How Sands of Aura Brings Soulslike Fight and Sandsea Exploration to Xbox

If you happen to’ve ever bounced off a soulslike as a result of it felt punishing, imprecise, or overly cryptic, Sands of Aura has a unique form of problem in thoughts.

Launching as we speak on Xbox Sequence X|S, Sands of Aura is a darkish fantasy motion RPG constructed round quick, reactive fight, significant exploration, and a world formed by loss. Gamers will discover themselves in a realm the place the ocean is gone, and an enormous sandsea stretches between the final remaining islands. It attracts inspiration from CRPG’s whereas putting story, characters, and buildcrafting extra straight on the middle of the expertise.

And for the console launch, the workforce has taken the chance to refine the expertise with new methods designed particularly round how Xbox gamers discover, battle, and experiment with builds.

A Soulslike That’s About Extra Than Punishment

“Soulslike” has come to imply many issues to gamers. For some gamers, it’s shorthand for punishing problem, gritty worlds, and the ever-present “git gud” mentality.

However after I spoke with the workforce behind Sands of Aura, they described a unique basis: basic CRPG design, significant quests, and development that rewards real engagement.

“We grew up on CRPGs full of wealthy, significant quests and character exploration that reward real engagement,” says John Sadler, programmer at Chashu Leisure. “Video games the place progress demanded actual effort and talent.”

That philosophy is mirrored all through Sands of Aura. The builders needed gamers to know the characters, perceive the world, and really feel that the story is current and never hidden behind imprecise lore fragments.

Additionally they leaned closely into buildcrafting and experimentation.

“We needed to offer gamers monumental flexibility to create wildly totally different, deeply customizable builds that synergize in sudden and generally absurdly highly effective methods,” Sadler says. “We weren’t afraid to allow you to break the sport in enjoyable, artistic instructions.”

That flexibility is a significant a part of what makes the sport really feel private. You’re not simply surviving the world, you’re shaping the way you survive it.

Quick, Reactive Fight with Room to Experiment

Within the opening hour, Sands of Aura is designed to show its fight rhythm shortly: a quick, reactive loop constructed round attacking, dodging, blocking, parrying, and weaving in spellblade talents to create openings and capitalize on them.

As you achieve confidence in these fundamentals, the sport begins to floor the depth of its gear methods. Weapons, armor, and talismans aren’t simply stat adjustments; they meaningfully alter the way you method fights and how much fighter you grow to be.

“The objective is for gamers to really feel the tempo of fight early, whereas realizing there are lots of of viable builds and playstyles ready to be explored,” Sadler says.

New Focusing on Help Constructed for Controller Movement

Some of the significant enhancements for Xbox gamers is a brand new concentrating on help system designed round a easy objective: interpret intent slightly than demand excellent precision.

“In fast-paced fight, we discovered that gamers usually missed assaults whereas quickly switching targets and activating talents,” Sadler says. “This new system makes use of the participant’s basic aiming route to intelligently information actions towards probably the most applicable goal inside that area.”

The result’s sooner, extra dependable talent execution that retains fight fluid and responsive with out eradicating participant management.

It’s the form of enchancment you won’t consciously discover at first. However when you’re deep right into a battle, it’s the distinction between feeling such as you’re wrestling the controls and feeling such as you’re absolutely within the circulation.

A Sandsea World Designed for Scale and Discovery

Exploration in Sands of Aura is cut up between two distinct areas: the islands, the place the principle story and motion unfold, and the sandsea, which supplies you room to breathe, replicate, and chart your individual course.

As an alternative of utilizing a conventional overworld map the place you merely choose the following location, the workforce needed journey itself to create a way of distance and scale.

“We might have gone with a conventional overworld map for selecting the following island,” Sadler says. “As an alternative, we prioritized making the world really feel huge, deep, and stuffed with actual distance.”

Crusing throughout the sandsea builds that sense of scale and creates alternatives for hidden discoveries. Distant islands and secrets and techniques are simpler to hide when the world is one thing you bodily cross slightly than merely click on by means of. As an alternative of performing as a transition between locations, the sandsea turns into a part of the journey itself, opening the world as much as gamers who discover thoughtfully and take note of what’s on the horizon.

A Compass UI That Helps Exploration With out a Minimap

The console model additionally provides one other main quality-of-life enchancment: a compass UI on islands.

As a result of Sands of Aura makes use of an elevated, three-quarter perspective, spatial consciousness and distant landmarks can generally be tougher to learn at a look.

“The compass helps gamers preserve orientation as they transfer by means of dense or unfamiliar areas with out counting on a full minimap,” Sadler says. “Our objective was to encourage thorough exploration of every island whereas decreasing the friction of feeling misplaced or disoriented.”

The objective isn’t to take away the sensation of discovery. It’s to assist gamers keep targeted on what issues: uncovering secrets and techniques, discovering new routes, and staying prepared for no matter is ready across the subsequent nook.

Steadiness Updates That Make Builds Extra Enjoyable to Commit To

Lastly, the console model features a vast set of steadiness adjustments aimed toward one of the vital elements of the sport: construct experimentation.

The builders made adjustments to cut back friction between committing to a construct and permitting you to experiment with totally different weapons, armor, and talismans. Enemies and managers have been additionally tuned to help that experimentation, with adjusted well being swimming pools and harm output.

“We’ve made a variety of adjustments to cut back friction between committing to a construct and permitting gamers to experiment,” Sadler says. “There ought to now be a bit extra back-and-forth play, like a dance between boss and participant.”

That shift additionally helps cut back the sensation {that a} single mistake ends the battle immediately.

“No extra feeling of ‘one fallacious transfer and also you’re lifeless,’” Sadler says. “We needed the sport to really feel enjoyable and difficult, not irritating and grindy.”

The place to Start Your Journey

If you happen to’re in search of a darkish fantasy motion RPG that blends soulslike-inspired fight with story-driven exploration and deep buildcrafting, Sands of Aura affords a novel journey, now refined for Xbox gamers with console-focused enhancements.

Sands of Aura launches as we speak on Xbox Sequence X|S.