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Written and illustrated by the legendary Akira Toriyama, the original Sand Land manga was a big surprise back in 2000, when it first came out. Combining a strange, magical mythology with an honest-to-goodness post-apocalyptic science-fiction narrative, Toriyama delivered something special that sadly went under the radar here in the West. Now, though, with the release of Sand Land the game, we have an opportunity to re-experience the whole thing in an up-to-date format!
Unlike Toriyama's most popular offering, Dragon Ball, Sand Land isn't a narrative for the ages. It's shorter, more contained and - dare we say it - manageable for the average viewer. This translated to the game as well, and as we're always delighted to highlight, Sand Land won't take dozens of hours for you to play through and wrap up. Instead, it's an awesome retelling of a classic Toriyama story in new and interactive packaging. Over the next couple of sections, we'll present you with all the information you need as a newcomer to the game or, perhaps, as someone who's still on the fence about it.
Best of all, in classic 2Game fashion, we've got an entire suite of discounts for Sand Land ready to go. Find them using one of the links below and get to playing!
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Sand Land Starter Guide - Everything You Need to Know
Sand Land is - true to its name - a story about a kingdom forced to live in water poverty, thanks to the efforts of a merciless king. Due to extreme drought, the peoples of the titular Sand Land have been forced to adapt to the desert landscape over the long years, with bandits and extremely aggressive animals ruling the region for the most part. In Sand Land, humans and demons live in relative peace, with the child prince Beelzebub vying for his father's approval.
The narrative is, naturally, crucial here: Beelzebub practically stumbles onto the plot to depose the greedy king through sheer luck, quickly becoming the pivotal element of the burgeoning resistance. In the game, this effectively means two big things:
- Players lead a small band of resistance fighters travelling across the desert land via vehicles
- Stealth is often key for progression, as you cannot take on all of the king's men all at once
Indeed, while Sand Land does in many ways feel and play like yet another Anime-themed RPG, it is in truth much more than that. Stealth and vehicles help elevate Sand Land beyond most other games in the niche, with customization for the latter being a particularly notable high-point.
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Getting started with Sand Land
The most important thing to remember about Sand Land is that it both is and isn't a fantasy RPG. It's quite unlike most other mangas in that sense in the original form, too, and the game reflects Toriyama's originality in this sense. This is a decidedly science-fiction game that happily takes classic fantasy tropes and runs with them. Science-fantasy, if you will.
As we highlighted before, Sand Land isn't a huge game: it'll take you about 20 hours to see most of the things it's got to offer, but in that time, it's bound to get under your skin. There's a phenomenal level of charm to virtually everything here: the sort of charm that isn't diminished by an underbaked stealth system or occasionally repetitive grind-work. All the characters are realized absolutely perfectly, true to Toriyama's vision of them, but the world of Sand Land itself is a uniquely delightful place as well.
Gameplay-wise, vehicle combat is almost certainly going to be your favorite part of the equation. There's a ridiculous amount of variety and progression present here, with truck, tank, and mecha customization being the key draws. A similarly customizable system is present in the city of Spino, too, which Beelzebub and his crew get to upgrade, improve, and generally see grow and improve. It's a hoot!
What do the reviews say?
At the time of writing, Sand Land has been given a fairly solid 73/100 rating on Open Critic, where reviewers praised the game's charming atmosphere and vibe, as well as its vehicular features. "Sand Land has its shortcomings and feels a little overlong despite seeing credits around the reasonable 20-hour mark, but it maintains a charm throughout," explains GameInformer's Kyle Hilliard. "Toriyama’s fun sense of humor is front and center with Beelzebub taking on the adventure primarily so his dad will give him an extra hour of video game time every day." Hilliard gave Sand Land a solid 7.75 out of 10, saying that "ultimately, Sand Land is the kind of experience I want from adaptation – the opportunity to spend time in a big, realized world with a story that pulls you all the way through."
Shacknews' Josh Broadwell had a similar brand of praise to share about Sand Land. "The bad guys are obvious and very bad, and the good guys all try their best to make the world a better place," Broadwell says. "That general setup is all very familiar if you’ve played any Dragon Quest games, but there’s an endearing charm to such straightforward narratives told with as much heart as Sand Land has. It also helps that Sand Land has a strong cast of well-written, mostly well-voiced characters just dripping with charm." In the end, Broadwell explains that Sand Land is a "vibes game" more so than anything else, and that it is "daring enough to be its own thing. That thing isn't always as engaging as it could be, but it's certainly unforgettable."
How does Sand Land differentiate itself from other Anime-themed RPGs?
As the game is both a retelling and a sequel to the 2000 Toriyama original, many of us are bound to feel a connection to the game by default. Here we have a game that's not perfect, by any means, but it's trying to be different enough to matter. It's got oodles of charm, too, and critics themselves describe it as "unforgettable" time and again. Sand Land is special, indeed, and our experience here at 2Game tells us that its uniqueness in the given Anime niche will help it find a wider audience than some of Bandai Namco's other Anime titles have found.
If we had to make a comparison, Sand Land is what you'd get if you combined Armored Core with Dragon Quest, in a sense. With a healthy dash of Toriyama spice sprinkled on top, of course. Vehicular combat and customization are absolutely phenomenal, bar none, and this alone makes Sand Land extremely interesting in our book, even if we disregard everything else it's got going for it.
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Is Sand Land Low-Spec Friendly?
One last bit of information we have to focus on is whether Sand Land will work on low-spec PCs, too. It shouldn't take more than a passing glance to see that it's a phenomenal fit for handhelds such as the Steam Deck, too, and we're thrilled to report that - yes - Sand Land does work great on lower-end PC hardware! Here are the minimum and recommended specs, with the target performance envelope highlighted as well!
Minimum System Requirements, 1080P/60 FPS at 'Low'
- OS: Windows 10
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2400G / Intel Core i5-9400F
- GPU: AMD Radeon RX 590 / Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060
- RAM: 4 GB
- Storage: 20 GB of available space
Recommended System Requirements, 1080P/60 FPS at 'High'
- OS: Windows 11
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2400G / Intel Core i5-9400F
- GPU: AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 / Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660Ti / Intel Arc A750
- RAM: 8 GB
- Storage: 20 GB of available space
As you can see, Sand Land runs on virtually any remotely modern gaming PC, and we expect for it to be particularly popular for handheld gaming devices thanks to its awesome art style and gameplay mechanics. Good stuff!
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And there you have it: that's the Sand Land we now get to play, experience, and enjoy! We didn't think the time would come, honestly, given just how overshadowed Sand Land is by Toriyama's other works, but we're extremely happy that this fact didn't stop Bandai Namco from giving it their best. The end result is a delightfully interesting action RPG that comes with some awesome elements we don't usually see in Anime-themed RPGs, such as the focus on vehicles and vehicular combat and - yes - stealth.
Now, is it a perfect execution? Critics agree: no. It is valid and valuable, however, and quite simply, outside of the manga, it's the best way to experience this astonishing Toriyama original in this day and age. With that in mind, we cannot help but recommend Sand Land!
On a similar note, we're big proponents of smaller, more contained role-playing games here at 2Game. Look, there are only so many 50-hour RPGs you can push through before it all starts feeling samey and a tad bit too much like a job. Sand Land never overstays its welcome in that sense, and this - we think - helps elevate it to a very good spot on the recommendation docket. As a bonus, the fact is that Sand Land is quite different from most other Anime-themed media, and therefore may appeal to those of us who aren't keen on Anime, too.
Give it some thought and remember to check out Sand Land right here at 2Game for a sweet early bird discount. Have fun!
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