Today, the Ukrainian cooperative shooter SAND: Raiders of Sophie launched on Steam Early Access following a lengthy development period, several delays, and numerous rounds of playtesting. This project has become one of the most popular in recent times; at launch, the game ranks among the top 30 most popular titles on Steam based on the number of additions to wishlists.

SAND

Upon release, the game will feature full Ukrainian localization, and it will not be available for sale in russia.

SAND: Raiders of Sophie

The game was originally scheduled to launch on Steam on April 3, but after a series of closed beta tests, the decision was made to change the release schedule. An analysis of the test results revealed a long list of necessary fixes to improve the user experience, and some concepts that initially seemed promising to the developers turned out to be uncomfortable for the audience in practice. Therefore, the studio postponed the release to further refine the game.

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For those who aren’t yet familiar with this project, SAND is a multiplayer game in which players explore a sandy planet while moving around on giant mechanical bipeds. The story takes place in the early 20th century, in an alternate version of the Austro-Hungarian Space Empire. A mysterious environmental catastrophe struck one of its space colonies – the planet Sophia – and now only ruins remain of this resource-rich world.

Its deadly deserts and deserted cities attract only the most daring treasure hunters. Players can form teams of up to 6 people and build and customize their own mobile fortress, called a Trampler, from which they’ll hunt for treasure and battle other teams.

SAND: Raiders Of Sophie