Ah, sand - the Dark Souls of non-renewable resources
Driven witless by the UK heatwave, I throw open my email inbox and search desperately for videogames about waterfalls, canopies of thick palm leaves, and the sibilant settling of ice in the bellies of the largest, most enduring glaciers. Instead, I am challenged to excavate a world of sand.
Hooded Horse and Lantto Games have announced an early access release date for Sandustry, their 2D factory-building game in which resources break down into pixels with individual physics. It's out in early access via Steam, GOG, and the Microsoft Store on August 13th. Please be careful when watching the below trailer. It may absorb whatever body fluids you have left.
"In Sandustry, players will prospect their way across a procedurally generated planet, digging deep and automating complex production chains for a pixel-perfect factory designed to harvest every resource, converting them into newer, better resources," summarises the accompanying release. "Players must utilize an ever-growing arsenal of weapons, reactions, and technologies to exploit every part of this untamed world, all while uncovering the mysteries buried deep beneath the surface. Who knows what ancient secrets lie waiting to be discovered?"
Please, let the ancient secrets include some frosty underground oceans. Notwithstanding the emphasis on sand – "it gets everywhere", the devs assure – there is quite a lot of water visible in the screens and videos. The game's physics system extends to the modelling of thermodynamics – fluids can be evaporated, with steam then forming rain clouds if it reaches the sky.
In general, I like the looks of Sandustry because it's like a factory sim set in the labyrinths of Noita, which strikes me as a recipe for absolute disaster. At least there are no wands of random teleportation, as yet. There's still a demo available, if you're keen.