The Open Beta start date for Face of Mankind has been announced today on the official Face of Mankind forums.

Duplex Systems' Managing Director cautions that while the game may not be perfectly balanced, or contain all the features that Closed Beta testers were eager to see, that the game would never be able to attain "perfection" without widespread testing, and so the game will be open for testing to anyone interested come Saturday, December 5th 2009.

"Most things" will be wiped in the transition from closed to open beta, though the faction leader structure will remain in place to ensure a smoother transition.

A new comprehensive tutorial will also make its debut with the beginning of the open beta program. Which, according to Duplex Systems, is encouraged even for those of you who played Face of Mankind in its previous incarnation due to the myriad changes the game has undergone since then.

Read the original announcement here.