Sand Land has many amazing elements throughout the game. From the beginning, you can see how involved the late Akira Toriyama was in the creation of the game. It’s a lot like his work, and there’s a lot to love in this cartoony action RPG set in a post-apocalyptic world.
Top 10 Things About Sand Land
Sand Land is a great game to play, no matter what difficulty level you choose when starting a new game. Easy mode is perfect for RPG players who enjoy story narrative, while Hard mode will be better for players who want the action scenes to be more challenging. Beyond that, there are many amazing features; It really brings together the best parts of an RPG into one game that is super fun.
I primarily use the Nintendo Switch for gaming, so it’s a little disappointing that Sand Land isn’t available on the Switch. It would make a great Switch game; It has that kind of feeling a lot. Fortunately, it’s available on Steam and works great on the Steam Deck, so all is not lost if you want to play on the go.
Self Pickup Items
The auto-pickup feature is absolutely one of my favorite things about Sand Land. Items automatically come to you after you kill any enemies or hit any plants or wildlife with your vehicle. You have to be in the general area for them to float, so be sure to run/drive next to your fallen enemies.
It bothers me that I have to collect each individual item. As a Disney Dreamlight Valley and Animal Crossing player, it’s the absolute most tedious thing for anyone who’s just trying to enjoy a game. I don’t want to spend the next 10 minutes picking up a bunch of items one by one.
The team behind Sand Land (ILCA) made the best decision possible by including an auto-collection feature and I wish more games would do the same. A quick note: you have to pick up the vehicle parts yourself, but you can do it from the comfort of your tank.
Cliff climbing
I admit that I have a bit of a penchant for climbing cliffs and buildings in RPGs. It started many years ago with various MMORPGs I played, and then I started working my way through the Assassin’s Creed series and that made it much better.
If you’re someone who likes climbing to the top of things and jumping off of them (looking at you, Genshin Impact fans), you’ll find double-jumping down Sand Land’s various rocks and cliffs to be quite delightful.
Sneak/Steal
The game’s pickpocketing and robbery mechanics feel like a lighter version of Assassin’s Creed to me. With white, yellow and red indicators, the challenge is greater than simply finding the supplies you are looking for. Additionally, you can occasionally switch to Thief to sneak around and steal things instead of being forced to stay in one role – a nice touch.
Related: Sand Land Stealth Mode Complete Guide
Driving on terrain
Desert driving is something I really enjoyed doing in Sand Land. You can hit pretty much anything you come across, including trees, cacti, birds of prey, and flat rocks.
Driving on terrain is super fun, and by driving over flat rock formations you can create a more rugged course that feels a bit like a Mario Kart race. As long as you don’t drive off the edge of the cliff, there are no limits to your driving capabilities.
As you progress through the game, you will unlock more vehicles, each with their own capabilities. Rao’s car may have been a very basic model, but soon you’ll find yourself behind the wheel of a jumping robot or an off-road vehicle.
Related: What to Avoid (and Get Right) When Driving in Sand Land
Dinosaurs (raptors)
I know they’re called raptors in the game, but I remember seeing the first one and blurting out the word “Dinosaurs?!” It’s great to see these types of creatures in a post-apocalyptic game and they fit the setting quite well. Toriyama also had several variations of dinosaurs in Dragon Ball, so it’s nostalgic to have them in Sand Land.
Additionally, the various crafting materials (raptor scales, glowing green scales, and alpha raptor scales, etc.) that you can obtain by running your vehicle at raptors repeatedly or attacking them using hand-to-claw combat, you can eventually craft and upgrade them. . vehicle parts.
Skip scenes
The skip cutscene feature is a beautiful thing to include in Sand Land. For players who like to play more than once or try to speed up a game, the cutscenes can get really tedious.
Once you’ve played that part of the game once, you won’t want to see the same cutscene again if you just reloaded the game after dying or failing a mission. Having the ability to skip scenes can help you get back to where you were much faster.
button attack
I remember playing the old Dragon Ball Z games on PlayStation 2 with my brother when we were younger, and the fighting style in Sand Land immediately reminded me of those days. It has almost exactly the same feeling.
While there is strategy to attacking and defending in Sand Land, you can also happily button your way through most fights. This is the perfect feature for narrative players who want to play the game for the story and aren’t really worried about what special abilities their character can fight with.
character design
The first thing I noticed when I started Sand Land was how similar Beelzebub, the Demon Prince of humanity and the main character you play, is to Majin Buu from Dragon Ball. From the purple cape and pink skin to the secret goodness within, this was a very nostalgic throwback for me.
There are other similarities between Sand Land and Dragon Ball characters, and I don’t really care. It absolutely feels like Toriyama’s work, even though it was completed after his death. His style is very evident in the design of the characters and their personalities.
Papa Lucifer and the kind Beelzebub
I can’t say I expected to start this game and have Beelzebub give water to a human child in the first few minutes. I also didn’t expect dad-coded Lucifer to tell his son to only play his video games in a well-lit room. This set the stage for the game for me. In both of these interactions, I knew exactly what to expect from the main character next and I was not disappointed.
The history
As a final farewell to Akira Toriyama, I don’t think there can be anything better than Sand Land. It encompasses everything I’ve come to know about Toriyama’s storytelling over the years and sets out several clear messages throughout the game that are important lessons for people of any age.
Sand Land is fun to play, it has funny and serious moments, and the story behind the events of the game makes you question everyone’s motives and how you react to each encounter. This is a moving story of unlikely allies who come from difficult places. Despite their suffering, they work together for the good of their people.
Rest well, Toriyama-sensi. You have left us something beautiful.
Looking for more Sand Land MyFullGames content? Check out our guide on How to Climb Hills in Sand Land and How to Get All Parts for Jump Bot in Sand Land.