Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game vs Wasteland 2: Director's Cut
Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game is an open-world RPG game from Interplay Inc. (2015) while Wasteland 2: Director's Cut is an action-RPG open-world game from inXile Entertainment (2014).
Quick answer: Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game rates higher, 8.2 to 7.4 on the GamingPickz Score, and Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game is the cheaper at $9.99.
What each one is
Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game is filed under Open-World and RPG. In contrast, Wasteland 2: Director's Cut under Action-RPG and Open-World.
You've just unearthed the classic post-apocalyptic role-playing game that revitalized the entire CRPG genre. The Fallout® SPECIAL system allows drastically different types of characters, meaningful decisions and development that puts you in complete control. Explore the devastated ruins of a golden age civilization.
From the producer of the original Fallout comes Wasteland 2. With over 80 hours of gameplay, deck out your Ranger squad with devastating weaponry, test the limits of your strategy skills, and bring justice to the Wasteland! The choices are yours…but so are the consequences.
Story, characters and reception
Plot
Setting On October 23, 2077, a worldwide nuclear war between the United States and China following a global conflict caused by resource shortages devastated the world and destroyed modern civilization. The events of Fallout take place nearly a century later in 2161, and follow the Vault Dweller, a human born and raised within Vault 13, one of a number of high-tech underground fallout shelters built to protect survivors. Those on the surface live off the… (Wikipedia)
Characters
The player controls the Vault Dweller, who is sent into the Wasteland to save their vault. The Vault Dweller can be customized or based on one of three pre-generated characters: Albert Cole, a negotiator and charismatic leader with a legal background; Natalia Dubrovhsky, a talented acrobat and the intelligent and resourceful granddaughter of a Russian diplomat in the pre-War Soviet consulate in Los Angeles; and Max Stone, the largest person in the Vault… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Fallout received critical acclaim, with critics considering it one of the best role-playing video games at the time. PC PowerPlay predicted that Fallout would revive the genre and thought that both casual gamers and fans of role-playing games would enjoy the game. GameSpot declared that because of the release of Fallout , gamers would not have to wait for a good role-playing game anymore. (Wikipedia)
Plot
The game is set in an alternate history timeline, in which a nuclear war between the United States and Soviet Union took place in 1998 in relation to an impact event involving a cluster of meteors that sparked a global nuclear war. On the day of the cataclysm, a company of U. S. (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Wasteland 2 received generally positive reviews from critics. The game holds an aggregate score of 80. 70% on GameRankings based on 32 reviews and a score of 81/100 on Metacritic based on 54 reviews. (Wikipedia)
At a glance
| Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game | Wasteland 2: Director's Cut | |
|---|---|---|
| GamingPickz Score | 8.2/10 | 7.4/10 |
| Steam rating | Very Positive (94%, 25,164) | Very Positive (83%, 8,104) |
| Critic aggregate | 89/100 | 87/100 |
| Price | $9.99 | $29.99 |
| Install size | — | 30 GB |
| Steam Deck | playable | Untested |
| Released | 2015 | 2014 |
| Developer | Interplay Inc. | inXile Entertainment |
Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.
Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game vs Wasteland 2: Director's Cut, point by point
Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.
Genre and premise
Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing GameOpen-world RPG gameWasteland 2: Director's CutAction-RPG open-world gameWhat each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.
How it plays
Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing GameRPG, Post-apocalyptic, ClassicWasteland 2: Director's CutRPG, Post-apocalyptic, Turn-BasedThe tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.
Reception
Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game ✓Score 8.2 · 94% on Steam · 89 criticWasteland 2: Director's CutScore 7.4 · 83% on Steam · 87 criticThe GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
Content and scale
Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game25,164 reviewsWasteland 2: Director's Cut8,104 reviews · 30 GBReach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.
Price
Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game ✓$9.99Wasteland 2: Director's Cut$29.99Read live from Steam and subject to change.
Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game takes 2 of the marked rounds to 0. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.
The two on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueFallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game and Wasteland 2: Director's Cut on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.
2 games have both
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
Which to pick, by what you want
- The higher-rated of the two: Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game (GamingPickz Score 8.2)
- The cheaper right now: Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game ($9.99)
- The safer bet by weight of reviews: Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game (25,164 reviews)
What they have in common
Both are tagged by Steam players with:
RPGPost-apocalypticOpen WorldIsometricTurn-BasedSingleplayerSci-fiAtmospheric
Where they differ
ClassicTurn-Based CombatMultiple Endings1990'sRetro2D
StrategyKickstarterIndieTurn-Based StrategySurvivalCrowdfunded
Tags players apply to one game and not the other.
Difficulty and who each is for
By the tags players apply, Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game is demanding, for players who want a challenge. Wasteland 2: Director's Cut is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.
System requirements, side by side
| Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game | Wasteland 2: Director's Cut | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum GPU | — | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 |
| Minimum CPU | — | Intel Core 2 Duo |
| Minimum RAM | — | 4 GB |
| Install size | — | 30 GB |
Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game · Wasteland 2: Director's Cut.
Accessibility features
Steam store pages declare 0 accessibility features for Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game and 1 for Wasteland 2: Director's Cut. A declaration is a floor, not a review.
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Common questions
How different are Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game and Wasteland 2: Director's Cut in scope?
Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game has drawn 25,164 Steam reviews. Wasteland 2: Director's Cut has drawn 8,104 Steam reviews and installs in 30 GB.
Is Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game or Wasteland 2: Director's Cut better?
By the GamingPickz Score, Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game rates higher (8.2 to 7.4). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.
Which is cheaper, Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game or Wasteland 2: Director's Cut?
Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game is cheaper right now at $9.99, against $29.99. Prices move, so this is read live from Steam and can change.
Should I get Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game or Wasteland 2: Director's Cut?
Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game rates higher, 8.2 to 7.4 on the GamingPickz Score, and Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game is the cheaper at $9.99. It also depends on what you want: the "which to pick" section above calls out which is cheaper, lighter on storage, better on a Steam Deck and the safer bet by weight of reviews.
Do you rank one above the other for a fee?
No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.
Related comparisons
All comparisonsHow we compare, and what we will not do
The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.