Wasteland 2 Getting a Visual "Facelift" as Post-Release Plans Expand

Not satisfied with the game it released last year, InXile Entertainment continues to deliver updates for its crowdfunded RPG, Wasteland 2. Now, the developer has announced that it's expanding upon its original plans for post-release support, part of which will come in the form of a visual "facelift" for the game.

Having recently released the sixth big patch for Wasteland 2, InXile has outlined some of its plans for what to do next. "Part of the newfound freedom we’ve gained from being an exclusively crowdfunded company is that it allows us to offer a high level of post-release support," wrote project lead Chris Keenan in a Kickstarter update. "While this is normal practice for an active multiplayer game, we believe that the ongoing improvements to the single-player experience in Wasteland 2 are worth the time and money. The game truly continues to be a passion project for the team here at InXile."

Keenan then went on to reveal that InXile's plans have changed--for the better. "If you've been keeping a close eye on things, you might have heard tell that we're looking at doing some more balancing and improvements of Wasteland 2 in the future," he said. "We have expanded our original plan and decided that this is going to be a part of something much larger for all our fans."

Not many details were offered, but InXile did reveal the game's codebase is being moved from Unity 4.5 to Unity 5. As far as players are concerned, the benefits of that include better tools being made available for modders, as well as new technology that will allow for improved graphics.

"Let's just say that the Orange County lifestyle might be getting to us as the game will be receiving a facelift," Keenan said. "Unity 5 offers physically based shading, which is already starting to look amazing in the scenes we've touched up.

"As well as visual improvements, we have quite a few quirky tricks up our sleeves. The character system is getting perked up and will include some new elements to modify gameplay. Of course, more details will be released in the future so stay tuned!"

Wasteland 2 was released last September on PC, Mac, and Linux. It's the sequel to the original Wasteland from 1988, meaning it took more than a quarter of a century for the classic game--it inspired the Fallout series--to get a proper follow-up.