METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN
METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN
Game
Game2023Published by indie.io
Sands of Aura
Developer Chashu Entertainment
Sands of Aura is an open-world action adventure with a fantasy setting of a realm in its twilight--a world buried beneath a sea of sand. Sail across the sandseas to return life to a dying world in an unforgettable experience that is equal parts engaging story and unrelenting, souls-like combat. From the Steam store page
198 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon) · newest Oct 4, 2026 · last updated Oct 7, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
63
Fresh
117 positive · 70 negative
95% range 55–69%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 117 | 70 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
11 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
640 of 858 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 198 · most liked firstDespite my positive reviews, I do hope that potential buyers read this first and that the devs also read it. This is a game with a lot of promise and has (or had) the potential to be a great game, but even if I *want* to play it more, i don't even know if I should. We'll start with pros and cons and then explain them all: For anyone starting the game, upgrade your gear. There's no XP. Just upgrade your armor to slot more runes upgraded to give more stats. And upgrade your spells when possible…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I just can't. I LOVE the setting, the world, the sounds and music. I just cant play the mechanics as they are though. I'm not a soul-like enjoyer. I don't like dieing 20 times then giving up on a boss. I't just not fun. Some people get it, some like the challenge of patters and frame perfect blocks. Not me, it's just not how I enjoy to spend my gaming time. Call me a casual or narrow-minded; but I've spent hours on bosses and just stopped wanting to play without any progress. I hope…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Starting to think I just don't understand what gamers want anymore. This game is pretty amazing. The scope, world-building, level design and character customization are wild given a team so small that half of the minute long credits was special thanks and pets. It isn't without it's flaws, but I feel like people refuse to even consider that anything less than a 9/10 game is worth playing and could give you an immensely enjoyable time. Sands of Aura takes place in a huge open ocean of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Interesting story, good characters and solid map designs, also voice acted! Combat is basically dodge, spam button repeat. Way more action combat spam vs souls like combat. The games "bonfires" exist only at the beginning of the level. So if you die at all, you'll have to fight another 15-20 mins to hopefully get it all back. Some bosses and mobs are designed well then others are just horrendously overtuned just for the sake of trying to be a souls like. If you are a souls player, you can def…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sands of Aura is a very underrated soulslike/zelda-style action RPG that's well worth your time if you're into this kind of game and don't mind a little indie jank. PROS: - art style is pretty nice, especially world design - combat is brutal, fast, satisfying, and just challenging enough to keep you on your toes. there are also many in-game ways to cheese encounters to make them easier - quality over quantity approach to open world design, with lots of handcrafted locations that are a joy to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If this game had a minimap, I would play the ♥♥♥♥ out of it. Its gorgeous. The controls are great. I basically like everything about it - but I am horribly directionally challenged and I cannot play a game that doesn't have a map. Unfortunate.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sands of Aura - 100% Completion Review Score: 7.5/10 Sands of Aura is a Souls Like with a unique dark and melancholy style of art that focuses on a world turned to Sand due to corruption and the Remnant Knight who must find a way to stop it, after fully completing the game i'll give some pro's, neutrals and cons. PRO'S: -Character creation, male/female, face, skin, hair etc. -Good music -Good story with plenty of twists and turns, though it can get a bit convoluted at times if your not…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Really clunky and hard to understand where to go/what to do.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I want to be clear: my 'No' for this game is because I don't think it will appeal to most people, and just my general feeling on its state. If you like souls-likes, don't mind jank, and can be patient, this is a great title and I'd say to give it a try. Sands of Aura is what you get when Dark Souls gameplay mechanics, themes, style of lore, and difficulty is mixed with The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker's sense of unique style (though this games is NOT cel-shaded) and world navigation. What I…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After the tutorial, the beginning of this game is so directionless and punishing. I can see why so few people were able to make much progress. Quests - Pursue main quest: enemies kill you in 3 hits, the second boss in 1-2. - Pursue side quest: enemies kill you in 2-3 hits, bosses in 1-2. Gear Progression - Upgrade weapon twice: regular enemies die in 9-12 hits, bosses in many dozens with some able to heal. - Upgrade full set of armor: enemies still kill you in 2-3 hits. - Try to upgrade more:…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A recommendation but only just! This game wants to be Dark Souls I think, or recapture that magic, and it fails. It is not as well written, not as mysterious, and is sharply derivative in many places. It does not reward enough to offset its punishments. Combat is floatey and lacks punch. It relies on a lot gimmick bosses (particularly at the end) that have a schtick or two which one shots you till you figure it out. There simply aren't enough resources (without grinding anyway, and I…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Most games sailing in the wake of what we know as SoulsLikes deal with the same melancholy, lost civilizations and cyclical themes with diminishing returns as their genre-defining predecessors and contemporaries. It’s ironic that so many end up as barely remembered relics themselves so quickly, never leaving the same footprint as their incandescent inspirations. Can this one, with its lone and not so level sands stretching far away fare any better? Let’s break it down… Visuals&UI If you’ve…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I wish I liked this game. I bought it, played it for just long enough that I can't get my money back, but I don't think I'll be returning to it. I bounced off this one hard. I like the story, the game seems cool for those who can stomach the dying - coming back - dying - coming back - dying - coming back loop, given how few and far between the checkpoint bells are. 85% of my playtime was just trying to get back to where I last died, sometimes in one hit. Spend 10-15 minutes getting back to…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sands of Aura is unexpectedly awesome, despite a few minor flaws. (Edited, adding more issues to "bullet points' below) I picked this game up during early access, but waited until the last couple of weeks to play and it's been a joy from start to finish. As someone that loves souls-like games, and has put many hours into Diablo games in an attempt to like them, this game does a great job of combining the two with enjoyable, melee-focused combat and superbly designed levels. Despite being…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Dark Souls like level design and exploration with simplistic combat and engaging world and story. Definitely worth a try if you want to scratch that souls-itch. Concerning Steam Deck: Playable, but heavy battery drain on low settings with FSR 2, about 1.5 hours.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I decided to play it all the way to the final couple of bosses. It seems only 2% of players did this. It's a bunch of Dark Souls islands that you can visit/explore by sailing around in a boat Windwaker-style. It's pretty stunning that it isn't rated higher, because the first half of the game is certainly of Dark Souls calibre, albeit it with a little less polish and some questionable decisions with how equipment works. I got softlocked a number of times, but there is an item you can buy…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i LOATHE any open world game where you are obviously not supposed to be anywhere except where your main quest wants you to be. every enemy is exactly the same with one extra move per area and a massive damage boost. better google which armor set you want, because saving your mats is recipe for immense pain and suffering. if you aren't upgrading your entire arsenal every other new area you are going to get 2 shotted and the enemies will take basically no damage regardless of your build. if it…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Simple review from a casual gamer: Pros: The gameplay is fun (but it has a caveat to which I'll return in the Cons section) The story is interesting The weapons are fun and you have quite the variety for them. The Crafting is SUPERB - will take a while to find your preferred play-stile to know what to craft, but it's always available, thus giving you tons of freedom to change to what suits you better. The armors are gorgeous and quite the big variety. Cons: Now for the game-play caveat - you…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →TL;DR: Sands of Aura doesn't quite know what it wants to be: a Soulslike, or an ARPG and unfortunately just feels like it doesn't do either genre justice. I had high hopes for Sands of Aura (SoA hereafter). The game features beautiful artwork, a dying world that somehow manages to feel fresh and not done to death already, and spotlights a marriage of Dark Souls mechanics (limited healing, enemies that respawn, currency that is lost upon death but can be recovered with a successful death run…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This one is hidden gem, good sound track, nice voice acting, good story ( so far at least ). p.s. for some reason dual shock controller was not recognised.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →the camera angles are the worst i have ever seen. when using the boat it just gets so CRAP.....SORRY NO WAY.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What a shame. The world seemed interesting, the art style and direction are excellent, and that's where the praise ends. The combat is a far cry from souls-style combat. It's very, very floaty, most weapons don't swing once when you press a button, they do a small sequence of attacks. There's no stamina system and attacks are fast, weightless and do very low damage, encouraging attack-spamming, which is obviously something you don't want to do with animation lock preventing dodging while in…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i guess I'm missing something because I'm baffled by these positive reviews. the game seems unfinished with stock sound effects and visuals. it feels like a 90s RPG. i had a little trouble finding the next goal once i got on the sand ship, wasn't having enough fun, gave up. also this game was released in late 2023, and as of the end of August 2024, it's only had a couple of small minor hotfixes. their pre 1.0 posts said that leaving early access was just the beginning. also, this store page…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Loving the game so far (25 hr) seems like far off from the end story wise. I have been enjoying the difficulty (you can get way overpowered for an area) and exploration. Right off I was having trouble with some monsters and had to come back to the area later. Enjoying the little bits of world and character stories as you explore. I have a tendency to wander off the main story line if I see something in the distance to explore. The maps are creative and the combat is pretty good.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After finishing this game, it now stands among my list of souls-likes I would recommend trying out. It's certainly not a traditional souls-like, both with the locked camera and with the general style of the combat, but it stands on it's own as a unique vision. It focuses more heavily on story narration and a feeling of connection to the world, which was a refreshing take in this genre. I genuinely felt a connection to Starspire and it's residents, and would always sail back to check in on folks…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The gameplay is fun, precise and rather fast pace. The worldbuilding is very well done (fully voiced with decent to good voices) and the atmosphere is enthralling. Exploration is rewarding and the level design is very well done. It has some refreshing takes on the souls-like formula : the weapon system, the gem system and how magic is done. It makes you use all the tools at your disposal and you look cool while doing it. I don't get some of the negative reviews, everything about the game…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Giving away keys for the following games on Steam: Grotto The Deed Dynasty Legend of Keepers: Career of a Dungeon Manager Sands of Aura To qualify you MUST be following @beststeamdeals.bsky.social. Reply with your favorite purchase of the Steam sale, as well as what game you'd like to win!
unlabelledView post →Six hours into Sands of Aura. It's a dope, fantastical game! Thoroughly well designed from the get go. Everything about the game shines with polish and coolness. Right from the start it's just a really well made and well designed fantasy RPG. The starting cavern is immersive, mysterious and challenging! And from the first few beats the game immerses you into an intriguing fantasy adventure. Very much like reading an Ursula Le Guin or Brandon Sanderson novel. I mean Sand's of Aura is a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Incredible world, fun combat, good upgrade system. I have some hundreds of hours played in the Souls-series, and this is a fantastic Souls-like experience. It's truly an unforgiving and harsh experience, and you definitely should have some experience with Souls-likes and be ready to die a lot. The game truly captures the feeling of exploring abandoned ruins and islands while being uncertain of what dangers lurk behind every corner as you and weighing every situation carefully. It has some great…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Absolutely amazing experience; a unique world with gripping exploration, solid combat, and a wonderful orchestral soundtrack. It's also really fun to experiment and discover fun overpowered builds -- which you will need given how challenging it can become.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is a hidden gem. While it doesn't have the most engaging and in-depth combat, the level design and exploration is top tier. A decent story and lore is there if you are interested. Overall a lovely experience I'd suggest you try.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Wonderful little gem, full of charm and mysteries.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere. Not like here. Here everything is soft and smooth. ~ Anakin Skywalker, probably after his first open-world traversal.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I see what they were going for but it's just not clicking for me. It feels like a TLoZ/Soulslike, but the camera is absolutely atrocious, you can never see more than 15 feet ahead, there are no locking on mechanics for enemies. Some enemies can be easily staggered but others can't and you have to trade hits with them, fair, only problem is visually they look almost identical in most of the early cases I saw. Coupled with random death zones all over the map to discourage you from actually…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game was incredibly unforgiving in the beginning. I almost asked for a refund but overtime you realize how much the weapon modification and character building are needed to advance through the game. There is an aspect to deck building your character that I really love. Before I'd by a new weapon modification or spell I would read through all the options and do a bit of math which actually made the game feel very rewarding and fun. Along with the deck building players will need to adapt to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I love this game..... It's unfair it doesn't have better reviews. Is it janky? Yes. But it's also cozy and charming af. No rest For The Wicked is basically this....With way more money thrown at it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Excellent, Excellent, Excellent souls-like experience. As someone who thoroughly enjoyed Xanadu Next (unofficial souls game in head cannon) this game was made for me. Only pain point was some obtuse puzzles. Overall highly recommended and definitely worth your money if you like souls-like games.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is just amazing. Love everything about it. You get alot for the money with this game. Please make more like this :)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game was a unique experience. It had it's own special charm which made it stand out. The game lacks a certain polish but this shouldn't deter you. The world building, combat and exploration are amazing. This game is a must play in my mind.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I think it's very unfortunate that they took the "souls-like" approach to this game's combat. I would much rather be enjoying the atmosphere and lore of this game than spending my time wondering why my character has stopped attacking in the middle of a combo. The combat is oppressively clunky and movement is haplessly floaty, which is surprisingly representative of the game world itself (in a relatively good way). I never really thought I'd say, "I wish it was just a walking sim." There are…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →this game ♥♥♥♥♥.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sands of Aura is an action-RPG in a post-apocalyptic fantasy setting. The story follows a young squire accompanied by a mysterious spirit who are trying to stop the corruption plaguing the world and save the last standing human settlement. Although the story is not quite engaging and most of the dialogue options are variations of “Continue”, there are some choices and consequences (limited) in the main and side quests, and the setting is rather unique. The customisation options include the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →very beautiful, more people need to play this. stuff to know -dark souls esk difficulty, but now in a top down style. -beautiful art -cool weapon system -great story (so far) -5 hours in and i feel i'm only done with the intro -hollow knight esk charm system over all a great indie game that i am excited to play more of (and i recommend using a controller)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sands of Aura is a bit of a mixed bag, but overall I feel it's better than its current rating and deserves more attention. I'm the type of person who usually reads reviews to find out why I might not want to buy the game, so I'll start with the flaws. The biggest problem is the camera. A forced isometric view is an interesting decision for a soulslike and it almost works without any major problems. Unfortunately it falls apart somewhat when exploring vertically, which is a relatively major…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →the game is just okay. the travel with the boat is cool at first then gets annoying. combat is just okay I would give the game 5 out of 10
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is actually a pretty good soulslike game. I had somewhat low expectations due to the review score, but at the end of the game my only nitpicks are how people look and how you can't change the handle of your weapon. Neither are really that big of a deal though, and overall this game was a lot of fun and very worthwhile. The story, atmosphere, music, and game environments really shined here and motivated me to finish the game. It was a fun challenge, but not too hard, and I'd recommend this.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sands of Aura is a surprisingly charming game. The art style and world immediately stand out, and the semi–open world structure (more dungeon-based than fully open) makes exploration genuinely fun. Dungeon design is well thought out, with good use of verticality, hidden paths, and backtracking that never feels like a chore. Even without a minimap, the game somehow manages to guide you naturally, though I did get lost more than once. I personally liked the free camera instead of a fixed one. It…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An imaginative and mostly fun experience. My biggest gripe is the distant camera that does not really work too well when split second timing and platforming is key.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sands of Aura has a little bit of jank, but nothing glaring or obstructive to gameplay. Take a half a cup of Torchlight, 1 quarter cup of Dark Souls, and 2 tablespoons of LOZ:Windwaker and you get Sands of Aura. If the above sounds like a fun game, buy it. You won't regret it. Fully voice-acted (very high quality) beautiful and charming worlds, and an art-style somewhat like Little Nightmares (without the horror.)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Yet another Souls-like game that manages to have an interesting world and level design while attempting to have tactile weighty combat that falls short into the realms of jank and hard to control. Maybe the interesting world will be enough for other people but for me a souls-like lives and dies on its combat so if you feel the same then pass on it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Right up front: Sands of Aura is a gem. It is a competent Souls-like with a gameplay loop that's reminiscent of Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. I came into this with pretty tepid expectations but found myself eager to get back to it. What sets Sands of Aura apart from its crowded genre is that it has an actual narrative. Things happen throughout the world as you progress through the campaign, and these events impact the characters you have met through your journey. This adds an amount of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →clunky and buggy. Got stuck in the world at the beginning. Had to kill myself and loose all my money. Combat felt sluggish.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is so good, I played like 50 hours in 3 days, utterly neglecting sleep or daily chores. All negative reviews regarding floaty combat are old reviews. The devs cleaned it up and it is quite crisp. You will visit different biomes, which are quite large in the endgame, meet good written characters, craft your weapons, customize your armor and fight well designed bosses with recognizable attack patterns. Ng+ is not just a hard mode, but adds new attack patterns to bosses, new combat…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I don't really like the feel of the game. Either there isn't a way or I just cant find it but you cannot adjust the camera view. The camera angle when on ship is not great and you cant change it. You have to grind a lot to be able to upgrade your basic equipment and when you die, you drop all of your money and either have to go back or grind it again. There are no health potions that i have found and the only thing that brings back health are the bells but when you use them, you slow down and…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Overall gameplay is good. Mostly enjoyable if you're souls game player. So I won't write much about the gameplay. This game is quite story rich with a dialogue fully-voiced. The camera system is really annoying for me though, it took me few hours to get used to it. World map is large with very few islands you can really visit, it makes you feel like the game is still incompleted. (Such as the large prosperous city in the south) Maybe you can try this game for 2-3 hours if you like it or not.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A good game with some minor annoyances. Wish they would fix the camera but otherwise I fully enjoyed this game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is an incredible game, one of the best experiences that I ve had in years. It is a hidden gem, please do give it a try. Congratulations to the devs. I was about to write that it is criminally underrated when the reviews sat at "mostly positive" - but then I saw recent reviews being "mixed", which I found outrageous and very unfair. Reviews should be sitting at "Very Positive" in my opinion based on the experience with the game. Combat is fun, environment design is beautiful and the setting…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Even Though I enjoyed the visuals and the Soundtrack I would have liked more quality of life features like maybe better quest clues or other details because knowing which quest do in which order is kind difficult even though I'm looking at the wiki.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Wow this game is awesome! I didn't think I'd even like it and next thing I know it's 230am and I'm seriously late for bed. Pick it up and enjoy!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →very much enjoying this got this because i wanted some souls-like and i wanted something new. The only down side I have on the game is there is no lock on it would be really nice to have a lock on button. and because of that combat can feel wonky at times but all in all its not to bad its fairly manageable. going to island to island was cool the first time after that it goes dull but once you have got there and sat at the bell ( equivalent to bonfire for souls ) you can fast travel if you are…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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