Sands of Aura is a game in open world beautifully designed and charged with choice

Original text too short.

If you have already played an action role-play as a diablo or his many brothers, and you told yourself it s cool, but I would like it to be a little more like Dark Souls, so Sands of Aura might be your jam. Sands of Aura is an Early Access title of the CASHU developer, and combines standard elements and mechanisms for RPGs and Souls likes. This fundamental familiarity is good. However, because although Sands of will have a strong tutorial level, there are still many things to players to discover by themselves.

We can have a quite lively debate to find out if Sands of Au would be a better or worse game without its soulsel-inspired mechanisms, which include things like the management of endurance, dodging, death and reappear to bells Similar to joy fires, and of course progressive increases in power and progress as you learn the location and schemas of enemies. Although I usually am a fan of Soulslike s mechanics, sometimes — and maybe Sands of Aura is one of those moments — the games have enough character so as not to need it.

Fortunately, Sands of Aura is not generated in a procedural way, but rather an open world beautifully designed with many choices of integrated players. The default story for the RPGs — and Sands of Aura is no different — is that you are the hero who can save / unite / clean the world of monsters / bad / a plague. The world of Aura is called Samuel, a once flourishing land that has been ravaged by a cataclysmic event triggered by a tormented god, and the sands of time literally transformed the landscape into a desert. The game starts with a brief tutorial, where you learn some basics of combat and exploration via infills, realize that you will die several times and finish by spawning up to the first boss. Where you will probably die several times. After defeating the first boss, the world opens, and you can cross the desert and explore using your sand boat in stationary flight.

The most notable feature of Sands of Aura is perhaps its artistic style, which is slightly stylized but retains enough detail to be visually attractive. It sounds like a colorful diorama, and there is a lot of variety and style in its landscapes and interiors. It is obvious that although few things are explicit, there are many traditions and history to discover. The environmental narration is another of these characteristics similar to those of the soul that Sands of Au has adopted, and it will be interesting to experience the whole game and the way all the elements unite. The musical partition of Eduardo Lopez is evocative and lush, complementing traditional orchestral textures with a variety of exotic colors.

Any game that recognizes its debt towards the games of Software will naturally be judged on its fight, and here, Sands of Aura is a mixed success, at least right now in its development. There are many weapons and armor to find, improve via runes and crafts, although the starting range is a bit limited. The biggest problem with the fight is that it is slow and that the use of two-handed weapons for their extra damage is a frustration exercise, because the enemies are agile and much faster than the player. Add to that the lack of weight behind the strikes coupled with a pretty limited dodger capacity (and a lack of rolls) and you find yourself with the challenge of the fight at Soulsellike without many mechanisms to be a successful fighter. Instead of a shield, Sands of Au will use a magical barrier related to endurance, and it is also difficult enough to effectively timer. The enemies reappear after death, but at least they are in the same places so that you can memorize the dangers and prepare you. On the positive side of the big book, there is potentially a lot of types of weapons that can be made, including fanciful hybrids. Although there are no classes of pure magic users at first, all classes or constructions use weapons impregnated with magic and special attacks.

I agree with Soulslike s mechanisms when they make sense for a game like Sands of Aura, who uses them for the most partly and to improve the challenge. What is in place is very promising. While Sands of Aura gets closer to the exit, I hope his fight will be adjusted to more fluidity and speed, his camera will become a little more agile and useful, and all the mechanisms of the game will be made more consistent and clear, Especially for non-veteran players from Dark Souls. Anyone is a fan of RPGs should consult the development of Sands of Aura.