The beloved artist Akira Toriyama passed away, and the world is still in mourning. For many years, his distinct universes and passion for fantasy equipment have captivated the interest of enthusiasts across the globe. At the absolute least, fans can anticipate one final project from Toriyama in the form of Namco Bandai’s upcoming SAND LAND game. We had the good fortune to play a test version of the game.
Following in the footsteps of the manga of the same name, SAND LAND brings fans back together with Beelzebub, the demon prince, and his companions, along with Thief, his caretaker, and Sheriff Rao. You find yourself thrust into the enormous desert known as Sand Land, which is home to wandering beasts and abandoned villages. With a straightforward attack combo, a small number of special attacks, and some help from his buddies, Belz can hold his own against monsters. But charging headlong into battle and using your only weaponry isn’t really the greatest strategy: Belz will unavoidably run across stronger opponents—or enemy soldiers riding Bots, the armored vehicles of SAND LAND—no matter how hard you train against lesser rivals. Thankfully, Belz has a unique set of Bots that he can call upon whenever he pleases. Belz can carry up to five different Bots in capsules at any given time, each of which has a unique set of weapons. Belz is able to ride five different types of Bots: battle tanks, Walker Bots, motorbikes, and hovercrafts. You can outpace any soldier on the field by using any of these vehicles, which are all faster than walking. You may even equip them with weapons. However, these Bots are also handy for exploring new places: the Walker Bot can leap off cliffs and reach heights with ease, the motorcycle can cover large distances quickly, and the hovercraft is the only vehicle that can cross bodies of water.
Bots require a significant lot of dexterity as well. Motorcycles are quick, but if they come into contact with an impediment, Beelzebub will fly. They can only fire at objects that are immediately in front of them due to the positioning of their weapons. Walkers can increase the engine speed to charge their leap, but if they charge for an extended period of time, the engine will overheat and burn out. Though they lack traction, hovercrafts are quite adaptable. Since battle tanks are, well, tanks, they are a little too large for dungeons and enclosed spaces. Battle Armor suits are also the same, with the added drawback of being rather cumbersome to move around in. The benefit is that you can improve your Bots to any extent. In addition to a plethora of blueprints for more powerful Bot variants, your Bots can be outfitted with an abundance of weapons, ranging from heavy shotguns to Gatling guns and more. Even the paint jobs on their Bots are customizable by the players.
I investigated one of Sand Land’s numerous dungeons during the preview; to get through this ruin, I had to ride a hovercraft and flick switches to boost the water level and go deeper. The puzzles were entertaining, but halfway through one of them I ran into trouble since one of the necessary switches was a little too cleverly hidden among the ruin’s debris. The battle with the octopus boss at the end of the ruin required me to hop and swerve avoid tentacles while reloading ammo and firing projectiles.
Belz and friends had to infiltrate an enemy’s fortress covertly in this entertaining infiltration assignment. This necessitated some awkward stealth gameplay because it was difficult to tell where the enemy guards could see. I discovered that you could take out roving guards by approaching them covertly (the game had not told me about this feature). The chance to batter my way out of the dungeon while wearing brand-new Battle Armor and using one arm to deflect tank shells as our wrist-mounted Gatling guns fired away made it all worthwhile, though.
Unfortunately, my time with SAND LAND expired before I could play the preview through to the conclusion; there were still a lot of dungeons to explore and the Battle Arena, where Belz and his companions may battle waves of opponents for cash, blueprints, and weapons, to be explored. The foundation for an enjoyable open-world game was set by the little I played. Even riding a motorcycle around the sand dunes is enjoyable, but there are a few rough sections that could use some polishing. Another comfort for fans is that the manga’s narrative is carried on in the SAND LAND game, which enlarges SAND LAND’s globe and the enigmatic realms around it. On April 25, gamers may enjoy SAND LAND on the PS4, PS5, Steam, and Xbox Series X|S.
