Game Info
Genre
Singleplayer Extraction Roguelite • Desert Scavenging • Inventory Survival
Platforms
- Windows PC (Steam)
- Mac (Steam)
- Additional platforms planned
Release Date
2026
Regular Price
TBA
Inspirations
Shifting Sands draws from a lifetime of desert planet fiction and scavenger fantasies:
Film & TV:
Star Wars (Tatooine, Jakku, Jawas, Watto’s shop) • Dune • Mad Max • Blade Runner • Wall-E • Trigun • The Book of Eli • Battle Angel Alita • Elysium
Games:
Dredge • Sable • Moonlighter • Far: Lone Sails • Subnautica • Fallout (1, 2, New Vegas) • Journey • Nowhere Prophet • Dave the Diver • Borderlands • Turbokid • Stray
If you’ve ever paused on a wide shot of an endless desert and thought “I want to explore that”…we made this for you.
Tag LInes
Storm. Salvage. Stash.
Sand in your lungs. Scrap in your pack. Storm at your back.
Short description
Shifting Sands is a singleplayer extraction roguelite set on a storm-lashed desert world. Rise from the dust as a scavenger, harvest scrap, explore crashed ships, and upgrade your gear before sandstorms reset the land each day. Push deeper for greater rewards… or retreat before the sands erase it all.
Pull quotes
> Tatooine meets Dredge… a scavenger roguelite where the desert erases everything except what you escape with.
> The extraction genre, but singleplayer. The roguelite loop, but cozy apocalypse. The scavenger fantasy, fully realized.
> If Rey’s life on Jakku was a game, this would be it.
LONG DESCRIPTION
A Desert Planet That Forgets
Across the galaxy, countless ships have fallen into the sands of a nameless world. Buried, revealed, and buried again by storms that never stop. At the center of this dying place stands the Nexus… an ancient monument that holds back the wind for a few fleeting hours each day.
You are a scavenger, one of many drawn to the Nexus. Each morning, you venture into the desert to search wrecked starships, loot buried caches, and salvage anything of value. Each evening, the storm returns… and the world resets.
What you escape with is all that survives.
Explore a World That Changes Every Day
The storm reshapes everything. Yesterday’s shortcut is today’s dead end. That half-buried freighter you spotted? Gone…or deeper now. Every run reveals new wreckage, new routes, new dangers.
Push deeper into the desert for rarer salvage… or turn back early with what you have. The storm doesn’t wait.
Every Slot Is a Decision
Inventory space is precious. Your omnipack can only hold so much, and if you die, most of what you’re carrying is lost to the sands.
Do you grab the common scrap that’s guaranteed value? Or gamble on the rare component that might unlock something game changing… if you make it back alive?
Inventory tetris meets extraction tension. Every item is a choice between safety and greed.
Upgrade, Adapt, Return
Back at the Nexus, use what you’ve salvaged to upgrade your gear. New tools unlock new possibilities: faster movement, better scanning, access to sealed areas, improved combat options.
Your loadout defines how you play. Some runs are careful and methodical. Others are desperate sprints. Your equipment evolves based on what you find and how you survive.
Combat Is Not the Objective
Raiders patrol the wastes. Creatures lurk in wrecks. Anomalies twist the space around them.
You can fight… but you don’t have to. Preparation, positioning, stealth, and knowing when to retreat matter more than brute force. Sometimes the smartest move is to run.
A Community of Survivors
The Nexus isn’t empty. Other survivors live here… traders, scholars, outcasts, believers. They remember what the desert forgets.
Build relationships. Earn trust. Learn secrets. In a world that resets every day, people are the only things that persist.
Key features
The Extraction Loop — Push deeper for better loot, or retreat while you still can. The storm sets the deadline.
Daily World Reset — The desert reshapes itself every cycle. No two runs are the same.
Scavenger Economy — Scrap, components, xenotech. Everything you find has value—or risk.
Inventory Tetris — Limited space forces hard choices. What’s worth dying for?
Persistent Progression — Your gear upgrades carry forward. Your knowledge does too.
Modular Equipment — Customize tools and loadouts to match your playstyle.
Tactical Combat — Fight, sneak, or flee. Combat is always optional.
Living NPCs — Characters with memories, agendas, and evolving relationships.
Faction Reputation — Your choices have consequences that outlast the storm.
Pixel Art Atmosphere — Handcrafted isometric environments inspired by classic sci-fi and desert apocalypse.
media
Video
Screenshots
Logo
DEVELOPMENT INFO
The Team
Silent Sun is an independent studio focused on atmospheric worldbuilding, systemic gameplay, and long term progression. Shifting Sands is built by a small, multidisciplinary team covering design, programming, pixel art, and audio.
We believe the best games create fantasies you can live in… and we’re building one set on a desert planet that never stops trying to bury you.
Development History
Shifting Sands began as an exploration of extraction style risk and reward within a real time isometric roguelite structure.
Early development focused on blending overworld navigation, inventory driven decision making, and persistent progression into a single cohesive loop. The project continues to evolve through active iteration on combat feel, exploration systems, and narrative depth.
The game is currently in active development, with release planned for PC & MAC.