Sand Land preview and interview – Dragon Ball Z meets Mad Max

Lucy OrrPublished Jun 23, 2023, 2:00am

Sand Land screenshot — Sand Land – Akira Toriyama both drew and wrote the manga (Picture: Bandai Namco)

GameCentral goes hands-on with one of the surprise reveals from the Summer Game Fest: a new action RPG based on the work of Akira Toriyama.

While the Xbox Games Showcase was certainly a success the response to this month’s Summer Game Fest was a little more tepid, with not quite as many surprises as many were hoping for. There were very few games people hadn’t seen before but there were a few, including anime style action role-player Sand Land, featuring the distinctive artwork of manga legend Akira Toriyama.

Sand Land was first published as a manga in 2000 and is set in a wacky Mad Max style desert world, where there is an extreme water shortage. The main character is a little purple skinned demon prince called Beelzebub, who boasts superhuman strength and telepathic abilities. He’s joined by stern-faced Sheriff Rao on a quest to uncover hidden water source the Legendary Spring at Phantom Lake, which is the key to restoring life to the world.

‘I think the most important thing is to convey the unique feeling of Sand Land, the character of Beelzebub – kind of evil but lovable – and the vehicles which are based on Akira Toriyama’s unique and detailed designs,’ producer Keishu Minami told me. ‘Our goal is to make the audience love it through gameplay. Our team members never compromise on the quality of visual and action so we’re happy to bring them to a worldwide audience.’

During my short hands-on preview, I navigated the vivid open world environment in a canvas topped junker and then a requisitioned tank, stopping off every so often to battle bandits, lizards, and Genji dragons with bombs and hand-to-hand combat. Vehicles can be customised with different loadouts depending on your quest but for the demo you were just stuck with the default set-up.

The demo started in a settlement that looked a lot like Bartertown from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, where I scavenged for supplies and then headed off into the desert, navigating past rocky outcrops inhabited by oversized reptiles. The Japanese voice acting was consistently humorous and compelling and added to the sense of cartoonish fun.

‘As an action RPG we wanted to characterise the actions of Beelzebub and vehicles differently. Vehicles are an important asset against enemies and their vehicles, that are difficult to beat as Beelzebub alone,’ says Minami. ‘They grant benefits that provide attacks against several enemies. In addition to the action, vehicles are also indispensable for traversing the Sand Land, as they allow you to go to places difficult to reach, by destroying rocks that block the way or jumping over broken bridges.’

Akira Toriyama’s artwork has appeared in many games over the years, from Dragon Ball adaptations to the Dragon Quest series, so it’s already obvious how well his distinctive style translates to video games. The fact that the characters already have a well-established fiction helps a lot, but the action is solid too. During my battles with the bandits I was able to create combos to make the best use of the supernatural abilities, but without having to learn complex fighting game style button sequences.

‘First, we focused on the visuals. We would like for players to feel the unique Toriyama style, so we focused on the texture of the lines found in printed manga and expressive motions of the characters. Moreover, various vehicles are also really unique in this game, and players can switch between them depending on the situation and strategy,’ said Minami.

One of the most interesting aspects of Sand Land is the massive open world environment. During the demo you had to use speed and strategy to out manoeuvre a giant dragon, as it dived under the sand to resurface and deal damage. Desert worlds aren’t exactly rare in video games, or fiction in general, but the manga style designs of Sand Land do help it to stand out. Also, although there was no sign of them in the demo, apparently the game contains a number of large cities which act as world hubs.

‘As depicted in the manga, the world has become a place where water supplies are depleted and deserts have spread, due to human folly and climate change. The precious water resources are controlled by a self-interested king and the people cannot obtain it without paying a high price, so demons live by robbing humans of their water,’ explains Minami. ‘At first glance, the theme may appear to be too serious but characters such as Beelzebub are not full of doom and gloom; they are humorous, cheerful and positive, and I believe that is why the message of Sand Land is interesting.’

While it’s a single-player game, you are able to play a diverse cast of characters, each with their own distinct personalities, backgrounds, and skills. By the time the movie comes out there’ll also be an anime adaptation, by the production team behind Cowboy Bebop, which will launch on August 18 this year. The manga was first released in 2000 but while it’s not well known in the West the anime should change that, in advance of the game’s release.

‘It is really an honour that we can work on this project and we have spent a long time discussing with the internal team and development team about how we could express and maximise the manga full of Akira Toriyama’s attention to detail,’ says Minami.

‘We are excited that we can show Sand Land to the worldwide audiences through our project. There is still some information that we have yet to share and we hope that you will continue to look forward to the world of Sand Land in the future, so please wait with anticipation.’

Developer ILCA (short for I Love Computer Art) work a lot on the Pokémon franchise now but were also behind fellow anime licence One Piece Odyssey, which was surprisingly good. In the short time I spent playing Sand Land, I was impressed by the dynamic gameplay, striking visuals, and an intriguingly oddball narrative. Whether it will be able to attract more than just anime fans, when it comes to its Western release, remains to be seen but it’s certainly something different, and that’s always a positive.

Formats: PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC
Publisher: Bandai Namco
Developer: ILCA
Release Date: TBA