Wastelander

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Build a colony on a storm-wracked alien world in turn-based strategy, with a Daily Challenge seed.

Play Wastelander

on store.steampowered.com

Wastelander colony on an orange alien map, with buildings, drones and the End Turn button

Wastelander is a turn-based colony survival strategy game. Crash-landed on a barren planet, you expand your colony, explore for alien technology and defend against ever stronger storms until you find a way off. Maps are seeded, and a Daily Challenge seed lets everyone compete on the same map.

About Wastelander

Wastelander is by Appstronaut Studios and left Early Access on Steam in July 2024, running on Windows, Mac and Linux. Your ship has been pulled down onto a desolate alien planet, and you must build a colony from its wreckage, explore, and escape before the storms grow too strong.

Every turn counts. You balance power for your colony, exploration of a map shrouded in mystery and defences against storms that hit harder each time. Scanners and drones reveal resources and supply drops, storm dispersers protect key buildings, terraforming changes the ground and dynamite opens paths through mountains. Ancient ruins unlock new technology and, eventually, a way off the planet. Sooner or later you have to decide which structures to sacrifice.

Maps are randomly generated from seeds. Besides random maps on several difficulty levels, the Daily Challenge seed gives every player the same map each day so you can compare high scores. Patch notes show the daily leaderboards being fixed after launch and a later fix to stop players starting dailies for future dates.

It is easy to learn but hard to master. It suits strategy fans who like short, tense survival puzzles and a daily map to measure themselves on.

How to play Wastelander

Buy and install Wastelander on Steam.
Start the Daily Challenge to play today's seeded map.
Each turn, build, explore and set up defences before the next storm hits.
Survive and make progress towards escape for the best score, then compare high scores.

Screenshots

Wastelander Supply Drop Found screen offering a choice of Imitation Gateway, Underground Storage or Disperser

Wastelander Steam header art: the game's title over a crashed ship in a red desert

Tips

Scout early with scanners and drones so you know where resources are before storms ramp up.
Keep enough power for your essential buildings before expanding.
Use storm dispersers on the structures you cannot afford to lose.