Fighting Back the Sand in Wildmender Release Date Trailer - Hardcore Gamer

hardcoregamer.com:

There used to be something but now there’s nothing, other than endless dunes covering the ruins of a lost civilization.  The only signs of life are a few shrubs and a dying tree growing above a shallow spring, the last holdouts of  nature in a land that’s actively hostile to survival.  The desert is home to nothing but ghosts and tumbleweeds, and somehow against all hope a single person who just may be able to stave off the creeping sand’s near-inevitable erasure of everything that had been there before.  While the tiny spring can barely be considered an oasis it still provides a place to work from, and with the help of a friendly guiding spirit the young adventurer can start on bringing a little bit of life back to the dying land.

Wildmender is an adventure game through a ruined world in desperate need of revival.  Initially armed with nothing more than a water jug, the young traveler needs to gather, plant, explore, and occasionally fight his way towards a greener landscape, crafting and nurturing his way forward.  Sticks become tools, tools let him harvest seeds, seeds grow plants that help spread soil, and it doesn’t take more than an in-game day to build enough of a base to work from.  With the basics covered the protective circle around the oasis can come down, opening up the world outside for exploration.  There’s a lot out there including ruined buildings housing lost chests, hostile wraiths guarding dangerous outposts, the ghosts of the land’s former residents, and each new discovery slowly builds towards being able to confront bigger challenges on the way towards world revival.

The demo for Wildmender is available on Steam and is a nice chunk of gaming, and there’s a playtest kicking off starting next weekend,