What is The Wasted Lands? A Look at The New NFT & Puzzle-RPG Game

Play-to-Earn has been growing in popularity ever since the release of Axie Infinity in 2018.

However, one issue that has plagued many potential players is the barrier to entry.

Most Play-to-Earn gamers come from low-income households and it can be expensive for them to get started with a P2E career.

The Wasted Lands, a hybrid Puzzle/RPG/Strategy game believes they can solve that problem by combining the Free-to-Play and Play-to-Earn models.

In this post, we'll take a deeper look at the game, how it works and how players can earn an income by playing.

What is the Wasted Lands?

The Wasted Lands is an NFT based mobile and PC game with puzzle, RPG and strategy elements. The game is currently in beta and planned to release in March 2022.

The team behind the game includes developers who held senior positions whilst working on popular mobile games such as:

• Summoners Era
• Dungeon Hunter 5
• Despicable Me: Minion Rush
• Asphalt 9: Legends
• WWE Champions

The Wasted Lands: Gameplay Features

The Wasted Lands has two gameplay models, a Free-to-Play (F2P) model for non-NFT owners and Play-to-Earn (P2E) model for NFT owners.

Battles are fought using a Match 3 game style where you match gems together to make your warriors carry out successful attacks.

Players create a team of warriors, from different species including, humans, cyborgs and mutants. 

Players will also be able to build their own shelter, gather resources and breed their warriors, similar to the popular base building game Fallout Shelter.

The base building feature will let players create different rooms, with each one serving a different purpose.

You'll also be able to defend your shelter from attackers, by using your NFT warriors.

How The Wasted Lands Works

Players who own a warrior NFT have access to both PvE and PvP game modes, plus NFT staking and trading. 

However, players who don’t have a hero NFT (free players) can still play the game.

They’ll be able to claim a free, non-NFT default warrior through the tutorial quest.

Non-NFT players will only have access to the PvE mode until they have acquired a warrior NFT. 

These free players can play the PvE campaign with their free warrior and earn WAS tokens (which will be locked) and various items.

Items that are earned through the PvE mode can be sold in the marketplace to earn more WAS tokens. 

Once a free player has enough WAS tokens, they can convert the tokens into a warrior NFT.

This will open up the PvP section of the game for them.

Features for NFT Players

Players who use the Play-to-Earn mode can earn money through various ways:

• You can mint NFT warriors, auction them off or rent them out to other players
• Win rewards from tournaments and events hosted by the game developers
• Battling other players in PvP mode
• Earning $WAS tokens through PvE and PvP modes. 
• Resources earned through the game can be sold on the marketplace
• Staking $WAL tokens to earn passive income
• Staking NFT warriors to earn passive income
• NFTs can be fused and generated using WAL tokens and put on auction or to trade directly with other players.

NFT assets on The Wasted Lands

The Wasted Lands will support three types of assets:

1. Tokens (WAS & WAL)
2. TWL Warriors
3. TWL Artefacts

Players will also be able to own land, pets, and shelters upon the game's release in March 2022.

Below is a detailed look at The Wasted Lands asset types:

TWL Free Warriors

• A free reward earned from quests and only useable in PvE mode
• Cannot be traded, staked, fused or used for breeding

TWL NFT Warriors

• ERC-721 Tokens
• Can be fused and used for breeding to create new heroes
• Can be traded on the marketplace
• Can be staked

TWL NFT Resources

• Includes land, artifacts, pets, skills and special effects
• ERC-1155 Tokens
• Can be earned through PvE and PvP modes
• Found in loot boxes or by participating in quests
• Can be bought or sold in the marketplace

In-Game Staking

The team behind The Wasted Lands plan to eventually release various staking vaults, allowing players to earn staking rewards

For example, players can stake their WAL or Liquidity Pool (LP) tokens to earn passive income and in-game NFT items.

Players will also be able to stake their NFTs to earn experience. The higher the experience of their NFTs, the more powerful they become, allowing them to earn better rewards through more challenging battles.

NFT Warrior Renting

NFT owners can earn income by renting out their unused warriors to other players. This makes it possible for Free-to-Play users to earn in-game rewards using more powerful NFT warriors.

NFT warrior renting can be done on a peer-to-peer basis via smart contracts. 

However, the renter will need to deposit a token with an equal amount of value to the smart contract, this will be used as collateral.

If players want to rent without using any collateral, they can do so via the game itself, which will act as a trusted third party. 

This will make it easier for Free-to-Play players to earn rewards using more powerful NFT warriors.

In-Game Treasury

The Wasted Lands will have a treasury that oversees the management of all game assets, as well as bringing stability and sustainability to the game's economy.

A portion of the revenue earned in-game will go towards the treasury.

The treasury will be used to fund the games ecosystem in the form of achievement rewards, tournament prizes etc.

The Treasury will be built up of funds from:

• Purchase or rental of in-game assets
• Trading fees generated in the marketplace
• Fees for minting NFT’s
• Fees for fusing NFT warriors
• Fees collected from in-game activities
• Fees collected from the sale of equipment, pets, lands etc.

Token Utility for WAS & WAL

There will be 2 tokens in the Wasted Lands Ecosystem: $WAL & $WAS

The WAL token will be used for:

• Buying or renting NFT assets.
• Fusing and birthing (minting) the next generation of NFT warriors
• Wages for PvP battles.
• Staking for passive income
• Pay services fee on the marketplace 
• Governance 
• The purchase of exclusive merchandise & auction for NFT game assets

The WAS token uses include:

• PvE rewards
• Can be burned to upgrade in-game resources to higher-level NFT (land, artifacts, pets etc.)
• Can be burned to Redeem Warrior & NFT items
• Can be burned to speed up research in the game

Final thoughts

The Wasted Lands makes it easier for a new player to get into Play-to-Earn gaming with its rental models, free characters, and token rewards.

It also offers a compelling gameplay model with base-building elements, puzzle-based combat, PvP battles and fusions.

This game could prove to be a hit if their gameplay mechanics work out as intended once they release in March 2022.

I hope you enjoyed this story!

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