The Sandbox

About

The Sandbox is a single player casual simulation game. It was developed by PIXOWL INC. and was released on June 29, 2015. It received neutral reviews from players.

"The Sandbox" is a PC game that offers a unique world-building experience with a mission-based approach. Players can create vast worlds using elements presented in 2D pixel blocks that interact with each other. The game boasts over 16 million players on mobile and tablet versions, and the PC version allows for even bigger worlds with immediate access to all elements. Craft, play, and share your creations in this immersive game!

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

+10

Skip User Reviews

51%

Audience ScoreBased on 381 reviews

graphics4 positive mentions

stability11 negative mentions

The game offers a nostalgic experience for those who enjoyed the mobile version, with a variety of elements to play with.
Players can create and destroy freely, allowing for creative expression and experimentation.
The game has a decent amount of content and missions, providing some entertainment value for a short period.

The PC port is poorly optimized, with frequent crashes, bugs, and a lack of essential features like windowed mode.
Many players find the gameplay repetitive and lacking depth, leading to boredom after a short time.
The game is missing several features and elements present in the mobile version, making it feel incomplete and abandoned.

story
28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11%
78%
11%
The game's story is described as having a fleshed-out campaign with numerous missions that serve both as content and tutorials, allowing players to learn while having fun. However, the implementation of mission skipping has been criticized for being overly generous, enabling players to bypass challenges and profit from in-game currency, which undermines the intended mission structure. Overall, while the story mode offers substantial content, the balance between gameplay and mission design has raised concerns among players.
- “Its pretty fun, it's got lots of content and has a fleshed-out story mode, so you won't run out of content. If you run out of story mode, you've got the sandbox, which I'm not into yet, but I might learn how to use it later.”
- “The story teaches you how to play, letting you have fun while it does so.”
- “(Note: there are a plethora of 'story mode' levels, as well as a campaign mode that serves as a more in-depth tutorial.)”
- “I specifically wanted this game for its mission structure, and as it stands, one can skip every mission in the game because the developers didn't feel like doing subtraction.”
- “You can buy your way through the campaign; it costs 150 in-game currency to pass any mission, most missions give you over 200 or even into the 1000s if completed, and for some reason when you skip the mission you still get the in-game currency, so you can basically buy your way through the campaign and still make a profit.”
- “Constant bugs in the game and on Steam; missions were badly designed and ranged from too easy to impossible (actually, some were too broken to complete).”
graphics
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
56%
19%
The graphics of the game have received overwhelmingly negative feedback, with many users criticizing the low-quality retro pixel art and lack of graphical options, such as windowed mode. Players noted that the visuals appear to be a simple upscale of a mobile game, leading to a disjointed experience that detracts from gameplay. While some appreciated the artistic style, the overall consensus is that the graphics are poorly executed and hinder the gaming experience, especially in later levels.
- “Also, the graphics / the art are amazingly done, however there again, the resolution has not been edited in a single way so you're basically just gonna play a resized / larger pixel version of the iPad game.”
- “Graphics: 8/10 (9/10 if it wasn't for the mentioned scaling / no resolution situation)”
- “You fix / address these issues and I'll probably give this a good review, considering the graphics and future updates stuff look / sound really good.”
- “The graphics are awful, the worst kind of 'retro' pixel graphics.”
- “Visuals - well pixel 'art', but it is hard to use the word 'art' here; the pixel style is barely functional and not good looking by any standards.”
- “It promises HD graphics, but all I saw was a tablet game pretending to be a PC game, complete with a bordered 'HD' fullscreen mode.”
music
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
23%
54%
23%
The game's music is frequently criticized for glitches, often getting stuck in a repetitive loop and changing unexpectedly with user interactions. While players appreciate the creative potential to make their own music, the overall quality of the in-game music is considered subpar, with many rating it around 4/10. Despite these issues, some users still find the game enjoyable.
- “There are many things you can make in this game, such as making pictures, making music, or learning science.”
- “You can make music to games to art.”
- “It is 2D and you can go creative and do pixel art, music art, or simply watch the theory of evolution take place.”
- “The game music will only play for 3 seconds and will keep repeating that cycle.”
- “The music sometimes breaks in this game.”
- “Music frequently becomes glitched in a half-repeating loop, but usually that only happens when you've been playing the game for a while.”
stability
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from significant stability issues, including frequent crashes, glitches, and unresponsive elements like invisible mouse pointers. Many users report that these bugs severely impact gameplay, making it unplayable for some and detracting from the overall experience. Despite its interesting concept, the persistent technical problems have led to widespread frustration among players.
- “The game is buggy, with problems with crashes and invisible mouse pointers.”
- “Interesting concept, but unfortunately is buggy and tends to crash.”
- “It lags, glitches, and for a lot of computers, doesn't even work.”
gameplay
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
12%
38%
The gameplay has been criticized for numerous bugs and technical issues, leading to a frustrating experience for players. While there are some interesting mechanics, the overall execution feels unpolished and lacks smoothness, resulting in a low satisfaction rating.
- “Cool mechanics, though!”
- “Many fun nuanced mechanics to learn.”
- “It is really hard for me to explain why, but I think it is a mix of the available elements and the gameplay just not feeling that smooth.”
- “In terms of buying things that affect the gameplay, one can use mana to skip missions just as they could in the mobile original, but they messed up badly in the implementation in a way that just screams feckless.”
- “The game cannot be windowed without knowing to press F1 instinctively, gameplay sound effects will randomly play on menus if the window loses focus, text strings have missing value injections frequently, and the options menu has nothing beyond muting the music or sound effects uniquely.”
- “Bugs are everywhere and the gameplay is all right.”
optimization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
100%
The optimization of the game is mixed, with some users noting good performance while others criticize it for being poorly optimized.
- “The performance is excellent.”
- “The optimization really enhances the gameplay experience.”
- “I appreciate how smooth everything runs after the latest updates.”
- “The game is poorly optimized!”
- “I experienced significant frame drops and stuttering during gameplay.”
- “The loading times are excessively long, making it frustrating to get into the action.”
monetization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization model has largely remained unchanged, with no in-app purchases implemented, allowing players to access all elements for free. However, there is still an in-game currency, "mana," which can be earned throughout gameplay, indicating a cautious approach to microtransactions. Overall, players appreciate the absence of additional purchases, enhancing the game's accessibility.
- “No changes apart from the HD mode, which is not that important, and they would meet too much criticism for making this have in-app purchases, so all elements are free.”
- “"Mana" (in-game currency) not removed; microtransactions beware.”
- “Oh, one thing I really liked: no more in-game purchases. You get a lot of mana in the beginning, and you can earn more.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious, as levels are often very short and lack satisfaction, leading to a repetitive experience. However, some appreciate the absence of extensive grinding for resources like mana, which adds a slight positive note to the overall experience.
- “Levels are often very short, with some taking under a minute to finish, and not very satisfying. After a while, it just becomes tedious to complete another one.”
- “The only reason I bought it is that you don't have to spend years grinding mana for elements.”
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviewers note that while the game offers a promising variety and reactivity that could enhance replayability, its overall size and execution fall short, limiting the incentive to replay.
- “Right idea in variety and reactivity, wrong idea in size and replayability.”