Hey Exiles,

It's that time of the year once again! E3 2015 has come and gone, and the gaming world has been flooded with big news from all over the globe. And we are no exception to that, as we have a huge helping of items ourselves to share with you!

The Bard's Tale IV – Just over 2 weeks left!

As some of you might have heard, the team behind Wasteland 2 has also been running a Kickstarter campaign for The Bard's Tale IV. We've fully funded the project thanks to the support of nearly 30,000 backers, but are looking to make this the epic scale game that you have come to expect from us! With only two weeks left on our campaign, we want to close in a big way.

If you haven't seen The Bard's Tale IV footage, you must check it out!

We say it all the time, but we mean it: our games would not happen without your incredible support. And we want to reward your generosity in the past by offering a special promotion for all of our returning backers.

Today we are happy to roll out an inXile Loyalty Rewards promotion! Anyone who backed Wasteland 2 or Torment: Tides of Numenera previously, who also backs The Bard's Tale IV at $20 or above, will get a FREE bonus reward containing items from either Torment, Wasteland 2 or The Bard's Tale IV (valued at up to $15)! These rewards include items such as digital soundtracks, novella compilations, concept art books and more.

Furthermore, any returning backers who back The Bard's Tale IV at the $33 tier or higher will additionally receive FREE copies of Ultima Underworld 1 & 2, from GOG.com and our friends at OtherSide Entertainment. This offer is only available until June 26th. If you are a returning backer and have already backed The Bard's Tale IV – and if you did, thank you! – the loyalty reward is also retroactive for you as well.

Simply back The Bard's Tale IV on Kickstarter using the same account you did previously in our system. We'll contact you after the Kickstarter campaign concludes so you can make your selection. For more details and the full roster of options available, please visit this page.

Of course, this is independent of our other special offer: all backers of The Bard's Tale IV at $20 and up, whether they've backed us before or not, will be getting a free copy of the Bard's Tale I-III Trilogy, letting everyone experience the original games that started it all.

We are very cognizant of how many emails you get each day so we promise not to update on the Bard’s Tale Kickstarter campaign again. Supporting inXile with each of our endeavors allows us to bring you a certain style of RPG that we know you love. 

So, we invite you to join us to hail the Bard’s return!

And now for something fun: Gavin/Miracle of Sound did a great rendition of "Money for Nothing", with his own RPG-themed take on it that we think will resonate with a lot of you. Take a look!

Featuring lyrics by Nathan Long, writer on Wasteland 2 and The Bard's Tale IV!

Wasteland 2 Director's Cut

Many of you are familiar with our previously announced Game of the Year Edition update for Wasteland 2. Today, we are happy to share with you that Wasteland 2 Game of the Year Edition will henceforth be known as Wasteland 2 Director's Cut. And to commemorate this occasion, we have a brand-new trailer to share with you, featuring all-new footage taken directly from the Director's Cut!

Why the change? We feel that this new title more accurately reflects the contents of the update. Rather than just being a repackaging of the same old content, the Director's Cut name indicates the sheer scope of the changes involved. With many all-new features that you have requested, overhauled graphics, an upgrade to a new game engine, and tons of new recorded voice-over, not to mention controller support and Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions – Wasteland 2 Director's Cut is truly the definitive version of the game. And of course, anyone who currently owns Wasteland 2 will get the Director’s Cut on PC, Mac and Linux for FREE!

E3 2015 – LA, here we come!

Associate producer Thomas Beekers has been working hard this week, hanging out at E3 2015 in Los Angeles along with Brian Fargo, Maxx Kaufman, Joey Betz, Erika Sass and myself. They were all on hand to demo the game for the press and fans running on real console hardware. We've been thrilled to finally take the lid off and share this version of the game for the first time. We managed to snap some photos of the fun so we could share it with you.

We are very proud of how great the game is turning out, and just how well it plays with a controller – not something you might expect from a top-down perspective party-based RPG. In fact, thanks to our new features like Precision Strikes, Perks and Quirks, the game celebrates replayability more than ever now.

The feedback we got from E3 was great not just for the sake of press coverage, but also for letting us get the game in the hands of eager testers for the first time. The game played great, and we were also able to take those first impressions to fine tune the game even more. As we move towards release we will be working to polish things up and make this the best version of Wasteland 2 yet, whether you choose to play with keyboard and mouse, or with a controller in hand.

As a general note, the screenshots and video in this update are all using our controller interface – but remember that we won't be forcing a controller-driven interface on you when you use mouse and keyboard.

We showed you Quirks – now, here's Perks

When we first announced this updated version of Wasteland 2, we hinted at a number of new features. One of those was Quirks, our personality-defining characteristics you pick when you start the game and which have both positive and negative aspects, but we haven't spoken about Perks in detail yet – the other side of the new character customization depth we've been cooking up.

Perks, unlike Quirks, are gained as you level up your characters. As you progress in the game you will earn Perk Points, which you can spend on Perks whenever you wish. Perks are per-character bonus you pick, and unlike Quirks, they are always positive stat and gameplay adjustments. Right now, we have it set up so that you gain a new Perk Point every 3 levels, though we're currently playing through the game balancing things out, so the rate you earn Perk Points may change by final release. Perks also have Skill requirements to unlock – for instance, you might need 3 in Toaster Repair, or 7 in Assault Rifles, with more useful or powerful Perks typically at higher Skill requirements.

This also gives us a great opportunity for us to give players more incentive to pick certain Skills, since now you might need to think about which Skills to get based on the Perks they unlock. Some Perks are a bit more universal in how they work. For instance, you might get a bigger Evasion bonus from hiding behind cover, but with others, you will get gameplay-altering features that will change how you approach combat or exploration, such as unlocking the ability to deal more damage when attacking from behind.

Here's a few more examples:

Deadeye: Slow and steady wins the race. In combat, your enemies keep an eye on you at all times - because if they don't, they're liable to lose theirs.

Benefits: -1 Action Point cost when firing Sniper Rifles if you haven't moved during your combat turn

Glancing Strike : Your prowess in close combat allows you to catch your enemies with a well-timed melee strike as they weave in and out of the fray.

Benefits: Gain melee Ambush attacks against enemies when they move past you in combat, dealing 50% normal damage

Powder Packer: You always seem to find ammo stuffed in the strangest places. Your friends won't ask.

Benefits: +10% chance of finding bonus Ammo when looting

And that's just a small sampling. We have over 80 Perks in the game for your party to earn, giving you new tactical options and choices in how you build your party. We are very happy in how the system has turned out and we can't wait to let you enjoy it!

Texas Hold 'Em – Ranger style!

That's all for now, but if you've been counting, we've still got a couple more bits and pieces to share with you before Wasteland 2 Director's Cut ends up in stores – or as a free update in your game library if you already own Wasteland 2 on PC. We hope to share more of those with you before we release in late summer of this year.

Chris Keenan
Project Lead - Wasteland 2 and The Bard's Tale IV
@RangerKeenan