意义所在。邂逅朋友、树立敌人、决定谁生谁死——我的旅程与其他任何人的都不会相同。我揭穿了谎言，传播了真相，却让整个地区陷入了暴力和混乱之中。我射杀了一个无辜的人，释放了一个有罪的人，为了我认为更崇高的利益掩盖了我的罪行。“我做对了吗？”“我还能做得更好吗？”也许有一天我会用另一种方式再讲一遍这个故事，看看会发生什么。

Which brings us to the issue of balance. It isn't great – by the end of the game on “Ranger” (Hard) difficulty, all my characters had a 100% chance to hit every shot, and an outlandishly steep gear curve meant my armour shrugged off any attacks short of nuclear weapons. I still had fun, but for a substantial challenge, “Supreme Jerk” difficulty is recommended.

The game is packed with content; a typical playthrough may take 40 or 50 hours. This is a double-edged sword in that it makes W2 hard to replay, which in turn makes it difficult to appreciate the choices you're making and the consequences unfolding around you. Who knows how things might have turned out at the end if I'd made different decisions at the beginning? Is it worth another 40 hours to find out?

Still, not seeing all the outcomes made my choices feel more my own. One doesn't read a CYOA book from cover to cover; that misses the point. Meeting friends, making enemies, deciding who lived and who died – my journey was not quite like any other. I uncovered a lie and spread the truth, and a whole region descended into violent chaos. I shot an innocent man and let a guilty one go free, and covered up my crimes for what I thought was the greater good. Did I do right? Could I have done better? Maybe some day I'll tell the story again in a different way and see what happens.