I’ve had this on my radar since Summer Game Fest 2023, and now the time has come to play Sand Land. And it has been as fun as I first figured it would be at that first showing. An action-RPG developed by ILCA set in the world of Sand Land, it adapts the manga of the same name by Akira Toriyama, along with including an expansion to that world by Toriyama before his death.

The game starts with that first story, with demon fiend Beelzebub and crew raiding a royal army transport for water, handing some of that water to a kid, then returning to their home. Which sets into motion Sherrif Rao visiting the demon village with a request for their strongest to join him to find the legendary spring. Each of the three mains retain their characteristics from the series, which allows them to play off each other well both in the story and the chatter during exploration.

Brought forward into this first story is Ann, an ace mechanic looking for a place called Spino. Her inclusion here provides the first major change to the story, which provides a great gameplay section which would have been greatly reduced had this been just a direct translation of events. In getting to Spino, a run-down town, vehicles start to play a major part in gameplay.

There are two styles of combat and traversal. The first is on-foot, where Beelzebub, Thief, and Rao take on the monsters, royal army, and various rogues with close-quarters combat. This can be fun to engage in, with weak and heavy attacks that can be combined together whether on the ground or in the air. A special attack can be performed if an enemy is stunned.

For vehicle combat, each vehicle has two weapons that suit its function. The tank has a powerful cannon, which can be rotated in any direction easily to deal heavy damage. The jump-bot has a grenade launcher, which might be small in range but can easily send foes flying. The secondary weapon of each is a rapid-fire weapon that will chip away at the health of enemies.

Levelling up for on-foot encounters is as simple as defeating enemies. Even in vehicles. Those enemies will give experience (though not much) which will increase the level of Beelzebub and provide skill points for himself and his companions. Enemies also drop materials, which are used to upgrade vehicles at the garage in Spino. There are also extra parts to find or construct which can alter the strength of those vehicles.

Both styles of combat are fun to utilise, though against smaller enemies, vehicles can seem like overkill. The game makes sure levels are always balanced, so aside from those areas not meant to be accessed at present, all enemies increase in level with Beelzebub. As such, greater emphasis is placed on the skills and parts to improve combat ability rather than just levelling up.

Out in the world, there’s radio towers to find that uncover sections of the map. Side quests to complete which bring more people to Spino. Ruins to explore. Army bases to sneak inside. And plenty of materials to find whether from enemy drops or within chests. There’s plenty to encounter and enjoy with this world of Sand Land, with a lot of care put into providing a greater world than seen in the series.

As much as I love everything here, including translating the artstyle of Toriyama to 3D models, there’s one thing that feels off. Especially if you’ve just recently watched the series. There are times where the story has been directly translated that just doesn’t work. Those times usually come down to gatekeeping exploration with needing a new vehicle. The finale of that first story also misses a setpiece or two that I feel would have made it feel more full. I’ve got no idea yet how the second story fares. But being new, I feel it might be better off.

The story also feels it makes less of an impact when nearly all the cutscenes, while being fully voiced, require manually progressing them. It’s especially noticeable when characters are saying long sentences which pause mid-sentence waiting for input to progress it. Any sense of pacing is lost, which lessens certain important scenes. The Story of the Fiend Prince is better experienced with the series, then. But that doesn’t mean the game isn’t worth it.

Sand Land provides a great feast for fans of the world who want to get deeper into it. A fully realised world allows those fans to enjoy the sights while progressing through a story that, no matter the lesser impact it has, is still an enjoyable one to experience. With some great gameplay added to that, Sand Land is one that I can easily recommend you play. And then watch the series to see the story with all its impact intact.

Images Taken From:
Sand Land | Xbox Series S