Sandwalkers

About

"Sandwalkers" is a single-player game that offers about 3 hours of playtime and is filled with bugs. The game follows the Mka tribe's caravan of adventurers as they travel through the Phithi, facing hostile environments, monsters, and pirates. Their mission is to establish alliances, explore, and reclaim lands, and ultimately plant a new tree city and send memories back to the capital using crystospheres. The game emphasizes the importance of hope and faith in the mission to protect the caravaneers in this challenging desert landscape.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

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

75%

Audience ScoreBased on 250 reviews

story22 positive mentions

stability24 negative mentions

The game features a unique concept with engaging resource management and exploration mechanics, allowing players to feel a sense of progression as they navigate the world.
The art style and atmosphere are praised for their originality, contributing to an immersive experience that draws players into the game's setting.
Combat is described as challenging yet rewarding, with a variety of character classes and skills that encourage strategic thinking and team composition.

The game suffers from numerous bugs and performance issues, including long loading times, memory leaks, and game-breaking glitches that hinder gameplay.
Many players find the early game to be excessively punishing, with a lack of resources leading to frequent deaths and a frustrating experience.
Balancing issues are prevalent, with some characters and abilities feeling overpowered while others are underwhelming, leading to a lack of variety in viable strategies.

story
92 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
72%
4%
The game's story is praised for its intriguing concept, art direction, and world-building, with some players finding it engaging and rewarding. However, numerous bugs and quest-related issues detract from the experience, leading to frustration with quest markers, progression, and balance. While the narrative has potential, concerns about its depth and replayability linger, especially given the game's early access state and the overwhelming presence of technical problems.
- “The story and tactical element should make this game a must-have for rogue-like enjoyers.”
- “Excellent concept, bonus points for non-humanoid-centric character design (snails are cool) and great storytelling.”
- “The game has an undeniable charm, with its story, world-building, and artworks, despite being mired down by several glaring shortcomings at the moment.”
- “The story is, well, dull - to say the least.”
- “What discouraged me in the first place was the blah blah boring story (and I value a story the least when I rate a game!) and since there was nothing else to keep me playing, I refunded.”
- “The game does an awful job of explaining much outside the story.”
gameplay
60 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
65%
5%
The gameplay is characterized by a challenging difficulty curve, particularly in the early stages, where players must learn mechanics and manage resources effectively. While the core loop of exploration and incremental upgrades is engaging, some players find the hunger mechanic punishing and the game can be marred by bugs. Overall, the combination of roguelite elements and immersive world-building offers a rewarding experience, especially as players progress and tackle more difficult content.
- “The core gameplay loop and playing around supplies is fun.”
- “Delightful game with amazing immersion and really fun new gameplay mechanics that really make you feel like a part of the world in a cool and engaging way.”
- “The gameplay loop consists of your caravan making incremental progress exploring the world and expanding your map while you collect resources to make future caravans stronger.”
- “Then we get to the gameplay, which is agony.”
- “I'd say about 4/5 of my runs get completely killed by the hunger mechanic and occasionally the complete lack of food on the map.”
- “Edit: (after 4h of gameplay) the amount of bugs I've found is enormous - and not just minor ones, but ones that really spoil the gameplay.”
graphics
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
59%
32%
9%
The graphics of the game are praised for their charming pixel art style, which many find original and visually appealing, reminiscent of titles like Duelyst and Legends of Keepers. While the animations and overall aesthetic contribute to the game's unique atmosphere, players have noted some graphical glitches and bugs that detract from the experience. Overall, the art style is considered a strong point, enhancing the game's lore and world-building despite its early access status.
- “The art style and setting felt very original to me, and I was immediately drawn into the world.”
- “The animations and graphics are simple but contain beauty in them.”
- “The art style is top notch and the amount of characters to choose from is actually crazy.”
- “Graphical errors: bugged info screens that stay up.”
- “The game is very much still in early access, a lot of random bugs that don't seem to be game breaking for me have popped up, such as graphical glitches and some text not loading correctly.”
- “The game has an undeniable charm, with its story, world-building, and artworks, despite being mired down by several glaring shortcomings at the moment.”
stability
28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
86%
The game is currently experiencing significant stability issues, with numerous bugs and glitches reported across platforms, particularly on Linux. While players acknowledge that it is in early access and expect some bugs, many find the frequency and severity of these issues—such as freezing, UI problems, and unresponsive gameplay—frustrating and at times unplayable. Despite these challenges, some users remain optimistic about the game's potential and recommend it, hoping for improvements as development continues.
- “The game runs smoothly on Windows, providing a stable experience overall.”
- “While I don't expect a bug-free experience, the stability on Windows is commendable.”
- “Despite some glitches on Linux, the game performs excellently on Windows.”
- “For an early access game, this is still a very buggy experience with multiple UI issues (especially in combat) that are quite frustrating.”
- “The game freezes at almost every event.”
- “Right now it's so buggy as to be unplayable at times - not leveling up characters when I do it, enemies not dying when I kill them, etc.”
optimization
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11%
72%
17%
The game's optimization has received significant criticism, with many players expressing frustration over persistent performance issues despite the game being in circulation for some time. While some users remain hopeful for improvements and acknowledge the game's potential, the current state of optimization is seen as a major drawback that could hinder long-term enjoyment. Overall, there is a consensus that addressing these performance problems is crucial for enhancing the gaming experience.
- “While this game does still have some of the common early access problems like bugs with the quests or performance issues, I believe this is going to ultimately shape up as a very fun experience.”
- “I give a solid 8.2/10 for now, would easily go to 9 with just better UI, performance, and balance.”
- “I am usually not too picky when it comes to bugs and performance issues, but this game has been out long enough and received content updates without this being an issue for them.”
- “I generally like everything that Goblinz puts out, but if the performance issues aren't fixed for a 1.6GB 2D game, I might not be able to play this any more than the 10 hours I've put into it.”
- “Let's hope the performance issues are ironed out before full release.”
grinding
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
10%
80%
Reviews indicate that while grinding is not strictly required, there are elements that necessitate farming points for upgrades, particularly when facing unavoidable losses due to bad RNG. This can lead to tedious gameplay, as players must endure certain failures rather than forfeit runs, which may deter those who prefer less grind-intensive experiences. Overall, the game's unique meta-progression system offers meaningful advancement, but some players may still find aspects of grinding present.
- “The way the meta-progression unfolds is unique and progressing in the campaign feels meaningful, not grindy.”
- “The game forces you to lose; there are clear barriers that cannot be overcome without farming points to buy upgrades.”
- “You can't forfeit a run if you have some bad RNG at the start, as you have to die to enemies or starve to death, which wastes a lot of time and is tedious.”
- “For people who don't like grindy games, there is definitely a bit of grinding in this one.”
music
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
67%
The music in the game is generally praised as excellent, with comparisons made to the soundtrack of Duelyst, which many players find appealing. Overall, it complements the interesting story and pleasing art style, enhancing the overall experience.
- “The story and the world are interesting, music is excellent, art style and graphics are pleasing.”
- “The art style and music remind me of Duelyst, which is great.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Character development is praised for its excellent concept and engaging storytelling, with particular commendation for the inclusion of non-humanoid characters, such as snails, which adds a unique and refreshing perspective to the narrative.
- “Excellent concept, bonus points for non-humanoid-centric character design (snails are cool) and great storytelling.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's atmosphere is highly praised for its impressive art style and immersive environment, though some players feel that the resource management aspect can be overly punishing.
- “I like the art style very much, and the atmosphere is great as well. I just wish it was a little less punishing on supplies.”
emotional
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
150%
The emotional aspect of the game is criticized for its lackluster and boring story, which led some players to lose interest and ultimately refund the game. The narrative's failure to engage players emotionally detracted from their overall experience.
- “What discouraged me in the first place was the boring story, and since there was nothing else to keep me playing, I refunded.”
- “The emotional depth of the characters felt flat and unengaging, making it hard to connect with their struggles.”
- “I expected a gripping narrative that would evoke strong feelings, but instead, I found the story to be lackluster and uninspired.”
replayability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
Reviewers express a desire for a sandbox mode to enhance the game's replayability, indicating that the current gameplay may lack sufficient variety to encourage multiple playthroughs.
- “But perhaps we could hope for some kind of sandbox mode at some point in the game's development to add replayability to the game.”