Sandwalkers – Every Step Comes With a Risk

In Sandwalkers, you never have a complete sense of control over the situation. You know where you are headed and what you want to achieve, but what awaits you beyond the next part of the map remains unknown. That combination of curiosity and caution is what makes exploration one of the strongest aspects of the game.

Sandwalkers is a turn-based roguelike focused on exploration, where you take control of a caravan of adventurers trying to survive in a world devastated by climate chaos. Every ten years, the Mka tribe sends expeditions into Phithi, a region where extreme weather conditions make normal life outside safe settlements almost impossible. Your goal is to explore lost territories, establish diplomatic and trading relationships, and find a way to plant a new tree-city and eventually revive Mother Umama.

Although it may initially seem like another roguelike with turn-based combat, Sandwalkers has enough personality to stand out, primarily because of the way it approaches exploration and its world.

Exploration Where Every Step Matters

The thing I liked most about Sandwalkers is the feeling of uncertainty.

As you move across the map, you never have complete certainty about what awaits you. You might find something useful, encounter enemies, discover a new location, or spend resources that you will desperately need later. Because of this, exploration is never simply about where you want to go, but whether it is actually the right time to go there.

Every step matters. And I mean that literally.

You have to think about your supplies, health and the condition of your caravan, as well as the weather conditions that can completely change the situation. Acid rain, storms and heat waves aren't just visual effects designed to make the world more interesting. They directly affect your journey and can completely disrupt a plan you carefully prepared.

Because of this, I often found myself thinking that I should perhaps move just a few more spaces forward, while at the same time wondering whether that was actually a smart decision.

The game handles that dilemma very well.

A World That Hides More Than It Reveals

Another aspect that makes exploration more interesting is the world itself.

The visual style has a charming hand-drawn look that gives the entire experience plenty of character, but I was even more interested in the way the world is presented through its lore. The ecological theme isn't simply there to give the game a reason to exist. The destroyed climate and the attempt to make the world habitable again give the entire journey a certain weight. The environment doesn't feel like nothing more than a backdrop between one battle and the next. There is a sense that this is a world you are supposed to understand and explore. And that is exactly where Sandwalkers is at its best.

When Every Battle Depends on Preparation

Combat is turn-based and offers enough depth to remain interesting, especially during the first few hours. Positioning, initiative and character synergy all play their part, while different classes and races allow you to experiment with your caravan composition.

From snake-like creatures to slugs and mantises, choosing members of your expedition isn't simply a matter of picking whoever has the best stats. The right combination can make a significant difference, particularly once you start facing more serious threats.

That said, combat didn't leave quite the same impression on me as exploration. It works and represents an important part of the game, but it was the journey, the uncertainty and the decisions between locations that made me want to keep going.

Every Expedition Leaves Something Behind

As with other roguelike games, failure is part of the experience.

When an expedition fails, you don't start completely from scratch. Knowledge and certain upgrades can be carried over to the next caravan, giving every new expedition a sense of progression.

This is an important part of the game because failure doesn't feel like a complete waste of time. If you learned something about the world, enemies or systems during your previous attempt, you can use that knowledge to make a better decision the next time.

The problem is that after a certain number of hours, this gameplay loop begins to show its limitations.

When the Unknown Becomes Familiar

The biggest problem with Sandwalkers is that what is initially very interesting eventually starts to become repetitive. Explore, collect resources, fight, return, carry over your knowledge and start again. At first, every new attempt brings a certain degree of uncertainty, but as you become more familiar with the systems and the world, that feeling gradually weakens. Inventory management, trading and resource management can sometimes start to feel more like chores than engaging parts of the experience.

The balance isn't always ideal either. The early attempts can be quite brutal, while later on certain combinations can become so effective that some of the challenge disappears. This doesn't ruin the experience, but it does prevent Sandwalkers from reaching the point where I would want to keep coming back simply because I never know what might happen next.

It Could Use a Little More Polish

From a technical standpoint, the game is generally stable, although I encountered a few minor issues. Occasional bugs, quests that can get stuck and the occasional crash can disrupt the flow, especially when you're in the middle of an expedition.

None of these issues were serious enough to completely ruin my experience, but they do show that the game could have benefited from a little more polish.

Playing Sandwalkers on PS5

Even though Sandwalkers feels like the kind of game that is perhaps more naturally suited to playing on PC, I had no problems playing it on PS5. The game works well with a controller, and the slower, methodical nature of the gameplay actually translates quite comfortably to a console.

It may not be the platform I would instinctively associate with this type of strategy-heavy roguelike, but the PS5 version certainly didn't give me any reason to avoid playing it there.

Conclusion

Sandwalkers isn't a game that tries to revolutionize the roguelike genre, but it has one quality that I particularly appreciated – the feeling that every decision matters.

The best moments come when you're looking at the map and wondering whether you should take one more step. Maybe something useful is waiting beyond the next space. Maybe you'll find exactly what you need. Or maybe you'll spend your last resources and put the entire expedition in danger.

That uncertainty is what makes exploration so enjoyable.

Unfortunately, as time goes on, the game begins repeating its core loop and some of its systems, while the balance and technical side could have used more polish. Because of that, Sandwalkers doesn't always maintain the same level of tension it creates during the first expeditions.

Still, if you enjoy turn-based games where exploration isn't simply a way of moving from one battle to another, but a process where you have to assess risk and think carefully about every next move, Sandwalkers has plenty to offer.

Score: 7.5/10

The game was played on: PS5