Sandustry ▶ Trailer
Sandustry screenshot 1Sandustry screenshot 2
SimulationStrategySandboxAutomationCraftingOpen WorldOpen World Survival Craft

858 playing

Peak in the last 24 hours: 1,565

Peak in the last 7 days: 2,058

Sandustry Early Access Steam store

Game description

Explore and mine fully destructible worlds. Automate increasingly complex production chains. Delve deep to uncover an ancient civilization’s powerful secrets and learn to love the sand in this factory game where every pixel is a valuable resource.

Basic info

DeveloperLantto Games
PublisherHooded Horse
PlatformsWindows · macOS · Linux
Steam DeckPlayable
Release dateAug 13, 2026
Price

Prices by IsThereAnyDeal

Minimum specs

OSWindows® 10 (64-bit)
ProcessorIntel® Core™ i5-4670K (quad-core) / AMD® FX-Series™ FX-8100 (quad-core)
Memory4 GB
GraphicsNVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 550 Ti (1 GB) / AMD® Radeon™ HD 7750 (1 GB)
Storage1 GB
steamyze

Review Analysis Score

Based on 447 reviews from the past 1 year

91.4/ 100
Top 10%

Steam rating: Overwhelmingly Positive (97%)

Review analysis summary (Reviewed Oct 13, 2026)

Falling sand physics drive the fun in Sandustry, a factory game that 280 reviewers enjoyed; it scores 91.4. This summary draws on 447 Steam reviews that we analyzed in detail.

👍 Strengths

Gameplay ranks 128th of 1396 and comes up in 67% of analyzed reviews. 47 reviews praise its strategic side, the most upvoted calling the sand mechanics great fun, and 25 like placing and deleting conveyors and machines freely at no cost. Players praise gorgeous sand and lava effects and comfortable controls. Tech & Support ranks 80th of 1399 and Pricing & Fairness 105th of 1399.

👎 Where it falls short

The main complaint is length. Content Volume ranks 768th of 1351, and 63 reviews find the content too short, some wanting a longer challenge like Factorio. 23 find the many tools and machines confusing rather than deep, and 21 find the controls and physics fiddly, the most upvoted citing terrain gaps and accidental lava spills. Others report lag late in a run, and some want deeper automation.

Representative reviews Original reviews ↗

“enjoyed it, wants more, very good” · 280 reviews
“sand mechanics are great and fun” · 47 reviews
“visuals are gorgeous, beautiful sand physics and lava effects” · 15 reviews

How it holds up

−50+5

Controls, difficulty, progression and depth
Mentioned in 67% of reviews · Top 10% of the games we've analyzed

Strategy +3.18 · Depth of builds, tactics, and meaningful choices
Positive “sand mechanics are great and fun” · 47 reviews
Negative “game lacks automation depth despite conveyor belts; no true autonomous systems” · 13 reviews

Progression 27% · Difficulty 4% · Onboarding 14% · Freedom 30% · Controls & feel 12%

Plot, characters and the world
Mentioned in 11% of reviews · Top 50% of the games we've analyzed

World +3.17 · Lore, atmosphere, and how immersive the setting is
Positive “cozy atmosphere balanced with engaging grind for gold and expansion” · 5 reviews

Story 3% · Characters 0%

How much there is to do, variety and replay value
Mentioned in 40% of reviews · Bottom 50% of the games we've analyzed

Replayability +1.35 · Reasons to play again — runs, randomness, New Game+
Positive “random seeds and expanded tech tree make every run different” · 3 reviews
Negative “unlock progression is linear, replayability thin” · 3 reviews

Volume 34% · Variety 11%

Graphics, art style, music and sound
Mentioned in 10% of reviews · Bottom 40% of the games we've analyzed

Visuals +2.68 · Graphics, art style, and animation
Positive “visuals are gorgeous, beautiful sand physics and lava effects” · 15 reviews
Negative “aesthetically sparse, probably due to EA stage” · 1 review

Audio 1%

Playing with others, the community and servers

Not enough data — only 3% of reviews mention this.

Community +3.11 · Who you play with — how many, and how friendly

Playing together 1% · Servers & Connection 0%

Pricing, cheaters, balance and matchmaking
Mentioned in 12% of reviews · Top 10% of the games we've analyzed

Pricing +0.25 · Whether the price, DLC and microtransactions are reasonable, and how much paying gives you an edge
Positive “excellent value for the price” · 4 reviews
Negative “$15 is steep compared to Terraria at $10” · 1 review

Anti-cheat 0% · Balance 4% · Matchmaking 0%

Bugs, performance and developer support
Mentioned in 27% of reviews · Top 10% of the games we've analyzed

Developer support +0.36 · Updates, patches, and how devs respond to players
Positive “developer encourages modding and actively helps community members” · 5 reviews
Negative “early access, waiting to see what they add” · 1 review

Stability 7% · Performance 9%

Grey means too few reviews mention it to trust. — means almost no reviews mention it.

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