As I drag my feet through the sand in search of shade, sweat gets into my eyes and blurs my vision, tricking me into thinking I see an oasis on the horizon. I’m getting hotter, my skin is burning, and I finished my last drop of water miles ago. Before I have a chance to succumb to the burning sun and crumble into dust, the ground shakes and an alien centipede springs out from it, eviscerating me with its pincers. Starsand’s arcane desert has claimed me, as it has many times before, so I start over and try to uncover its mysteries again.
In this week’s indie spotlight column I want to bring your attention to Starsand, a survival sim from Tunnel Vision Studio. It’s hard to stand out in a genre saturated with early access indie titles, but Starsand shines brilliantly. Light on narrative but still heavy on story, I’m thrust right into the action when, during a marathon, a sandstorm leaves me dazed and confused, forcing me to seek shelter. When I awaken, I find myself in a vast desert on an alien world. The tutorial teaches me the basics of resource gathering and crafting before letting go of my hand and leaving me to figure out the world for myself.
And what a world it is. As someone from a country whose treasures and intrigue hidden beneath its desert sands have already been plundered by imperialist nations - one I’ve only been able to visit as a tourist - I welcome a game that allows me to explore such an environment for myself.
A vast, near featureless desert stretches out before me, with just a single palm tree in the distant horizon atop a sand dune. The trek towards it in the midday sun raises my temperature, which starts to sap my health if it gets too high. Once I get to the tree there’s a decision to make: keep it for precious shade, or chop it down to make tools? There are just the faintest wisps of cloud in the sky, but there’s another palm tree in the distance, over several more dunes. The land contrasts the blue sky beautifully.
It’s easy to get lost in Starsand. There’s no self-generating map as in Far Cry or Assassin’s Creed, just a blank piece of paper with a player icon. I have to build markers out of sticks and manually jot down locations as I get to them. This adds a sense of discovery and vulnerability that feels rewarding to overcome. There’s no one there to help me, so I have to learn to survive and traverse this world on my own. A recent update has added helpful mechanics like a Spyglass and tameable camels, though, meaning future journeys could be easier.
When I finally reach the crest of the last dune between me and that once distant palm, I spot an oasis. I plunge straight into the water and drink deeply to rehydrate myself. As well as heatstroke, a lack of water or food can also kill me. Food isn’t hard to come by once I reach the oasis - date and coconut palms provide ample fruit, and lizards and antelope-like creatures often come here to drink. There’s all the water I could ever need, but there are only ever the faintest wisps of cloud in the sky, so rain never falls.
This makes the oasis a compelling home, somewhere to start a base from which I can probe the desert. As the first night falls I make a simple shelter that I can use to save the game and advance to daytime, but now that the sun has gone down and the temperature has dropped it’s the perfect time to forage more food and chop down some trees on the edges of my little slice of Eden.
As I gather supplies, I notice the gorgeous sky above, filled with stars and planets. It reminds me of driving through the night from Sharm El-Sheik to Cairo and having to stop to fix a flat tire. I’ve never seen a more perfect sky in my life, and Starsand’s instantly transported me back to that moment. I craft a campfire to provide me with some light and enable me to cook the meat I’ve hunted before going to bed.
I rise with the sun and remember to jot down the location of the oasis on my map. I’ve barely moved from my starting point, showing me how truly vast Starsand is. I spot a slender black object on the horizon and know I’ve found my next destination. I decide to spend another day hunting, gathering, and crafting, but a rumble in the sands alerts me to an unfortunately familiar threat: sandworms. Not the gigantic ones found in Dune, but still deadly nonetheless.
Combat is where Starsand falls flat. There’s a rudimentary spear that may as well be a toothpick against the pincers and legs of the sandworms. The only way I’ve been able to stop them is by running and firing arrows. There are reusable traps that can be built to secure an area, but these don’t help when I stumble across a worm while exploring.
Once I’ve loaded up on cooked meat, dates, and coconuts - excellent sources of water if you don’t break them open for their meat - I head for the monument on the horizon. It’s a longer journey than the last, over undulating dunes, and the black obelisk is far larger than I could have ever imagined when I arrive. It doesn’t answer any questions about where I am or how I came to be here though, it just leaves me with more. A message carved into the side makes the spark of curiosity inside me erupt into a roaring fire.
My supplies are low, but I spot another monument on the horizon. I note down my current location and push on. As I drag my feet through the sand in search of shade, sweat gets into my eyes and blurs my vision. I’m getting hotter, my skin is burning, and I finished my last drop of water miles ago. Before I have a chance to succumb to the burning sun and crumble into dust, the ground shakes, and I realise I forgot to pack any arrows.