Sand Land Could Be a Surprise PS5 Hit, But the Grind Has to Be Good | Push Square

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Sand Land, the open world adaptation of Akira Toriyama's standalone manga, has real potential. And honestly, that surprised us, because we had this game (perhaps unfairly) tagged as another somewhat underwhelming Bandai Namco tie-in. But now, having played through several hours of the adventure ourselves, we think this could be one of the publisher's best projects in years.

You play as Beelzebub, a plucky demon prince who, much to his displeasure, gets wrapped up in humanity's struggle for survival. Set in a seemingly endless desert, the game's an engaging blend of exploration and combat, and much of what you do seems to be in service of levelling up both Beelzebub and his selection of vehicles.

Yep, our horned hero has access to a rather rotund tank, a gun-toting motorbike, and even a hulking mech suit. You can switch between the machines at any time, each of them sporting their own strengths, weaknesses, and weaponry. For example, we stumbled across some ruins that were inaccessible without the mech suit's boost jump, and traversing the vast Sand Land itself would be a nightmare without hopping aboard something that has treads or wheels.

There's a really nice rhythm to Sand Land's gameplay, as you swap between vehicles both in and out of combat. While Beelzebub is perfectly capable of punching humans and moderately-sized monsters into submission thanks to his demonic strength, grappling with huge beasts and enemy machines requires some additional firepower.

Thankfully, the controls are straightforward and the action combat is easy to understand right off the bat. With the tank, you'll be strafing around targets and shelling them when there's an opening, while the mech suit can block incoming attacks before retaliating with its huge metal fists. It just feels fun to play, and there seems to be a pleasing degree of enemy variety, especially with optional bosses dotted around the open world.

There's just one aspect of Sand Land's gameplay that we haven't been able to