Sand: Raiders of Sophie Preview: A Great Game That Gets a Little Lost

Sand: Raiders of Sophie is a neat new extraction shooter that offers up some interesting gameplay mechanics. It's sort of a mix and match with games like Rust and Sea of Thieves, but even with that, the game manages to be a great addition to the genre.

That being said, the game is still in Early Access, and that comes with a slew of its own problems. Some things the developers can't be held accountable for, but other things feel a bit silly to still be a problem when the game is now in players' hands.

I put about ten hours into the game, and what I found was that I genuinely really enjoyed what the game had to offer. It isn't perfect by any means, and I think there's a lot here to be improved upon, but overall, Sand was an excellent time.

What is Sands: Raiders of Sophie?

I'm not going to lie, putting this game into a single category is a big ask because it's sort of an amalgamation of a few other games. In the simplest terms, it's an extraction shooter, but the game goes a bit beyond what you might expect from games like ARC Raiders.

Basically, the way it works is, instead of just jumping onto a map as an individual or small team, you'll spawn on a massive map that's almost entirely covered in sand. Getting around on foot would be tough, so luckily, the game spawns you in with a Trampler, your home base, as you move around the map.

You'll explore some POIs marked on your map while trying to gather whatever loot you can into boxes to put on your Trampler for extraction. Every POI is a little different and will have some different things on offer for you to escape with. Finding the most valuable loot and the bits and pieces you'll need for upgrades will be crucial to finding success in this game.

With some of the locked boxes holding the best loot, it'll become a bit of a contest between you and other raiders who may prefer a more direct approach to gathering loot. Tramplers can be equipped with powerful weapons to blow both NPCs and other players sky-high. They can be a bit tricky to use at first, but once you've got the hang of them, you'll leave plenty of smoking machinery in your wake.

When you get everything out, you can buy upgrades from the tech tree to give you more options for your Trampler or your shop to get what you need before heading out. You can easily make your own Trampler setup to fit your needs and your crew based on how you like to play, so playing around a bit with what you use can be a great idea.

The Sounds of the Sands

I usually don't comment much on audio quality, since for a lot of games it's more of an addition than a necessity, but in this game it just blew me away. The sounds throughout the game feel incredible to listen to and really pack that auditory punch that makes them feel almost real in a lot of ways.

Firing cannons is the easiest way to get that feeling. One big boom from them, and you'll be hooked on the audio quality, same as me. It doesn't just stop there, though; even the sounds the Trampler makes as it shifts through the sands are superb.

The audio quality feels like it needs to be this good because of the way the game is designed, so it's a good thing it lives up to that. Hearing a blast a good distance away gives you an idea of how much time you might have before someone comes to crash your party, and the sounds are distinguishable, so you can almost always tell what's being fired.

Guns are pretty much in the same boat, and even offer some fun reloading animations that I don't often see in games like this. It really set a new precedent for the type of game that it is in terms of sound quality. Even with that, the game isn't exactly perfect, and that can be really obvious in just the first few hours.

Getting Lost in the Sands

The tutorial for the game is almost complete garbage. I don't say that to be mean, but this game has a lot of complexity, and trying to convey even basic concepts through a bunch of text walls is virtually worthless. They have already provided a small update to help with this, which is fairly impressive in the first week, by providing some starting visuals, but still, it isn't exactly the best introduction.

I cannot express just how annoyingly complicated the game is, and with the game offering very little in the way of information, you're basically grasping at straws, hoping to understand anything you can. This isn't a huge deal once you get going and find your rhythm, but it certainly felt like a very strange choice to not just have something even remotely tutorial-like aside for some menus.

Part of me was frustrated by this, but another part enjoyed the sort of discovery of the game that was offered. I think there's definitely a space that can be a happy medium here and not make the opening hours so frustrating to deal with.

The game still has plenty of complexity on offer, and while I definitely enjoyed delving into some of that, it felt a bit overwhelming at first, especially due to some bugs that made the game a little more annoying than it should have been.

The Bones of Greatness

If you haven't tried out this game but have any interest in a great extraction shooter with some base-building elements, then this game is an absolute treasure once you get your bearings. It is incredibly reminiscent of the early days of Sea of Thieves, which is a good thing and a bad thing, considering those early days of Sea of Thieves are not viewed fondly.

I think, with some time and some help from the community, the game will be on track to be one of the best indie titles available. It's fun, it's interesting, and most importantly, the general gameplay loop and environment make for a good time. Most of the issues anyone could levy against the game will stem from it either being Early Access with bugs and such, or a lack of content, which fits the same bill.

In terms of bugs, there are some that just shouldn't be there, like mixing solo and group queues, but the devs have been hard at work ironing out everything they can as quickly as possible. It isn't unheard of for games to suffer from DDOS attacks, but something like this getting hit so hard in its first few days was surprising. Thankfully, the team managed to get it handled in just a couple of days.

There's enough content here for you to get as much time as you might want out of it, especially since the game offers a sort of traditional battle royale-style extraction mode with a moving storm and an easier mode that's more for going at your own pace. It was a great idea to include these different modes to give players a way to have a bit more control over the way they play the game.

The game still feels a little half-baked, because it sort of is, but at the end of the day, that's what Early Access is for. Some of the best Early Access games used that time to make adjustments to their formula to appeal to a wider range of gamers. I mean, one of the most famous CRPGs of all time did it for a long time, and it worked out well for them.

If Sand: Raiders of Sophie is a game that seems like it might appeal to you, then I recommend giving it a shot. Even as a solo player, you'll find that just exploring the world and having some fun with what's on offer will give you a great time for more than a few hours. You can always wait until more things from their roadmap have been added.

I've had a lot of fun playing the game even by myself, and I'm looking forward to seeing some major updates to the game. I'll certainly be returning to Sophie in the near future, if only to prove that I won't let the sands get the last laugh.