Sand, developed by Hologryph and Towerhaus and published by tinyBuild, is a co-op sort of looter battle royal game that focuses on exploration and combat. Players will either play solo or in a group and roam across the desert sands scavenging from ruined towns and wrecked ships. A good chunk of the early portion of the game will be focused on the player scavenging the wasteland, gathering various items. These items match the overall aesthetic the game is aiming for a sort of diesel punk mixed in with an industrial look. Moreover, the game focuses on providing players a different experience altogether, allowing most of the fun to occur through player agency, and this is demonstrated by the choices they can make. This makes Sand more focused on the gameplay element with a focus on collaborative efforts available to players
In terms of the gameplay, it overall feels great, as most of the game can revolve around looting the map. Before players can explore the map, they will need to build their personalized vehicle called “Tramplers,” huge vehicles that are mobile bases the player can respawn on. To go into some more detail as to how these “Tramplers” are made, they are based upon player input and can be customizable to fit the player(s) needs. They can be focused on PvP (player versus player), PvE (player versus environment), or storing items the player has obtained while traversing the map. As for how players can customize them, they will need to make them using various items obtained from the map to further customize their “Trampler” to their ideal mobile base. However, there are some mandatory requirements for the “Tramplers” to work, such as an engine, captain’s quarters, staff quarters, storage, and steering.
These are all integral for the “Trampler” to work and can be modified to have gun emplacements for either defense or offense and can be manned by a well-trained team that can dominate other players depending upon their ability to survive. This makes the game stand out, as most of the customization will come from the player’s ability to design the “Trampler” and its ability to withstand damage and then dish it out. Aside from that, players will need to explore and obtain loot either by finding it in abandoned ships or in rundown towns occupied by monsters. The loot for each area is random, but the abandoned towns in particular have some special events there boosting the total capacity of loot there. In addition to events that can be activated there, players will need to be cautious of not only the monsters there but also other players. To get into the end portion of the game, players will need to go to a radio tower located near the middle of the map and use the machines there to call in an airplane to get not only them but the “Trampler” out with all the loot they have scavenged. This means that the core gameplay loop can be summarized as: select “Trampler,” explore, collect loot, survive, and escape, then repeat. While there are some minor variations to this, such as when the player has to restart if they die or they lose their “Trampler,” the core element stays the same. The game itself is focused primarily around the gameplay, and its loop is quite ingenious, as players will most likely be aiming to collect as much as they can and escape successfully.
Overall, during the testing period, the game played as expected, and its main way of keeping players there will be its gameplay. As for how it feels and drawing comparisons to other games, Sea of Thieves is the obvious example to draw upon. This is due to how close the gameplay loops are, yet the overall experience between the two feels different, as in-depth customization of the game feels completely different. By making the mobile base itself a major change, it allows a sense of player agency to be strapped into the game. Plus, there is that feeling of riding a mobile base a player has made and just relaxing or fighting with friends. Sand by Hologryph and Towerhaus is a solid game that entices players to group up and explore the map in their custom base that provides them with a place to respawn, to fight, and to clown around on. From the gameplay alone and possible shenanigans that can ensue, Sand is a solid 8/10 game.
Sand is coming soon to Steam Early Access. You can wishlist the game right now.
Related: Reviews by Kyle Manila
I would describe myself when interacting with games as a strategist with a pension for stealth and loud explosions.
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