The Waste Land
Review
Retro from top to bottom
by Quinn Levandoski
reviewed on PC
A Traditional Fantasy Story
The story and gameplay of The Waste Land are pretty much exactly what you would expect from a retro fantasy adventure such as this. There’s a king. A great evil. There are weapons to wield and monsters to slay. You start your tale at the peak of your big game hunt. Apparently someone else actually went out and cornered the animal, because you’re in camp with a bunch of soldiers telling you that there’s an animal ready to be slain. You grab your sword, head out past your small army of hunting dogs, and see a mystical white horse-ish creature. Naturally you slay it. Unfortunately for you, slaying it causes a giant creature of unknown form or purpose to lay train through your entire camp, leaving bodies of those once sworn to your service. Fret not though, as an old-timey wizard pops up to let you know what you need to do. This is a fantasy game though, so he only gives you enough to get started while leaving out most of the important details. “For you protection.” As per usual I won’t get into the details of the rest of the story, but from there on out you need to slay a bunch of mutants and monsters to repair the balance of nature and bring an end to the evil that has forsaken the world. It’s all rather cliché, but given the game that it’s in it fits. Just know that if you are someone looking for deep nuanced storytelling, this isn’t the game for you.
The Waste Land isn’t exactly trying to be heart-wrenching or a complete depress-fest, but it clearly is trying to instill some feeling of loss, sadness, and isolation, and I never really felt any of these land with me. I did thoroughly enjoy the game because of the other positive qualities I’ve discussed thus far, but none of those reasons had anything to do with mode or theme. It’s difficult to tell a story with gravitas over text and without any real character animation to speak of, so if those are the limitations you’re going to put on yourself as a developer you need to either not try to tell an overly serious story, or commit full on and really do some special things with dialogue. Again, it’s not that the story is bad, the characters are bad, or the dialogue is bad - they aren’t - it’s that they were kind of just there for me, not really adding anything more to the experience.
Simplicity
While completing this grand adventure for your kingdom, players will only really use seven keys to progress. The arrow keys move you around, crouch, and let you go through doors, the c key jumps, the x slashes your melee weapon, and the v key shoots your distance weapon. Simple controls and gameplay options is obviously a hallmark of the 8 bit consoles when controllers weren’t covered in dozens of keys, joysticks, touchpads, and more, and I enjoyed the simple solidity of the experience. The keys are responsive, I never felt floaty, and relatively precise movements, when necessary, were easy to pull off. Combat, similarly, is focused on positioning and timing rather than combos. Memorize how an enemy moves and attacks, make sure you’re not in the danger zone when they do, and strike during the safe frames. While I died plenty of times in plenty of terribly ways, it was always my fault for not being smart or quick enough, and all of the enemies felt tough but fair.
Closing Comments
The Waste Land isn’t a game I’d automatically recommend to everyone, or even to most people, because games that so completely dedicate themselves to being a recreation of decades past just aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. Some people are going to find the relatively straightforward gameplay a huge turn off. Some will yearn for full orchestral scores and animated cutscenes. Others, those who know and love the games for what they were and still can be, will be right at home with a game that could be mistaken for one you accidentally forgot to play for 30 years. While I have a few qualms of my own with the game, I found The Waste Land to be a lot of fun, and look forward to going back to it after having completed my review.
8.5
fun score
Pros
Retro from top to bottom, interesting enemies, varied environments, tight controls, and awesome music.
Cons
Some bland looking characters, and the emotional/thematic punch never really hit for me.
