Game Modes

SAND: Raiders of Sophie ships its Early Access launch with two ways to play expeditions, plus a separate build mode for designing your machine. The two expedition modes share the same scavenge-and-extract loop but differ in stakes and how a run ends.

Voyage

Voyage is the lower-stakes, persistent open-world mode. It is the place to test Trampler builds and scavenge lower-tier items at your own pace. Voyage runs have no time limit: you decide when you have gathered enough and when to head back to an extraction point. There is no countdown forcing you off the surface, so it suits learning the map, experimenting with loadouts, and steadier resource gathering.

Storm Dive

Storm Dive is the high-action mode built around confrontation and higher-tier rewards. A sandstorm slowly engulfs the region during the run, and you are limited by the time it takes that storm to reach the center of the map. You can extract at any point before the storm closes in. As the playable area shrinks, encounters with other scavengers and the risk of losing your loot and your Trampler both climb. Storm Dive is where the better loot lives and where most of the player-versus-player pressure happens.

Mode Comparison

Trampler Editor

The third pillar at launch is the Trampler Editor, a dedicated build space where you construct a Trampler from scratch out of a variety of components before you deploy. It is not an expedition mode, but it is where every run effectively begins, since the machine you bring shapes how you play both Voyage and Storm Dive.

Extraction in Both Modes

Whichever mode you choose, a run only pays out if you reach an extraction point and escape to the orbital station with your Trampler and loot intact. Dying on the surface risks the loot you were carrying, though saved blueprints mean a destroyed Trampler can be rebuilt. See Gameplay for the full loop and Getting Started for a new-player walkthrough.