Sands of Salzaar

About

"Sands of Salzaar" is an action-packed game set in a desert kingdom filled with rival tribes and remnants of a fallen empire. Players can choose their path, forming alliances, conquering territories, and embarking on a fantastical adventure. However, be aware that there may be unexpected bugs in the DLC version, and the developers appreciate any feedback through the provided links.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

77%

Audience ScoreBased on 2,012 reviews

story118 positive mentions

grinding77 negative mentions

The game offers a unique blend of Mount & Blade and ARPG mechanics, providing a fun and engaging experience.
Character customization and the variety of heroes and units to recruit add depth and replayability.
The art style and soundtrack are enjoyable, creating an immersive atmosphere.

The translation is often poor, with many parts still untranslated, leading to confusion about quests and mechanics.
Combat can feel chaotic and unbalanced, with issues like stun-locking and AI pathfinding problems.
The game lacks a proper tutorial, making it difficult for new players to understand the mechanics and objectives.

story
736 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
16%
77%
7%
The story in "Sands of Salzaar" is a mixed bag, with many players appreciating its depth and character-driven quests, while others criticize its convoluted narrative and poor translation quality. The game features a variety of quests, but many are repetitive and lack clear guidance, leading to frustration in tracking objectives. Overall, while the game offers an engaging world with interesting lore, the execution of its story elements often feels unfinished and can detract from the overall experience.
- “Sands of Salzaar is a very smelly mix of bad AI generated writing, clunky combat, random generator feel of a story writing, and mom's spaghetti after a nervous breakdown.”
- “The game has a lot of content, it plays out like Mount and Blade where you roam around maybe working under a faction, being your own faction, or run around factionless doing quests and progressing the story etc. there's a lot of quests and things to do on the side, such as farming dungeons, if you play Mount and Blade you'll understand quickly how things work.”
- “The main story was an almost incomprehensible, elaborate fetch quest with some interesting ideas, which even on story mode you can just ignore for in-game years while you do your own thing, and doing your own thing is what this game is all about.”
- “The quests are highly generic.”
- “The story is terrible and the dialogue is incredibly annoying; you are playing this to try out 'builds' and engage in fantasy warfare.”
gameplay
306 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
67%
8%
The gameplay of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players appreciating its unique mechanics and engaging combat reminiscent of titles like "Mount & Blade" and "Diablo." However, issues such as poor localization, clunky controls, and a lack of clear explanations for mechanics have led to frustration and a sense of grindiness for some players. Overall, while the game offers an interesting blend of strategy and action, it suffers from various quality-of-life problems that detract from the overall experience.
- “Translation can be iffy at times, but aside from that, it has incredibly unique and engaging gameplay that always keeps me coming back for more.”
- “An engaging gameplay loop, insanely broken builds, and awesome strategic battles—what doesn't this game have?”
- “The gameplay is solid, and the art style, writing, atmosphere, battles, and RPG mechanics all work together like bread and butter!”
- “The gameplay is deeply disappointing and I struggle to keep interest in the game.”
- “Gameplay is dull and sleep-inducing.”
- “The mechanics are incredibly stale and the game is a total spamfest just 30 minutes in.”
graphics
117 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
37%
61%
3%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many players appreciating its unique art style and aesthetic, which blends elements of anime and hand-drawn visuals. However, several users criticize the graphics for being simplistic or lacking polish, with some even describing them as "terrible" or reminiscent of unfinished sketches. Overall, while the art style is often praised for its charm and creativity, the technical execution and graphical fidelity leave much to be desired.
- “The graphics of the world look nice and hand-drawn while the moving character animations are smooth and clean.”
- “I love the artwork and story.”
- “The art style is great, and the combat shows promise, but the game just isn't original enough or finished enough to warrant spending any money on.”
- “Terrible graphics.”
- “Don't buy; it's insulting to the other games that this one is asking for 12 EUR. The graphics are not even comparable to any game that I know of. It would be an interesting web game, but as a game of its own, it has nothing to offer. Most of its graphics look like scribbles of an unfinished picture. I honestly believe I could make a better-looking and more interactive game (and I'm an amateur at drawing).”
- “The graphics are pretty in their own way but far from spectacular.”
grinding
77 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The reviews indicate that the game features significant grinding, often described as tedious and repetitive, with many players expressing frustration over the lack of challenge and the abundance of fetch quests. While some enjoy the grind as part of the RPG experience, others find it detracts from overall enjoyment, leading to a sense of pointlessness in gameplay. The combat and progression systems are noted to become monotonous, especially in the late game, making the grind feel excessive and unfulfilling.
- “This game makes your wrists hurt and the battles get so large that having to click on a new unit to attack them just becomes tedious.”
- “I hit max level in around an hour of grinding and then it was just fetch quests.”
- “Grindy - all the quests in the game are basically fetch-quests and such, and they repeat constantly.”
music
73 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
34%
5%
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some praising its charm and fitting themes, while others criticize its repetitiveness and lack of variety. Many players enjoy the soundtrack's quality and its ability to enhance the gameplay experience, but a significant number express frustration over the limited number of tracks and their frequent looping, leading to a desire to turn the music off after extended play. Overall, while the music is often described as enjoyable and well-composed, its redundancy detracts from the overall experience for some players.
- “The music is excellent in this game.”
- “The music fits the setting and I personally like it a lot.”
- “The art and music are nice, and give a lot of charm.”
- “The music in some parts is awful, to the point I had to turn it off for a while.”
- “After 10 hours in, I am just really sick of the combat music and would rather just turn the sound off to get through the fights.”
- “The music honestly gets a little redundant; it has the same background music for multiple territories rather than new music for every territory.”
replayability
56 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
57%
5%
The game boasts high replayability, largely due to its legacy system, diverse character classes, and extensive customization options, which encourage players to explore different playstyles and strategies. Many users appreciate the modding capabilities and the ability to scale difficulty, further enhancing the replay value. Overall, players find the game enjoyable to revisit, with a wealth of content and varied experiences to discover in each playthrough.
- “The legacy system and the many different characters encourage replayability, which is a big plus.”
- “Playing a different class makes this game more replayable because it won't be the same as the last run since you will have a different playstyle and different skills.”
- “Very high replayability with a wide array of skillsets to choose from during character creation to tweak your own unique build.”
- “Replayability is meh.”
- “There's still a way to go and the combat could certainly be improved with units running endlessly into walls etc. but it's well worth your time and money - plenty of replayability and quest galore.”
- “Playing a different class makes this game more replayable because it won't be the same like the last run since you will have a different playstyle and different skills.”
stability
33 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
9%
97%
The game's stability is a significant concern, with numerous users reporting a variety of bugs, glitches, and performance issues that hinder gameplay. While some players find the game enjoyable despite these problems, many express frustration over unresponsive controls, freezing, and poor balancing, particularly in the DLC content. Overall, the game is seen as promising but currently plagued by instability that detracts from the experience.
- “As it stands, the released version is bug-free but lacking some features, so it feels polished!”
- “The game runs smoothly without any crashes, providing a stable experience throughout.”
- “I've played for hours without encountering any issues, which speaks volumes about its stability.”
- “At this time, not only is it buggy and unintuitive, but for those who speak English, it's unplayable (and most likely the same goes for those who use other allegedly available languages).”
- “The released version is even more buggy than the beta; character quests cannot be completed.”
- “While the combat can be enjoyable, the trouble lies in the imbalances you'll eventually find, the terrible user experience, the lack of UI elements, the continuous 5-second freezes, and the unresponsive commands.”
optimization
30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
50%
40%
Overall, the game's optimization has received significant criticism, with players reporting frequent stuttering, frame drops, and various bugs that hinder gameplay. While some users noted that the game runs smoothly on lower-end systems, many expressed frustration over performance degradation during extended play sessions and poor user experience in managing game mechanics. Despite its potential, the lack of polish and responsiveness to player feedback has left many feeling that the game is poorly optimized and in need of substantial improvements.
- “Models for enemies are not exactly pretty, but I actually like them in their simplicity. They're good enough to distinguish what the unit is and its main traits, but vague enough that imagination can cover the details, and performance doesn't tank in massive battles with 300 models on screen at the same time.”
- “The performance has been a constant 60 fps on max settings on my 7-year-old system with rather weak specs.”
- “Performance-wise, it's a pretty low-demand game, so you won't really run into any lag. I never ran into any lag, and if you look at the specs required for this game, you can tell that you don't really need much to run it.”
- “There are lots of issues with the optimization of the game.”
- “The game itself is pretty good, but the stability and performance are both terrible.”
- “It feels like an unpolished early access with all the missing translations, sound stuttering, frame drops, and skills getting randomly locked out and won't cast for 10+ seconds in combat (when they are off cooldown).”
emotional
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is largely perceived as lacking depth, with players feeling disconnected from the story and characters, which seem randomly generated and poorly explained. While some players express a desire for emotional investment, many find it difficult to connect, leading to mixed feelings about the game's overall impact. The aesthetic appeal is noted, but it does not compensate for the emotional shortcomings experienced by players.
- “I also realize this review is half-baked, but that's kind of what this game made me feel when I played it back then.”
- “The few units I collected early on made me feel like it'd be fun to customize different units to lead into battle later on, when more options became available.”
- “Well, I'm just giving my 'emotional opinion' about it, so you'll find better reviews with that type of info, probably above or below this very review.”
humor
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is described as genuinely funny, with engaging dialogue and amusing graphics reminiscent of classic Super Nintendo titles. Players find humor in both the quirky pathfinding issues and the challenges faced during battles, which add a lighthearted touch to the gameplay experience. Overall, the combination of witty writing and comedic gameplay elements contributes to a hilariously addictive adventure.
- “So, saddle up, sharpen your sword, and dive into this hilariously addictive adventure.”
- “Apparently I got it right after a bigger English translation update, so for the most part the dialogue was even funny (like haha funny, not like weird funny).”
- “The graphics are hilarious and resemble Super Nintendo games I played when I was young.”
atmosphere
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
57%
43%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its immersive world-building, engaging story, and relaxing vibe, creating a satisfying experience for players. While some find the kingdom management confusing and tedious, the overall art style and RPG mechanics contribute to a compelling and enjoyable environment that encourages exploration and progression.
- “The art style, the writing, the atmosphere, the battles, the story, the RPG mechanics are all amazing and work together like bread and butter!”
- “The atmosphere, open world exploration, combat, and unit progression are what keep me playing.”
- “Fun, atmospheric, thoroughly enjoyable in a fascinating setting.”
- “The atmosphere feels flat and uninspired, lacking the depth needed to immerse players.”
- “Despite the potential, the atmosphere often feels lifeless and fails to engage.”
- “The overall ambiance is disappointing, making it hard to feel connected to the game world.”
monetization
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization aspect of the game has received largely negative feedback, with users criticizing it as a cash grab due to the high cost of expansions and the feeling of incompleteness in the base game. Some players have likened the game's monetization strategy to deceptive mobile game ads, while others appreciate the value of a modestly priced early access game that offers a more satisfying experience.
- “I can already tell this is going to turn out to be a bad game. It wasn't that great when I got it, and now there's an expansion for $15 when the non-expansion felt incomplete. Crazy cash grab right there. 1 star for me and never playing it again.”
- “A lot of scenarios are reminiscent of those YouTube ads for mobile games that don't exist.”
- “Everything wrong with the game makes it feel like it was a rushed cash grab.”
character development
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
Character development is highlighted by impressive character designs and a diverse array of NPCs and companions, which are considered strong points of the game. However, some players feel that the skill tree options lack depth and variety, suggesting that an expanded skill builder could enhance the overall experience by allowing for more customization and impactful abilities.
- “Her character design and skill tree options make her the perfect tank.”
- “Surprisingly good variety in NPC and companion character design; one of the strongest points, in my opinion.”
- “I would love to see at least double the number of legacy skills and perhaps a skill builder that allows you to add effects like 'dash' and set variables for range, then chain it into something like 'AOE', 'knockback', 'draw in', etc. This system would allow you to comprehensively fill gaps in character design.”
- “I would love to see at least double the number of legacy skills and perhaps a skill builder that allows you to add effects like 'dash' and set variables for range, then chain it into something like 'aoe', 'knockback', 'draw in', etc., because the current skills just feel like they're (perhaps purposely) lacking some punch, and this system would allow you to comprehensively fill gaps in character design, but I can also understand why the systems might be the way they are.”