Wasteland 3's next patch will add more difficulty options, including permadeath

Wasteland 3 continues to be updated, with the post-apocalyptic RPG receiving patches like the one inXile called "Save Scummer's Delight", which reduced load times by up to 60 percent, and one that buffed the swearing parrot and cyborg chickens. 

The next update is called "Death & Taxes", and will bring Wasteland 3 up to version 1.3.3. If you've already finished the game and are looking to make things harder, this sounds like the update for you. It's adding a permadeath mode, which will mean members of your party who bleed out can't be brought back by a doctor or a convenient nitro spike jammed in their heart. If every Ranger in your party drops, it's game over. As inXile explains, "This is because the light of life has been extinguished from the party and the forces of evil have triumphed. Unless you were the forces of evil, in which case perhaps the forces of light and good prevailed when they killed you."

Permadeath will be a singleplayer-only option, as having one half of a co-op game lose their characters and be reduced to a spectator probably wouldn't be a fun time.

Another optional feature will up both the difficulty of all skill checks and the stat requirements to use items by two points, forcing characters to specialize more. By the end of the game my high-intelligence characters had enough bonus skill points to be jacks-of-most-trades, but this option will push you to focus on a handful of skills for each character and make sure none of them double up. 

To make that easier, a respec option will be added at Ranger HQ. Your first two respecs will be free, but after that each time you decide to retrain it'll cost an increasing fee.

Version 1.3.3 will also throw in 23 new scars, tattoos, and helmets to customize characters further and what inXile are calling "a heck-ton" of improvements and fixes. It should be out in early March.