Wasteland Punk, a turn-based RPG with a punk, post-apocalyptic setting, enters open beta today (Updated)

As the post-apocalyptic setting seems to be being left behind by cyberpunk when it comes to popularity, there's still definitely some room left for Wasteland Punk, an RPG set within a Mad-Max inspired dystopian future where society has fallen and only the strongest survive.

Wasteland Punk is a turn-based, party-based RPG. If that's drawing blanks then think Wasteland (1), Wizardry, Dragon Quest or Earthbound. You'll control a party of characters who explore the wastes and whom you'll have to cleverly command in combat in order to keep alive.  It's not just a sequence of combats however, you'll spend your time between a variety of destinations, from hub towns where you can trade, heal and recruit new mercenaries, through the combat encounters to an exploration-overworld where you'll direct your squad's vehicle around a grid-based map.

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While a lot of the ideas that are on show are things that many people will be familiar with, what we've seen of the game so far shows that it is incredibly refined, with some clever ideas at play, hidden among the blown-out vehicles and roving ravers.

Personally, I'm quite compelled by the maps within the game being procedurally generated and how, as the developers put it, the quests and encounters will all tie up into a greater campaign. You'll build up your own hub over time, and from there you'll be able to recruit, tweak and finesse the skills and talents of your pool of potential recruits. Apparently, there will be six primary, and 12 advanced, classes in the game. There's also a robust crafting system which reportedly scales to the full limit of the game - if you can build a simple version of it, then you can build a maximum level version of it... There's a lot going on.

Not only will you be able to directly command your mercenary squad during exploration, but you can also send other members of your mercenary band off on quests, so that even if you're not pushing forward, somebody is.

Wasteland Punk will be entering into Open Beta today for Android, we don't have a link to the storepage just yet, so we'd advise keeping your eyes on the game's website.