Sand Land as we know it today has existed for 20 years in the form of a manga series written and illustrated by the late Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama. This popular manga has been brought to life by ILCA and Bandai Namco Entertainment in the form of an open-world action RPG that faithfully recreates the world of Sand Land and its characters to deliver a heartwarming adventure worth experiencing for yourself. While the open world leaves something to be desired, Sand Land does a lot right that fans of JRPGs and fulfilling progression will enjoy.

The story of Sand Land follows the demon prince Beelzebub as he and some unlikely allies embark on a quest to find a legendary spring while the desert world of Sand Land is suffering from an extreme water shortage. As Beelzebub, players will lead this group of outcasts on a journey across a vast open world filled with enemies to defeat and interesting characters to meet. It’s a unique experience and a very surprising addition to the JRPG genre.

Sand Land Is a Heartwarming Adventure With Memorable Characters

The highlight of Sand Land is definitely its story and characters. The story starts off a little slow but quickly picks up speed after the initial false ending. In typical modern JRPG fashion, Sand Land’s story is cheesy but endearing, as what starts as a search for the source of the legend leads to much bigger problems than Beelzebub and his friends initially expected.

The characters in Sand Land make the entire adventure worth experiencing. The relationships between Beelzebub and his friends grow as the story progresses, adding to the game’s charm. Beelzebub is one of the most likeable characters in the game, thanks in large part to his cheerful personality. As a demon, he tries his best to appear as evil and tough as possible, yet his kindhearted nature always gets the better of him. His faithful companion, the Thief, named for his ability to steal others’ valuables unnoticed, is a very honorable and trustworthy friend, and often takes on the role of a wise advisor on Beelzebub’s journey.

As for the protagonist of Sandland, most of the character development occurs with Beelzebub’s human companions, Rao and Ann. As it turns out, Rao has a much longer history than the other characters initially realize, and all of this becomes clear as the first act of the game comes to an end. Lao delivers the weakest vocal performance in Sand Land, but is still a compelling character in the most important ways. Ann is also a likeable character with a significant backstory, but her primary role within the team is to equip the team with powerful and effective vehicles that help accomplish tasks.

Sand Land’s Progression Reinvents the Wheel

Unlike most action RPGs, where progression is tied to the player’s equipment, Sand Land’s progression revolves primarily around vehicles. As players progress through Sand Land’s story, they unlock several different vehicles to use in combat and transportation. Each vehicle has its own advantages and abilities, and they can be swapped almost instantly, whether the player is in combat or not. Vehicle customization in

Sand Land is extensive, as it is the primary means by which players increase their combat power. Every part of the vehicle can be customized, including primary weapons, secondary weapons, engines, suspension, and more, providing a highly personalized experience and satisfying progression. In Sand Land’s endgame, players will start acquiring special parts (Epic, Legendary, Mythic) that make their vehicles even more powerful, so it’s worth reaching that point sooner or later.

While most of the fighting in Sandland takes place behind the wheel of a car, Beelzebub and his friends have their own combat skills even on foot. Beelzebub has a skill tree with several different combat abilities that can be unlocked, and his companions also have their own skills with passive and active abilities that benefit the demon prince and his vehicle. Unfortunately, earning skill points to unlock these abilities is difficult in Sandland, as you only get a small amount of experience points for kills and quests.

Another important aspect of Sandland’s progression is the town of Spino, which also serves as the team’s home base and is one of the game’s most innovative features. An increasingly popular feature in open-world games is a constantly evolving world, and that’s exactly what Spino offers. At the start of the Sand Land game, players visit the dilapidated and ruined town of Spino and are tasked with ensuring its reconstruction. Instead of physically building a city or gathering materials to do so, players rebuild Spino by completing side quests. Completing certain side quests in the game will result in various characters traveling to Spino, opening new businesses there or providing decorative items to beautify the town’s appearance.

In fact, vehicles are so heavily emphasized in Sand Land that there is likely no reason for players to fight or advance on foot unless the game specifically prohibits them from doing so.

Once players have fully rebuilt Spino, they will have access to almost every type of material and vehicle part in the game, as long as they have the money and materials to buy or trade. This makes Sand Land’s side quests, which are often a tough obstacle for open-world games, well worth it. Sand Land’s side quests are pretty typical for an open-world title. h.Usually, players end up getting something or killing something, but their stories can be surprisingly compelling and emotional. But the real reward comes when these characters move to Spino and the town changes.

Sand Land’s Open World Is Repetitive But Rewarding

In some ways, Sand Land works as an open world game, as the premise revolves around a vast desert wasteland in need of water. Giving the player miles of land between objectives helps reinforce the sense of emptiness that the story tries its best to convey. But in other ways, Sand Land could have done without such a large open world, especially since much of the land in the game is too underutilized to justify its existence. Fortunately, later in the game, players can purchase faster vehicles that can get from one point to another fairly quickly. There are also numerous fast travel points that allow players to easily skip long and empty journeys.

Sand Land’s open world is mostly vast and empty, with nothing too innovative. It follows more familiar open-world models like those from Ubisoft, offering a vast world to explore, often filled with pointless and uninteresting activities. Recent open-world games are often criticized for cramming maps with symbols and making activities feel like a chore. Sand Land isn’t as cluttered as other games, but it’s not the number of activities that bloats the game, but the quality of those activities.

Sand Land probably would have been successful even without such a large open world, especially since much of the land in the game is too underutilized to justify its existence.

Exploration is rewarding thanks to the materials and vehicle parts the player can find. Still, the copy-and-paste nature of most of the game’s dungeons, caves, and other explorable locations makes the experience largely unsatisfying. It can quickly lead to burnout if players are not patient. Sand Land’s dungeons consist mainly of ruins, which are generally visually and structurally identical, but by exploring them players can obtain valuable coins that can be exchanged for valuable items. The caves are very shallow and overwhelming in number, but they often contain many substances, sometimes even rare vehicle parts. Similar to Ubisoft’s Far Cry series, Sand Land allows players to find and repair radio towers that show the surrounding environment and all activity, but often only makes the map even more crowded.

During exploration, dialogue between Beelzebub and his companions can quickly become repetitive, with players hearing the same lines over and over within the first hour of the game. If a conversation is interrupted for any reason, it will resume at the next opportunity, meaning players will end up hearing the same dialogue dozens of times over if they don’t look carefully before continuing. However, this dialogue changes slightly over time as the story progresses and the relationships between characters develop, all of which adds to the charm and heartwarming nature of Sand Land.

Sand Land Can Prove a Bit Rough Around the Edges

Despite all its charm, Sand Land is not without its rough edges. While it doesn’t have many technical issues, Sand Land’s most glaring issues concern quality of life and certain gameplay decisions. Open world exploration is a big part of Sand Land, so you’d expect the map to be intuitive. Unfortunately, Sand Land is full of winding roads and cliffs, and the map can’t represent these features in three dimensions. Therefore, it’s very difficult to figure out how to get from point A to point B when it’s not usually a straight line.

In terms of Sand Land’s gameplay issues, the game’s stealth segments are the most problematic. For the most part, they feel out of place in the overall experience and aren’t very well implemented. With no skill associated with stealth, each of these segments tends to be more of a trial and error experience than anything else. Additionally, Sand Land sometimes offers players the opportunity to decide for themselves whether or not to travel to Spinocity. However, such moments are rare, so it’s hard to feel like potential is being lost here. Still, any amount of player agency would be a refreshing change.

Sand Land’s story, characters, and gameplay are some of its best features, all of which make it stand out within the JRPG genre and continue to be fondly remembered even after the credits roll. The game’s open world relies a little too heavily on the open-world model that many players don’t enjoy anymore, but exploring the game still proves to be a worthwhile endeavor that contributes to a satisfying progression system. ILCA and Bandai Namco Entertainment have created something worthwhile in Sand Land that will suit both fans of the original manga and newcomers alike.