Why Wasteland 3 Fans Should Keep an Eye on Clockwork Revolution

Highlights

• Clockwork Revolution marks a significant departure for inXile Entertainment, moving from their familiar top-down isometric style to a modern generation action-adventure FPS RPG.
• Despite the shift in genre, Clockwork Revolution still maintains inXile’s strengths and vision, ensuring longtime fans will be interested.
• With a semi-dystopian steampunk Victorian-era setting, Clockwork Revolution draws inspiration from titles like BioShock, We Happy Few, and Dishonored, making it an engaging and unique experience for players.

inXile Entertainment is well-known for several critically acclaimed modern CRPGs, but the studio and some of its core members have a long and storied history that crosses paths with other recognizable developers and franchises. Specifically, its Wasteland series traces its original release to 1988 (though it was produced under Interplay’s banner, before the official formation of inXile itself) and was the precursor to Fallout, which has since become a highly prominent property in gaming and beyond, often eclipsing it despite technically being born from it. Later, inXile would acquire the full rights to Wasteland and revive the property, with 2020’s Wasteland 3 being widely considered the best and most refined entry in the series yet.

Shortly following Wasteland 3‘s success and positive reception, inXile announced that another title in a completely new IP was in early development. Clockwork Revolution will pivot away from the studio’s generally familiar CRPG party and turn-based isometric style, shaping up to instead be a modern generation action-adventure FPS RPG. And though this seems like a big break from inXile’s wheelhouse, there are many reasons why fans of Wasteland 3 and inXile’s other previous similar titles should be looking forward to Clockwork Revolution.

inXile was acquired as a first-party studio by Microsoft in 2018, and it is likely Clockwork Revolution will be included as a Microsoft exclusive/Game Pass title upon release.

Wasteland 3 Fans Should Be Interested by What Clockwork Revolution Promises to Offer

Clockwork Revolution is inXile’s First Foray into AAA Action FPS RPGs

The most immediately noticeable difference setting Clockwork Revolution apart from inXile’s prior works is the switch from the top-down isometric genre that the developer has often utilized into a heavier action-based FPS. It’s also been noted that Clockwork Revolution marks the studio’s biggest budget and largest planned scale to date. The Wasteland titles were already packed with tons of content, and their scope, particularly in Wasteland 3, was also quite sizable as is, even if they were not as expansive as some other adjacent titles. With Clockwork, the studio seems set on leveraging its talents and expanding its design philosophy into an area that is likely to reach a much wider audience demographic than before, while still focusing on the studio’s strengths and vision to keep longtime fans interested.

Clockwork Revolution Looks Like a Natural Evolution From Wasteland 3

Announced at the Xbox Games Showcase in Summer 2023, with its semi-dystopian steampunk Victorian-era setting and vibe, Clockwork Revolution springs to mind elements from titles like BioShock, We Happy Few, and Dishonored​​. inXile’s background and extensive experience working on RPGs with deep customization, intricate mechanics, and player agency point to them all still being an integral part of Clockwork Revolution. Wasteland 3 added a lot more polish and options to the foundations the franchise already had in place, and in somewhat of a circular situation, was marketed as both the predecessor and spiritual successor to the older Fallout games, particularly after Bethesda Studios acquired the rights to the IP and subsequently produced its versions of the Fallout vision that, while highly successful, were themselves a bigger departure from the series’ origins.

With inXile committing to a genre and design that is outside the comfort zone it normally specializes in, but armed with the fundamentals and backing knowledge of what worked well in its prior releases, Clockwork Revolution seems to already have a lot of the necessary cogs in place to make it an engaging experience and stand out from the increasing crowd of similar titles as well as its clear influences. Given this, players who enjoyed Wasteland 3 and/or inXile’s previous works, as well as fans of FPS RPGs who may not be as familiar with the studio, should both be excited by what Clockwork Revolution is poised to offer.

Though officially confirmed, inXile has not provided a possible release window for Clockwork Revolution as of yet.