SAND: Raiders of Sophie is a PvPvE extraction shooter from developers Hologryph and TowerHaus, published by tinyBuild.
It's a unique genre mash-up - part extraction shooter, part open-world exploration, part naval combat, except the "ships" are walking dieselpunk mechs called tramplers and the "ocean" is a vast desert on an alternate-1910 world.
You'll drop in, scavenge wrecks and ruined towns for loot, dodge or fight other players, and try to extract with your haul. It hit Steam Early Access on 22 June 2026, and the tutorials are famously thin, which is exactly why a guide like this helps.
This one covers the fundamentals: how a run actually works from drop-in to extraction. (Once you're comfortable, our combat guide breaks down winning trampler fights, and our looting and money guide covers what's actually worth grabbing.
There are two modes, and as a beginner you want Voyage. It's the relaxed one: no time limit, extractions available from the off, and you loot as little or as much as you like. The catch is it's a persistent space, so players who dropped in an hour ago might already be out there loaded up - keep your wits about you.
Storm Dive is the battle-royale mode, with a circle that shrinks over a long match and extractions that only appear partway through. Save it for once you know what you're doing. You can play solo or in crews, and solo is genuinely good fun here - you end up a one-person band juggling the wheel, the cannons and repairs all at once.
Your Starting Loadout
Before a run you pick a blueprint (your trampler) and pack your gear. For the blueprint, the Grumpy Walker preset is the one to take early - it's cheap to rebuild if you lose it and has well-rounded stats.
On your person, keep it simple: some armour, two guns with the right ammo for each (a revolver for close-to-mid range and a rifle for picking off distant tramplers is a solid combo), a stack of canned food, and a few fuel rods. Then pack the trampler itself with its cannons and shells, more food for the fridge, spare fuel, and any backup gear. One rule that'll save you grief: every gun takes its own specific ammo, so always pack the matching shells.
Set Up the Moment You Drop In
Something a little tricky about SAND is that nothing spawns loaded. Not your guns, not your cannons. Everything you packed appears in a green box on the racks, and your first job on every single drop is to get it all combat-ready before you start driving.
Loading is the bit beginners fumble. Your character can only carry a shell or two at a time, so don't load cannons round by round. Instead, pick up the cannon kit (or stand at the storage box), hold tab, and transfer the whole stack of ammo straight into it. Then mount the loaded cannon by holding F on the trampler's turret slot. Do the same for your personal guns. While you're at it, drop a couple of cans of food in the fridge so you can respawn quickly, and slot a fuel rod into the engine.
Looting Means Boxes
This is the single most important mechanic to grasp, and it's not obvious. Your character's inventory is tiny, so you don't loot directly into it. Instead, you grab an empty green box (there are spares in your fridge) and carry it to the loot. Walk up to a crate and it pours straight into your box.
The other half of the rule: loot only counts if it's on the racks. When you bring a full box back, place it on the shelves inside your trampler - the captain's quarters and crew rooms have them too. Anything left loose on the floor when you extract is gone. Fill boxes, rack them, extract them. That's the loop.
Stay Hidden, Stay Alive
A running engine kicks out a thick column of black smoke that other players can spot from miles off, and it burns fuel even when you're parked. So whenever you stop to loot a wreck, switch the engine off - it hides you and saves fuel. When you're on the move, get in the habit of raising your binoculars to scan the horizon; in this game they're genuinely vital for spotting that tell-tale smoke before trouble reaches you.
If you take damage, your character's multi-tool repairs the broken pipes, plates and circuit boxes around the trampler, including the legs that keep you mobile. And if you die, you'll respawn in your captain's quarters - fast if you stocked the fridge with food, slower (around a minute) if you didn't. A can of food also patches up a chunk of your health bar in a pinch.
Getting Out Alive
Extraction has a catch that trips up nearly everyone. To call it, drive into one of the evacuation circles marked on your map, climb the tower, and hold F on the radio - the same ship that dropped you in comes to collect you. Only one trampler can use a given extraction point at a time, so make sure the coast is clear first.
Now the part the game doesn't explain: your ship and your character extract separately. Your racked loot leaves with the ship, but you have to physically get off the trampler and grab the rope to extract yourself. Plenty of new players have watched their gear vanish because they were still standing on deck. Get off, take the rope, and you're home with everything you earned.
Quick Tips
Play Voyage while you learn; Storm Dive can wait.
Take the Grumpy Walker blueprint early - it's cheap to replace.
Nothing spawns loaded; load every gun and cannon before you move.
Transfer whole ammo stacks via tab, not one shell at a time.
Loot into a green box, then rack it - loose loot doesn't extract.
Engine off when you stop: no smoke, no wasted fuel.
Put food in the fridge for fast respawns.
Get off the trampler and take the rope to extract yourself.
That's a full run, start to finish. Once it clicks, the desert opens right up - and the real fun begins when you start picking fights and chasing the big loot. For that, our trampler combat guide and looting and money guide take it from here. Good luck out there.
