While sandbox games are normally described as such due to the wide amount of options that they give players along with the general lack of forced objectives, the upcoming Sandcastle by Bubblebird Studio also earns the title due to its theming. As the name suggests, players will be in charge of overseeing a beach while building up their own personal sandcastles. A new trailer was recently revealed for the game, showing off some of the options that the engine provides.
The trailer begins with a look at a standard sandcastle being put together using walls of sand and upside-down buckets. The complexity quickly expands as a bar of tools becomes visible and the walls grow fortifications. According to the Steam page, one of the main goals players can undertake is creating sturdy castles with well-engineered fortifications capable of surviving the waves that approach the shore.
In addition to manipulating the sand itself, players will also be able to pick up various items around beach such as shells to use as decorations. Other elements such as planks leading to the water and the time of day can also be changed to alter the effect of the castle. The second half of the trailer is focused more heavily on the various physics interactions that can be explored in Sandcastle. This include creating a river to guide boats through the land making pools of water with raised walls. The creative and explorative aspects culminate in the final moments of the trailer with shot of decorative castles that react to and shape the environment dynamically.
A major aspect of most popular games that lack a clear objective is the strength of the average exploration. Building sandcastles has been a tradition for many decades, making Sandcastle a promising premise for a sandbox game. The game is set to release on PC with a release date not yet announced.