I definitely recommend it. Obviously not for everybody, though. If you like PvP + grinding, definitely go for it. This game requires you to be polyvalent and have friends/teammates because like always, solo gets tiring and 6 man runs can get quite crazy which makes them way more fun.
For starters, this game is hard and comes with negative aspects ... But let me focus on what's good. The main grind is the tech tree which will allow you to build tramplers. And, believe me, trampler builds are SUPER important. The gunfight PvP is not the best but you can pick it up and familiarize yourself to make a difference. It's honestly okay. Imo, the best is just the fights that you can have and the sensation they give you. Shooting with both 80 and 40mm is extremely well done. Artifacts (protective dome, reflector, ampliefier ...) and shooting specific parts of the enemy trampler make the fight strategic and skilled at the same time. Destroy a cannon and the enemy can't shoot it until they repair it. Hit your shots with the sniper and you will take kills. Destroy wheelhouse and they can't steer until they repair it.
And this goes for you/your team too.
More than that, I personally like the loot segmentation and how the main objective remains unlocking parts of the tech tree for trampler building and buying resources/cannons/utility. There is a ton of Sand knowledge to gather until you become an experienced player and I like that a lot. Let be having a team that you enjoy playing with.
You can go for a long and chill voyage to get your stuff but the good loot is in stormdive. This is also where you meet the most geared tramplers. :D
Lots of people complain that there is no gear based matched making btw but if you are confident and like PvP, trust me, you can go Jack Sparrow and board them to hold them down and capture the trampler. Just like any other shoot & extract, lots of players are pushing for a 100% PvE mode ... But this is a PvP game and you can ALWAYS get pushed in both modes. When you are looking a city. In the middle of a fight. At the end of a fight. Hell, even at extraction.
Speaking of which, I find the Map and the POIs very well done. Kudos for putting German POI names and have the whole playerbase stretching their best German accent out when giving Comms. :')
Now the negative sides ... This game has kind of a lot of bugs. They don't make the game unplayable but it's annoying. Both visual and sound bugs. I.e. its common to hear a pipe hissing even though you are fully repaired. And I mean FULLY repaired, pls dont tell me I oversaw a damaged part!
Cheaters are a serious issue as well which became even more concerning lately. We all know that you have them in every single game ... But here, they do so much damage that the last update momentarily took out trampler capturing due to cheaters teleporting in your captains for an easy capture. No anti cheat is perfect but the cheater proliferation in Sand keeps going on.
This game has a very specific vibe that I have only found in Sea of Thieves. I won't say buy it, but if you liked what you read than definitely give it a try or just look for some content. Many big streamers played the game but, again, like any game, the player count decreases after launch. Ah the time of writing, I can confirm that some streamers you know has definitely at least played the game. I found some great people to play with on the SAND official discord.
So positive review in the end but I have reservations because the last updates have not been convincing at all. However, if this game is fixed, I know that my game time in SAND will not be counted in hundreds, but in thousands.
