Sand is the latest game to be released in Devir’s Kemushi Saga. I did not know what this saga was before seeing it noted in the last page of the rulebook, and I can’t say I know what it is now, having played Sand 5 times. I like the idea of a unifying theme and world across multiple board games, but seeing it in action, I had zero idea what the theme was. I assume Devir wants the setting to speak for itself to some degree because it’s hardly noted. But because I don’t really understand what the Kemushi setting is, in practice it just looks a bit random and strange.
As a (very) quick run down of the game, each player is a merchant who rides a sandworm through the desert picking up boxes and then delivering them to cities, camps, and a port. If you deliver 2 boxes of the correct color to a location, you will get a bonus box which you can then deliver elsewhere, worth more money. You also need to care for your worm, giving it food, water, and health points. The goal is to have the most money to win the game. There’s more detail but these are the broad strokes.
Now back to an example of what struck me as random. One of the companions you can unlock is the “Shaman” who has “acolytes” spread throughout the cities. The rest of the game is not really magic based. If anything, it makes an effort to be very realistic. Traveling takes up a lot of time and resources and as you gain experience, you become more efficient. You have a very limited space to carry boxes, and every box you carry takes away one of your action slots. But there just so happens to be this Shaman and her acolytes who have this deus ex machina sort of effect where they can magically put boxes in your Shelter storage, or magically transform one of your boxes into an “Iwakura rock”, which is apparently really valuable. It’s a little too convenient to be taken seriously. As a game mechanic, it works fine, although I never felt I was actually using it effectively after 5 games. Thematically, I think it requires more world building in a way that’s obvious to the casual board game shopper. And by world building, I mean I would have been happy with a little blurb at the front of the rulebook explaining what the Kemushi world is, how magic is used and what I can expect from it. It doesn’t need to be a Brandon Sanderson Cosmere. The Devir website has more explanation of course, but I discovered this after the fact.
One more note about the theme that I just can’t ignore. It is impossible not to see the obvious similarities of the game’s theme to Dune. We are a desert dwelling people that ride worms across the sand. I mean…there’s got to be a million settings in which you can ground a pick-up-and-deliver game. As great as the book and movies are, I just don’t need more Dune. To be fair, these details are right on the back of the box. I could have just read that and moved on. But after the glorious success of The White Castle, my curiosity remained. If the gameplay had been fun, this could have been an ignorable offense, but unfortunately I found it quite boring.
So let’s talk about the gameplay. I can’t say there’s anything inherently wrong here. It’s just not that fun. If you want to travel, you have two options: the long way or a shortcut. Taking the shortcut will, of course, use up more of your resources. But if you don’t, you may very well spend an entire turn traveling and nothing else, depending on how many actions you have available. It’s not really an efficiency puzzle because it never feels like I actually achieve efficiency, even when I’m firing on all cylinders. This may just be an issue I have with pick-up-and-deliver style games. The only other one I’ve played is Star Wars: Outer Rim, which I mostly enjoy, but it had some of these frustrations for me too. I guess I’m looking for a fast, smooth system where I can ~eventually~ grab and sell a bunch of boxes and make tons of money. But the only way to make these types of games interesting is to make that piece difficult, which only ever results in me feeling frustrated. It’s just not fun to have obstacles constantly thrown in front of your goal. A “tight” game is one word for it, but when the tightness comes from a choke hold on everything potentially satisfying, I begin to see it as a flaw.
In many ways, it reminds me of the popular video game Death Stranding. Storyline aside, it’s a game that boils down to around 70+ fetch quests, more or less. This is basically the longer version of Sand. Just carrying boxes back and forth. And frankly, I didn’t really enjoy that game either. So, if you’re someone that did, I could see you liking Sand. Hideo Kojima has semi-famously called Death Stranding the first “strand type game”. Well folks, looks like we’ve got the first “sand type game” as well. Luckily there was no creepy baby…
I want to mention a few pros here as well, to help you decide if this game appeals. Game designers understand their own game infinitely better than I ever will, and there’s always more I’m not seeing that someone else might. The first pro is the Action mechanic. You roll 4 different colored dice and those results are locked in for that round. Planning your turn out based on the dice roll is interesting and engaging. It is also quite punishing if you don’t have a way to modify a result you might really need. On its own, this is an interesting game mechanic that involves luck but leaves you multiple options to modify results if you plan ahead. The second pro are the dual layered personal boards. These function well and look good. The art in general is appealing. Similar to The White Castle, you have a high production quality in a small box for relatively cheap, which I greatly appreciate.
To sum it all up, unfortunately Sand is not the game for me. For further context, some of my favorites include Cole Wehrle games, Brass, Agricola, Ark Nova, and Earthborne Rangers. So I like conflict but I don’t have to have it to enjoy a game. I also don’t mind a little tedium and I even enjoy it sometimes. But it feels like the payoff never really comes here, and it’s a frustrating slog to get to the end. At its core, it is a well-functioning game that people with different taste will probably enjoy. I went into this game almost fully blind, trying to give it the most honest chance I could. Ultimately, it wasn’t for me.
Quick Pros and Cons
Pros
-this game plays pretty quick in both solo mode and 2 player. I did not try higher player counts. I was able to complete my solo games in about 45 minutes, once I had the rules down
-if you like pick-up-and-deliver, this game is fine for that
-decent price point
Cons
-theme
-personally was not captivated by the gameplay
-actions feel very limited the entire game which was frustrating
-after 5 plays, it did not feel worth my time to improve my strategy further
Beau 