Sail across massive deserts in open world action RPG Sands of Aura

The world is covered in sand, not due to erosion or some natural disaster, but because the hourglass of time has been shattered by an angry god, spilling its contents and burying cities.

That's the state of the fantasy world you'll explore and fight through in Sands of Aura, an open world action RPG coming to Steam Early Access on October 21.

And those massive seas of sand? You can sail across them on your very own sandship called a grainwake. That sounds awesome. Check out the gameplay trailer from the Future Games Show above.

Sands of Aura promises punishing Souls-like combat as you battle your way through insectoid monsters, doomsday cultists, and other horrors using distinct fighting styles and collecting new weapons and dozens of armor sets along the way. You'll also manage a settlement called Starspire, and invite characters you meet on your adventures to reside there.

You can learn more at the official website or the Sands of Aura page on Steam.

Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.