Sand Land is a new JRPG based on a manga from the creator of Dragon Ball, but it sure sounds like it's drawn more inspiration from the adventures of Paul Atreides than Goku.
In a hands-on session, Rock Paper Shotgun described a "greedy king hogging the land's water supply and leaving everyone in his kingdom to scrap it out for every last drop of agua mineral." If that's not immediately reminiscent of Dune's Arrakis and the greedy Baron Harkkonen, I don't know what is.
The similarities don't stop there, as both RPS and Gamespot tell of their troubles taking on the subterranean monsters that call the titular sandy land their home. Vaguely canine, vaguely reptilian, and clearly part giant-centipede, these creatures burrow beneath the sand, leaping out to chase down your vehicles. Apparently they're very scary to take on, and once again I'm thinking of Dune and the terrifying sandworms. Whether we'll be surfing them across the dunes at any point remains to be seen, although that does seem to be a fun way to get around.
That apparent inspiration probably won't come as a surprise to veteran Sand Land fans - after all, the manga has been kicking around for a while now. To be fair, perhaps it's not that much of a surprise at all. It's not as though this will be the first desert narrative to feature a lack of water and subterranean horrors beyond our comprehension - I'm looking at Tatooine's Sarlacc Pit, for one thing.
Sand Land was announced at Summer Games Fest, and while it doesn't have a release date yet, we do know it's coming to PC and consoles.
Sand Land fans are already campaigning for a throwaway joke from the manga to make it into the game.
