Continuing our mini-series on Metaverse platforms, today we are going to be covering a real genre-bender: Metalands. Metalands is a free-to-play first-person shooter game and metaverse experience with ERC-721 NFT-based asset ownership at its core. Metalands, currently in the alpha stage, plans to offer action-packed multiplayer and campaign game modes, within a cohesive metaverse. Players can interact in their own metaverse bunker and join clans to put the whoop on their opponents. Utilising the battle-tested Unity game engine and an easily accessible blockchain-first design mantra, Metalands delivers a game that is slated to be both fun to play while also doing justice to the idea that ownership of in-game assets in a first-person shooter makes sense.
Starting with the basics, Metalands will feature three in-game currencies: CIFI, xMETA, and META. CIFI (an abbreviation of Citizen Finance) is the medium of exchange and token that can be used for value transfers. xMETA is the in-game currency, used primarily for store purchases, while META is the in-game currency used for crafting, upgrades and purchases. Users are encouraged to use CIFI to purchase META, as this will give them a discount. Outside of the in-game currencies, there are of course NFTs — these represent everything from how a player’s metaverse, player or weapon will appear in-game. This level of customisability and ownership is sure to attract some of the $89 billion spent on in-game assets in 2019.
Metalands has introduced an interesting concept: that an FPS and a metaverse platform can coexist. This concept takes the form of Bunkers: shared digital spaces where players can build up their gameplay experience and collaborate with other members of their clan, all represented by NFTs and stored on the blockchain. Each bunker hosts its own crafting station, where players can craft new weapons from resources gathered through gameplay as well as upgrade existing items. Players retain full ownership of these items in the form of NFTs. As stated earlier, Metalands is in alpha and currently only a practice shooting range level is available for those who want to test it out. It is admittedly a little buggy at times.
However, there is a major update imminent in the form of a playable demo — with a release date on April 22! The Haptic Guardians playable demo will feature a number of improvements over the current alpha experience: this includes three playable maps, easter egg hunts to reward players with bunker items, PvE game modes and bunker customisation. Players will be provided a black haptic suit during the playable demo, with blockchain features and NFTs dropping in the next release. Meanwhile, easter egg hunt participants will have five minutes per match to collect randomly-spawned easter eggs while also fighting Haptic Guardians. Included in the update about Haptic Guardians was a community suggestion that Bunkers can actually be used as validators on a Metalands AVAX Subnet, hinting that Bunkers may be getting some additional utility in the future.
With so much going on in the Metalands metaverse, be sure to participate in the playable demo and, of course, stay tuned to GamiFi.gg for the very latest in metaverse, play to earn and blockchain-enabled games.
