Bandai Namco have slapped a release date on Ilca Inc’s Sand Land, which isn’t a dodgy themepark created by an over-ambitious building supplies firm, but an action RPG adaptation of the same-named manga by Akira Toriyama, in which a titchy demon searches for the Legendary Spring and goes to war with a king who is hogging all the water.
It’s out 26th April 2024, and alternates beat ’em up action with cartoon tank customisation, in a sort of Dragon Ball X Mad Max homage with chunks of Dragon Quest thrown in for good measure.
Ed Thorn played 20 minutes of Sand Land at this year’s Summer Games Fest, and came away with tempered expectations, noting that the desert world has the potential to get boring, as videogame deserts often do. What’s the best videogame desert you’ve ever wandered? (And why don’t we have a Best Deserts feature about this I can link to. Honestly.) Journey aside, I rather enjoyed the Hissing Wastes in Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Lookee, here’s a release date trailer that doubles as an introduction to Ann the mechanic – one of three characters you’ll party up with as the aforesaid demon, Beelzebub. Perhaps in reaction to complaints about the desert setting, the trailer makes prominent mention of the chance to “go beyond Sand Land” to lusher, green environments with lakes and forests. It also shows off a few vehicles you might build, from boulder-tossing mechs to hovertanks reminiscent of the Covenant in Halo. I have to say, this all seems pretty jolly.
If you’re new to developers Ilca Inc, they’re a support studio who have worked on a bunch of things including Yakuza 0, Dragon Quest XI and NieR: Automata.
