Sand Land immediately caught my attention due to its ties to Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball and character designs in the Dragon Quest series. With a manga, anime, and now a video game adaptation, Sand Land has quietly become a full-fledged franchise, seemingly over night. Despite its simple premise-a search for water in a desert wasteland-Sand Land offers a mix of action RPG, vehicle combat, and stealth gameplay that's just plain fun. The game stays faithful to its source material while offering surprising depth and variety in gameplay mechanics. Despite some challenges with the stealth sections, Sand Land provides a fun and engaging experience and retains the nostalgic charm of its origins in Toriyama's work.

An unexpectedly beautiful game that's filled with heart, super-fun vehicle-based gameplay, plenty of laughs, and some of the most rewarding exploration out there. Don't let its dry-looking world fool you into thinking any less.