American game publisher tinyBuild announced the development of its newest title, SAND. Indie studios Hologryph and TowerHaus are developing SAND, a game that blends open-world and sandbox elements. The game also features a FPS-driven campaign that can be played in single-player or co-op modes, according to tinyBuild.
SAND will be available for PC and next-gen consoles. According to tinyBuild's press release, it will be released this Fall. A launching date, however, has yet to be unveiled.
tinyBuild has also released a trailer showing a three-minute preview of SAND. The upcoming game's main story takes inspiration from history and science fiction. Players find themselves on a fictional planet called Sophie. In an alternative universe, sometime in 1910, the Austro-Hungarian Empire managed to conquer Sophie.
However, a cataclysmic event rendered it uninhabitable. In turn, players needed to scavenge for resources to survive. They control characters originating from Galicia, a region from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, who took the opportunity to claim the abandoned territories.
While an open-world game, players also experience sandbox elements in SAND. They will be exploring Sophie in a moving steampunk machine called the Trampler.
The Trampler is not just their mode of transportation. It is their home in Sophie, the creators said. Players can store treasures, customize, expand, and even weaponize their Trampler.
The Trampler serves as the player's main base, both as a means of exploration and loot storage. Players are able to customize their tramplers - from interior design, to upgrading its power, armor, and weapons,
they said.
SAND also allows players to enter into a “competitive PvP combat,” tinyBuild added.
[They can] pile on extra plating and broadside cannons [on Tramplers] so [players] can clash with rival crews. There may not be much water here, but the spirit of piracy still thrives!
they said.