Sand — patch notes and updates
Stored observation / content update:
Dated developer announcements recorded from Steam. Open the source for the complete update.
| Update | Date | Excerpt / source |
|---|---|---|
| Update #1 & Roadmap Out Now | Thank you to 100,000 scavengers! | 2026-06-26 | Servus Allies! Big day today...First of all, we've been closely monitoring your feedback and reports since launch, and a huge thanks to everyone who has been active in helping us identify some key issues. Thanks to your contributions, we've now release our first update, which has been designed around addressing the most prevalent issues we've had brought to our attention over the last couple of days.You can find the full changelist below: Improvements to the character controllerDecreases the chances of getting stuck on different collidersImproved shooting on and from moving tramplersThis is only the first batch of improvements, and we'll cont |
| Server Maintenance in 30 minutes - Wrap up your expeditions asap | 2026-06-26 | In preparation for today's update, we will begin server maintenance in 30 minutes, please make sure you wrap up your expeditions before this time to ensure you don't lose any loot or resources. The maintenance should last about 20 minutes.To tide you over in the meantime, here's today's update changelist: Improvements to the character controllerDecreases the chances of getting stuck on different collidersImproved shooting on and from moving tramplersThis is only the first batch of improvements, and we'll continue to improve the character controller in future updatesImproved lightning to make it more realistic and improve the visual distinctio |
| Mission Update - Wed June 24 | 2026-06-24 | Hi everyoneGood news. We are holding the line on DDOS. Thank you for your patience. The awkward news: VOYAGE right now is experiencing a memory crash. The match making feature that allowed VOYAGE servers to wind down isn't working properly, so they live longer than they should and eventually crash due to memory. It results in a network issue disconnect message, and then gets you stuck on a reconnecting screen because it's trying to connect to a dead server. Please avoid VOYAGE until we deploy a fix. The more good news is that we have a substantial patch building right now, and we expect to deploy it tomorrow. Thank you for your support during |
| Hotfix #1 - Out Now | 2026-06-23 | Hey All,Server Maintenance has now concluded! We've been following your reports and feedback since launch yesterday and have prepared a hotfix to address some of the more prominent issues that have been brought to our attention. Please note that this hotfix will not require a game update, as it is implemented directly into the servers.Changelist: Implemented additional DDOS protections ahead of more permanent solutionsFixed matchmaking issues when solo players were placed against teamsFixed an issue when players were stuck on "Waiting for rival expeditions"This issue occurred when the servers didn't close properlyNumerous other under the hood |
| SAND: Raiders of Sophie is Out Now in Early Access! | 2026-06-22 | Servus Allies!SAND: Raiders of Sophie is OUT NOW in Early Access on Steam!You can pick it up now at 21% off for a limited time 👇 After a number of massively successful playtests and a recently concluded server slam that saw hundreds of thousands of you descend upon the desert planet of Sophie, it’s with great pleasure that we welcome you all back for the release of the game into Early Access! Check out the launch trailer here:Here's what's changed since the Server Slams: Various visual effects and graphical updates to enhance the game's performance and aesthetic appealLarge artifacts now take more time to get activated (2 sec to activate -> |
| SAND: Raiders of Sophie Pre-Release FAQ | 2026-06-21 | With SAND: Raiders of Sophie launching into Early Access on Steam this coming Monday (22nd), we thought now would be a good time to answer some of the most popular questions we've seen floating around and make sure everyone is prepared for the big day! So let's get into it...What is SAND: Raiders of Sophie?SAND is an open-world PVPVE extraction shooter where players operate giant walkers across the post-apocalyptic dunes of a fallen planet, solo, or with friends! Battle rival players, explore, loot and extract valuable resources in a hostile, ever-changing world. In order to effectively traverse this harsh and dangerous planet, you will desig |
| SAND Release Times and Pricing | 2026-06-20 | Servus Allies,SAND launches on Steam this Monday (22nd), so we're here to share some details on what time it will launch in your region, and how much you can expect to pay!Check out the guide below for details on planned release timings, and keep scrolling for exact pricing (With and Without launch discount) in your region.EDIT 22/06 To keep you all updated, as we made some final changes to the Steam page in preparation for launch, a couple of wires got crossed that we need Valves help us uncross.No major issues, should be a relatively quick fix, but we may be waiting an extra hour or two from the currently scheduled release time.Cheers for y |
| The Server Slam has now ended! | 2026-06-17 | Servus Allies,The Server Slam has now concluded! Over the last couple of days tens of thousands of you joined us for our final expedition before SAND launches into Early Access next Monday, and we want to thank all of you for the feedback, bug reports and support over these last few weeks during our many closed playtests and Server Slams! We're working through all of your reports and suggestions now to get everything in order before launch next week and to start mapping out the roadmap, which we hope to share soon, so keep an eye out for news on that front! Thanks again for joining us, we'll see you all on the 22nd when we finally return to S |
| Server Slam #2 has begun! | 2026-06-15 | Servus Allies! Server Slam 2 has started and we're excited to welcome you all back to the planet of Sophie once more! If you've requested access already, you should be able to download the playtest and jump straight back into the game now. If you haven't head over to the steam page now to request access and it will be directly added to your library for download. The Server Slam will run for 48 hours from this announcement. Since we closed the Server Slam early last week, the team have been hard at work poring through your feedback and reports, and have managed to address a number of the most significant issues we identified over the 5 days. H |
| Servers Got Slammed and we noticed | 2026-06-09 | Hey folks,TLDRServer Slam helped us identify critical issues that weren't visible at low online tests, essentially saving us from a disaster of a launch We can solve these critical issues and need a bit more timeJune 22 is the new launch date We will continue deeply involving the community in the development of SAND: Raiders of Sophie The longer version:It’s been a crazy few days, with SAND featuring at Summer Games Fest and the Server Slam exceeding our expectations on the number of players. We’ve welcomed tens of thousands of new smugglers into the world of SAND and it’s shown us just how special what we have on our hands really is.The comm |
| Join the Server Slam before SAND: Raiders of Sophie launches on June 10th! | 2026-06-05 | The SAND: Raiders of Sophie Server slam is now live! If you've requested access already, you should receive a notification from Steam informing you of your admission to the playtest. If you haven't head over to the steam page now (link at the end of the article) to request access and it will be added to your library. Design, build and deploy your massive mechanical tramplers onto the harsh desert planet of Sophie now, solo or with friends. Explore a post apocalyptic alternate history 1910, loot, fight and extract with your spoils! The Server Slam will run until Sunday evening CET, and is open to everyone. Head over to the Steam page now, requ |
| Server Slam coming June 5th | 2026-05-29 | Servus Scavengers, a quick update on the upcoming Server Slam. The Server Slam is now scheduled to begin on Friday, June 5th, and on the same day we will also be announcing the official release date for SAND: Raiders of Sophie!Thanks to everyone participating in the latest tests we were able to identify and fix a few critical issues. Just to name a few:Found a way to eliminate Storm Dive waiting times altogether. We will now spawn in players on Storm Dive for the first 10 minutes, before the first circle starts moving. Since the map is very large, we don't anticipate issues and will test it this weekend.Found a large memory leak associated wi |
| Want to play SAND again before the Server Slam? | 2026-05-08 | Servus Scavengers!As we prepare for the Server Slam later this month, we will be running a short closed playtest for SAND with a very select number of players for some preliminary tests. If you are interested in participating, please click the link below and fill out the form, this should take around 1 minute of your time.https://tblink.co/SANDClosedPlaytestThis playtest will be limited to a small group of players in specific regions and details about the start date will be shared via the email provided in the form when the participants are chosen. Huge thanks in advance to everyone who applies! - Hologryph/tinyBuild Games |
| Sign up for the May server slam now! | 2026-05-01 | Servus Allies, Later this month, we'll be inviting you all back to the desert planet of Sophie to take part in our pre-launch server slam! This will be your last opportunity to descend upon the dunes as we test our network infrastructure and stability before SANDs full launch.If you have participated in or signed up for one of our previous playtests, you may have received a notification that the playtest has now ended. This is a result of us resetting the playtest sign ups and we invite you all to sign back up via the Steam page as any previous applications are no longer valid. If you would like to participate, you can click the link below to |
| SAND Development Update - April 2026 | 2026-04-16 | Servus Scavengers, We're back with another development update, and this month we want to share some more information about the features we mentioned in our last update and how they're progressing so far! All of the following items have now seen at least a basic implementation into the game and are in the testing/iteration phase, with many near or already final: AI Mobs Improvements Upior behaviour has been significantly improved, with polished and upgraded response time, general behaviour and pathfindingMelee Upiors are now more agile and will try to dodge player’s shotsAdditional sounds for Upiors have been added as well. They now have more |
| An update on the SAND Release Date | 2026-03-26 | Hey all, We want to be completely up front and honest with you here, Sand: Raiders of Sophie will not be releasing this March, and we want to give some context on why here today. It’s been a difficult few months for us here in Ukraine, with frequent severe power outages and air alert disruptions causing some major complications and resulting in a lot of key features that we had hoped to have finalised and implemented at this stage being behind schedule. To keep it transparent, this is what’s either left on our to-do list or is in the final stages of implementation:AI Mobs Improvements AI improvements are a key focus, as we continue to refine |
| SAND Development Update - January '26 | What's the latest in 2026? | 2026-01-30 | Servus Allies! A couple of weeks ago, we announced that SAND: Raiders of Sophie will be launching this March and today, we want to share some of the work our developers have been doing in preparation for this rapidly approaching release date. Read on to find out what's been happening behind the scenes lately!What have your main focuses have been over the last month?Over the past month, our primary focus has been on technical issues and bug fixes. This has largely involved addressing problems that lingered after the last playtest, while also giving us the opportunity to make progress on some longer-standing plans for areas of the game that had |
| SAND: Raiders of Sophie is coming to Steam this March! | 2026-01-09 | Last night at the New Game + showcase we launched a new trailer, where we revealed that SAND: Raiders of Sophie stomps its way onto Steam this March!A huge thanks to everyone who has joined us for our recent playtests, we're looking forward to seeing you all back on Sophie in March!We'll share more dev updates between now and then to keep you all updated on how development is coming along but for now, feast your eyes on the latest trailer. Check out the new trailer here 👇 Wishlist SAND: Raiders of Sophie on Steam now to be notified when it launches on Steam! Come and join us on our social media pages to keep yourself up to date with all the |
| SAND Development Update - December '25 | Release Date Update | 2025-12-11 | Hey All,We're back with another short Development Update for SAND: Raiders Of Sophie! A couple of weeks back in our last dev update, we announced that Sand: Raiders Of Sophie will release "When it's ready" and today we want to elaborate on that a little, so let's jump straight into the most pressing topic... When is SAND: Raiders Of Sophie releasing? In the weeks since the playtest, we’ve been hard at work going through all the feedback and suggestions we received from our players. After careful consideration, in order to ensure we meet the expectations of our players and are able to properly address everything we've learnt from the playtest, |
| SAND Development Update - November '25 | 2025-11-26 | Servus Allies! With both Part 1 and 2 of the October playtest now behind us, we're back with another Development Update to catch you up on what we've been up to in the time since and answer some of the more prominent questions we've received these last few weeks! What were the key takeaways from the playtest?Feedback for the core game was exceptionally positive and you guys seem to really enjoy what SAND: Raiders Of Sophie brings to the table but there's some outstanding issues we need to iron out before we're good to bring you all back to the planet. During this playtest, we identified a number of issues across the project and were able to a |