I've been playing Wasteland 2 alpha, and it is a lot of fun. For those of you who played the original Fallout and also Shadowrun Returns - its like a cross between those two games.
Having said that - I don't see this as a versus scenario. This is an "and" scenario. I will play Wasteland 2 and DOS. These are radically different games, and for this reason, I doubt that people are going to be saying: "Oh no, I only have money for one or the other". They'll get both. Wasteland 2 is less about Roleplaying and more about tactical combat.
Also - Shadowrun Returns Berlin is probably going to come out in the same time period. So start of 2014 looks like joy.
I don't think that there are any RPGs that are coming next year that will be directly competing with DOS:
- Witcher 3 is single-person, over-the-shoulder fighting game with hopefully awesome storyline and roleplaying (Witcher 2 was epic)
- Pillars of Eternity is not due until end of 2014, by that time, Larian might be working on an expansion for all we know
And PE is going to be more old-school, and therefore more punishing than what DOS is shaping up to be
- Torment Tides of Numenera is a relative unknown, and won't come out until 2015. The ambition is to make dialogue, rather than action, the focus. Which again makes this game very dissimilar to all the above.
The most unique aspect of DOS that I'm looking forward to, is the co-op RPG feature. The implementation as demonstrated in all videos I've seen to-date, is so fundamentally distinct, so very much a pillar of the game, that it should be stolen, plagiarised and emulated right across the spectrum of all RPGs from this day forth. This is a game I'd be happy to play with my gf. I cannot say the same about *any* other RPG I've seen.
So yeah... I hope that English-language game reviewers really take a good look and give it a fair review for the *unique* mechanics, rather than go into it, comparing it to yet-to-be-released American RPGs (because there will be people who will compare it to Wasteland 2. Wrongly)
Peace out, y'all.
