Lost in the Shifting Dunes
I first remember catching a glimpse of Sands of Aura at E3 several years ago. A thirty second trailer promised a battle against an evil God that had trapped the world beneath the sand. Sure, the graphics did not appear all that impressive, but the short glimpse of a sand dune souls-like was more than enough to whet my appetite.
Now, many years later, Sands of Aura has finally been released.
No Oasis In This Desert
By now we are all familiar with the souls-like genre. The repeated failure in increasingly punishing battles is part of the charm. We fight and die so that we can learn and grow in order to finally slay our foe, before moving on to the next challenge. That is what these games are all about, but what happens if the challenge is not particularly enjoyable?
The answer, unfortunately, is Sands of Aura. I know that is a provocative and perhaps even harsh statement to make, particularly in light of some of the good things that are to be found in this open-world action game, but I strongly believe that Sands of Aura is severely lacking in the most important category of all – fun.
By no means does the game have a slow start. On the contrary, after clearing an initial dungeon area we are thrown straight out into the world with a ship to ride and a mission to accomplish. Whilst this rapid beginning is welcome, it comes at the expense of the overarching narrative which feels hollow and ill-defined. This is a feeling that will carry through the entire game, there certainly is a main story in Sands of Aura, but it never feels truly important. That is an issue that could be mitigated by a decent battle system, something that a souls-like inherently demands.
The battle system is minimalist, consisting of one main attack button, a special and a magic attack. This simplicity is not necessarily a bad thing, but the lack of depth and nuance undercuts the desire to carry on once you have been pounded into the ground by an enemy you are not prepared for.
Again, dying is part of the gig when you play a game like Sands of Aura. Failure is not a problem, it’s part of the journey. However, when you have a battle system that feels unrewarding, it limits the desire to grind through enough battles to be able to upgrade your gear and progress.
Lots Of Grinding, Little Strategy
That is what progression really boils down to in Sands of Aura – grinding. There is very little strategy that goes into taking down a boss; virtually any challenge can be overcome by travelling to an earlier area in the game where enemies are easily killed to earn enough money to upgrade your gear. In that regard Sands of Aura feels more like a traditional Japanese role-playing game than a souls-like, which is good news if you are an RPG lover like myself, though perhaps a disappointment for those that prefer hardcore fights that require tactics and strategy to win.
Crafting is a big deal in Sands of Aura, perhaps too big. There are a multitude of weapon parts, armour and runes that can upgrade our protagonist’s gear throughout the journey. I believe there is an over reliance on this mechanic, its prominence coming at the expense of a robust battle system. Crafting gear and creating a build can be fun, but investing so much time and effort into it feels pointless when the battles themselves are not engaging enough to justify it.
Stop The Ride, I Want To Get Off
The very first thing we saw in that E3 trailer was a ship sailing through the vast desert, which brings us to the open-world of Sands of Aura. Lets just cut to the chase, there is no open-world in this game. The desert is a literal sandbox, a sparsely filled arena which houses the occasional dungeon. Traversing through the world is akin to sailing in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, no doubt a great game, but one that is beset by the monotony of having to travel across the mostly empty sea of Hyrule.
That was somewhat annoying in Wind Waker, a game that came out in 2002. So for a game in 2026, it is unacceptable. Mercifully, a quick travel mechanic limits the need to continually sail through the desert but you still have to travel to each area before you can do so. In theory, the open-world means players can tackle the various areas of the game in any order they wish, but the difficulty level of most of the areas will funnel you in a certain direction, at least for the early hours of the game.
Stellar Soundtrack Helps The Immersion
It is a shame that navigating the sand is such a monotonous bore because on the face of it the desert is one of the stronger aspects of the game. It is a distinctive setting, one that imbues the world with a sense of loss, it communicates to us that we are traversing a troubled land. A stellar soundtrack aids in this endeavour; whilst you likely won’t be humming any of the tracks, the music is a powerful tool for immersion in Sands of Aura. If you close your eyes and listen to the songs it is easy to imagine yourself traversing the dunes on a ship just like our unnamed protagonist. Hopefully travelling through the desert in your mind is more fun than it is in the actual game.
The desert is the best looking part of a game that is otherwise graphically competent. Given that it is an indie title made on what one would assume to be a relatively modest budget, I think the visuals are decent, if rudimentary. Having said that, a different art style, one that could make the characters and the various dungeons as visually striking as the desert, could have been to the game’s benefit.
Lots To Do… But Good Luck Finding It
There is plenty to do in Sands of Aura; a run time of roughly thirty hours for the main story could be pushed north of fifty with the inclusion of the various side-quests scattered throughout. If you don’t like hand holding in your games then you’re in luck because there is virtually no guidance throughout. I would usually count myself as one of those people, but Sands of Aura takes it a little too far for my tastes. The lack of guidance extends to even the completion of side-quests, meaning if you want to complete a mission you better remember where the quest giving character is because the game sure as hell won’t remind you.
In a game that is chock-full of pros and cons in virtually every area, the performances of the voice cast are no different. It is a real mixed bag, with some characters very well acted and others an almost laughable mess. It’s too bad, because the dialogue is well written for the most part and can be quite funny in places, but on the whole, the delivery just isn’t where it needs to be. If the devs could not maintain the quality level of the performances across the board then perhaps it would have been for the best to have no voice acting at all.
A Desert Journey of Unfulfilled Potential
Ultimately, Sands of Aura feels like a game of unfulfilled potential. Some of the ideas scattered throughout are interesting and travelling across the desert creates eye-catching imagery, but a game’s first and most important job is to be fun. In that regard, Sands of Aura is unsuccessful.
Important Links
Sands of Aura – A Sand-Swept Soulslike Adventure On Console – https://www.thexboxhub.com/sands-of-aura-a-sand-swept-soulslike-adventure-on-console/
Buy from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/sands-of-aura/9n025jfcc2c1
