TLDR; I've had this game on my wishlist for a while, only bought it recently when 0.4 was released a few days ago. Kinda disappointed. I'd give it a 4/10 for now and recommend adding it to your Wishlist. Wait and watch the progress.


The longer review..



- You manage your ludus and your gladiators, making some money along the way. It's a simple concept and it is fun.. for a while.

- Combat has some nice blood particle effects, though it doesn't even come close to Domina level of brutality. You can manually fight the other gladiators in turn based combat. It's fine.





- Store page description says, "Gods of Sand is a gladiator manager with turn-based combat, heavily inspired by the Swords and Sandals series, but in a darker and unforgiving setting."

Yeah, no. First of all, anything pixelated with cartoony visuals will have a hard time presenting itself as "dark and unforgiving", and Gods of Sand visually looks like a pleasant vacation being undertaken with a few sort of brutal fights every now and then. Opening tutorial had a guy trying to put us down for getting people killed.. by getting a guy killed intentionally, but then you proceed to buy more people to get them killed. It is more hilarious and ironic than dark and unforgiving. Plus, I can easily buy new gladiators if one dies, if I have the money for it.

This game doesn't come close to Domina's atmosphere and brutal kills, and honestly, I was looking for an alternative when Domina's developer managed to get himself banned. But Gods of Sand is not even close.



- While we're at it, it's hard to feel the dark and unforgiving atmosphere when the game doesn't even tell you who you're fighting. What is even the point of these text messages other than to fill up the empty space with.. something?

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2879301968

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2879302097

I assumed you would unlock something that would tell you more about gladiators, but that never happens. There is no such unlock or story element to make you feel for the opponent (you know, like Rocky).



- AI is dumb. And I don't mean just the AI for the NPC fighters, but yours as well.

Press "Auto" to lose. Usually you use Auto knowing your skills are superior and you won't have to sit through the slog of manually doing everything. But in this game, Auto is pretty much a RNG button where you die even when you have 100% vs 0% edge over the enemy.



- But then you go manual, and the game is so easy, you can win every fight. I didn't lose a single fight on manual, as long as I kept raising my stats in ludus for fighters.

Every fight: Start with concentration > Heavy Jab to stun > Steady Strike next > Normal strike to finish them off, if they aren't already dead > Mantra in case you need to heal in between (you won't if you increase your HP above 180).

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2879306136

I had this setup for every fighter. All you have to do skill–wise after, is put points in passive skills esp the ones which damage enemies (poison, lighting, bleeding). You can rock this setup for every single gladiator and win every fight. Pole-arms are best, don't bother with shield whatever.

Did I mention the AI NPCs do the same moves in every battle? Only thing changing arena-wise is that they might do one extra new skill. But that's it. They all repeat SAME moves, making it so easy and so repetitive to kill them over and over again. Now imagine doing that with a broken-ass AUTO battle system in place, manually repeating the same moves.

The awful UI for battle doesn't help. It moves with your character and you have to constantly click the same buttons to do the same ♥♥♥♥. Developers need to discover these things called "keyboard shortcuts".



- Let's talk about the wages for a second.

I unlocked everything for Services, except for more room upgrades for a reason:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2879307506

And had three gladiators at one point. Then only ONCE, I couldn't pay the wages, and my most powerful gladiator (the first I bought) just packed up and left. The same gladiator I refused to sell to a king on an elephant, he was so happy that he got a stat boost. Well, that connection went out the window (thanks developers) when he packed up and left despite me unlocking every Utility, bringing dancers over for them, giving them weekly feasts and paying every time for their holiday outings.

BUT, that was also a welcome deduction. Because I suddenly realized, I was paying an obscene amount to my gladiators and making almost zero profit despite unlocking every utility and service, giving them so much.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2879307373

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2879309028

The higher the reknown, the more you have to pay them. This is broken on so many levels. You aren't making a profit, unless you downsize to just one employee or get cheaper regular ones and send them to do those pointless contracts that take days to complete. That is NOT fun. That is the worst gameplay loop ever.

Just to be clear. You are not only sending people to their deaths, but you are overpaying them, spoiling them to the point that they just pack up and leave if you don't pay them for one week. You REALLY think that someone running a gladiator scam would pay such high wages while providing bathing, women and feasts on the side, making zero profit?

So you HAVE to play the game in a specific way, there is no freedom to run the arena in the way you want to. How is that fun? There isn't really much fun managing things if they have already been planned out for you.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2879310311


- UI/UX is a mess. Pointless "ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO DO THIS" messages, empty "UNKNOWN GLADIATOR" messages, no shortcuts for abilities/skills, etc.


- World building is non-existent. Pretty sure the Inn they mention in the opening tutorial doesn't exist. You don't talk to NPC's, you just randomly get events where they regurgitate the same text every time, and you can decide to throw money at them or fight them. Only interesting event that happened, was you fighting a wolf and gaining a pup, that's it.

Oh and developers, you're already fighting 24/7. Throwing in random events where people challenge your people to do EVEN MORE FIGHTING, isn't a unique event. It's a chore at that point. Stop trying to kill your game and make the world interesting, even a little bit.


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TLDR; I've had this game on my wishlist for a while, only bought it recently when 0.4 was released a few days ago. Kinda disappointed. I'd give it a 4/10 for now and recommend adding it to your Wishlist. Wait and watch the progress. The longer review.. [h1]PROS:[/h1] - You manage your ludus and your gladiators, making some money along the way. It's a simple concept and it is fun.. for a while. - Combat has some nice blood particle effects, though it doesn't even come close to Domina level of brutality. You can manually fight the other gladiators in turn based combat. It's fine. [h1]CONS:[/h1] [b]- Store page description says, "Gods of Sand is a gladiator manager with turn-based combat, heavily inspired by the Swords and Sandals series, but in a darker and unforgiving setting."[/b] Yeah, no. First of all, anything pixelated with cartoony visuals will have a hard time presenting itself as "dark and unforgiving", and Gods of Sand visually looks like a pleasant vacation being undertaken with a few sort of brutal fights every now and then. Opening tutorial had a guy trying to put us down for getting people killed.. by getting a guy killed intentionally, but then you proceed to buy more people to get them killed. It is more hilarious and ironic than dark and unforgiving. Plus, I can easily buy new gladiators if one dies, if I have the money for it. This game doesn't come close to Domina's atmosphere and brutal kills, and honestly, I was looking for an alternative when Domina's developer managed to get himself banned. But Gods of Sand is not even close. - While we're at it, it's hard to feel the dark and unforgiving atmosphere when the game doesn't even tell you who you're fighting. What is even the point of these text messages other than to fill up the empty space with.. something? https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2879301968 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2879302097 I assumed you would unlock something that would tell you more about gladiators, but that never happens. There is no such unlock or story element to make you feel for the opponent (you know, like Rocky). [b]- AI is dumb. And I don't mean just the AI for the NPC fighters, but yours as well.[/b] Press "Auto" to lose. Usually you use Auto knowing your skills are superior and you won't have to sit through the slog of manually doing everything. But in this game, Auto is pretty much a RNG button where you die even when you have 100% vs 0% edge over the enemy. [b]- But then you go manual, and the game is so easy, you can win every fight. I didn't lose a single fight on manual, as long as I kept raising my stats in ludus for fighters.[/b] Every fight: Start with concentration > Heavy Jab to stun > Steady Strike next > Normal strike to finish them off, if they aren't already dead > Mantra in case you need to heal in between (you won't if you increase your HP above 180). https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2879306136 I had this setup for every fighter. All you have to do skill–wise after, is put points in passive skills esp the ones which damage enemies (poison, lighting, bleeding). You can rock this setup for every single gladiator and win every fight. Pole-arms are best, don't bother with shield whatever. Did I mention the AI NPCs do the same moves in every battle? Only thing changing arena-wise is that they might do one extra new skill. But that's it. They all repeat SAME moves, making it so easy and so repetitive to kill them over and over again. Now imagine doing that with a broken-ass AUTO battle system in place, manually repeating the same moves. The awful UI for battle doesn't help. It moves with your character and you have to constantly click the same buttons to do the same shit. Developers need to discover these things called "keyboard shortcuts". [b]- Let's talk about the wages for a second.[/b] I unlocked everything for Services, except for more room upgrades for a reason: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2879307506 And had three gladiators at one point. Then only ONCE, I couldn't pay the wages, and my most powerful gladiator (the first I bought) just packed up and left. The same gladiator I refused to sell to a king on an elephant, he was so happy that he got a stat boost. Well, that connection went out the window (thanks developers) when he packed up and left despite me unlocking every Utility, bringing dancers over for them, giving them weekly feasts and paying every time for their holiday outings. BUT, that was also a welcome deduction. Because I suddenly realized, I was paying an obscene amount to my gladiators and making almost zero profit despite unlocking every utility and service, giving them so much. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2879307373 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2879309028 The higher the reknown, the more you have to pay them. This is broken on so many levels. You aren't making a profit, unless you downsize to just one employee or get cheaper regular ones and send them to do those pointless contracts that take days to complete. That is NOT fun. That is the worst gameplay loop ever. Just to be clear. You are not only sending people to their deaths, but you are overpaying them, spoiling them to the point that they just pack up and leave if you don't pay them for one week. You REALLY think that someone running a gladiator scam would pay such high wages while providing bathing, women and feasts on the side, making zero profit? So you HAVE to play the game in a specific way, there is no freedom to run the arena in the way you want to. How is that fun? There isn't really much fun managing things if they have already been planned out for you. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2879310311 [b]- UI/UX is a mess.[/b] Pointless "ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO DO THIS" messages, empty "UNKNOWN GLADIATOR" messages, no shortcuts for abilities/skills, etc. [b]- World building is non-existent.[/b] Pretty sure the Inn they mention in the opening tutorial doesn't exist. You don't talk to NPC's, you just randomly get events where they regurgitate the same text every time, and you can decide to throw money at them or fight them. Only interesting event that happened, was you fighting a wolf and gaining a pup, that's it. Oh and developers, you're already fighting 24/7. Throwing in random events where people challenge your people to do EVEN MORE FIGHTING, isn't a unique event. It's a chore at that point. Stop trying to kill your game and make the world interesting, even a little bit. Subscribe to my curator list below for more recommendations.. [h1]=============================[/h1] [h1][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/37751144/]SCRAPPY JUNKYARD - Curator Group[/url][/h1] [h1]=============================[/h1]