Sand Land Review (PS5) | Push Square

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Originally published all the way back in 2000 as a standalone manga, it's strange, but not unwelcome, to see Sand Land be revived as both an anime series and a video game almost a quarter of a century later. Authored by the late and legendary Akira Toriyama, Sand Land is an incredibly charming story about a post-apocalyptic world, where a cocky demon prince is roped into helping out what's left of humanity.

Given that the manga consists of just a single volume, it's no surprise to see the anime greatly expand upon the source material — and the game, also just called Sand Land, follows that same path. At its core, this is a retelling of the recently released anime's tale, but thanks to an open world setting, the kingdom of Sand Land itself has never felt so grounded, and its fantastic characters have never been given so much room to breathe.

You play as the aforementioned demon prince, Beelzebub, as he forfeits the isolation of his fellow fiends in favour of travelling the desert with a grizzled army veteran named Rao. The old man needs help — powerful help — in trying to restore water to Sand Land, and so the adventure begins.

The game's storytelling is well done, sporting some great cutscenes and impressive direction, which really capture the spirit of Sand Land as a property. Just from the prologue alone, it's abundantly clear that this isn't just some quick cash-in; a lot of effort's been funneled into making a faithful adaptation, both in terms of presentation and tone. But at the same time, the game does such a good job of providing a complete experience that you don't need to be at all familiar with the original work in order to enjoy it. And in that sense, Sand Land is something of a benchmark for licensed manga and anime titles.

Gameplay is predominantly explorative, as Beelzebub and his ragtag companions venture from settlement to settlement in search of the so-called 'Legendary Spring'. The map is vast and barren by design, and so a lot of hours will be