The Siege and the Sandfoxis a Metroidvania that puts a unique emphasis on stealth, passing on the usual beat-em-up style the genre is known for and instead playing something closer toThiefin pixelated form. Beautifully designed with incredible hand-drawn pixel art, the aesthetics, visuals, and sounds of this game are sure to win you over with minimal effort. However, the controls can unfortunately feel a bit uncomfortable, and some design choices left me wanting in what would otherwise be a near-perfect entry in the genre.
The Siege and the Sandfoxfollows the story of an ancient city besieged by the armies of a neighboring kingdom. An ancient ally of the king, the Sandfox rushes to aid the crown, only to discover too late that an assassin has slain him. Framed for the killing, the Sandfox is stabbed with his own glass knife and tossed down a massive pit known as the Traitor’s Fall, but miraculously survives. Now, climbing his way out of the depths of the city’s underworld, the Sandfox must reach the royal court and clear his name before the city falls to the enemy.
I absolutely love Arabic culture: the history, the architecture, the style, and the music. It’s only made better, in my opinion, when translated to the eccentricities of fantasy, improved upon with fantastical exaggeration akin to stories such as 1001 Nights or Prince of Persia.The Siege and the Sandfoxexcellently captures everything I love about this subgenre of fantasy: the gorgeous desert landscapes, where the lights of the sun and moon create equally beautiful yet utterly contrasting visuals against rolling plains of sandy hills and towering stone ruins; the diverse cityscape full of interesting NPCs and a feeling of mysticism and scale as everything around you feels impossibly ancient and yet built to last centuries; and, of course, the alluring desert hymns of the soundtrack.The Siege and the Sandfoxgets it all right, and the visuals had me instantly hooked from the start.
More impressive is how every background was hand-drawn and each character manually animated. The game manages to look modern and yet feel retro at the same time, like what my nostalgia tells me the graphics on my old Game Boy looked like (when they certainly didn’t). I often praise the Metroidvania genre as one that is frequently used as a conduit for great artists to make games, andThe Siege and the Sandfoxis clearly no exception to this rule.
The one thing I didn’t enjoy so much about the game’s visuals is that the main cast of characters isn’t especially exciting in their design. The traitor princess and the titular Sandfox are particularly bland-looking, with our protagonist dressed in nothing but a blue shirt and pants wrapped in a brown scarf. While the costume’s colors are used cleverly when moving through light and shadows, it is otherwise rather plain. It surprises me to say that the NPCs in the game were far more interesting to me than the main characters.
The game’s soundtrack is as gorgeous and true to its theming as the graphics, capturing the feeling I know you’re imagining when you see the screenshots of this game. It is phenomenal and manages to avoid becoming too repetitive, making for a great listen from start to finish.
Mechanically,The Siege and the Sandfoxis a Metroidvania-style platformer with a heavy emphasis on stealth. Rather than fighting your way forward, you use a fairly well-put-together stealth system that accounts for light, vision, and hearing of enemies to successfully sneak through damp dungeons and sand-flooded ruins on your way back to the surface. You’ll hide in baskets, knock out enemies, and parkour through a gigantic, interconnected map that seamlessly transitions from one location to another.
This gigantic map, unfortunately, includes one of my most disliked aspects of the genre: necessary backtracking. I found the backtracking inThe Siege and the Sandfoxto be rather tedious, as I always do in these types of games. I would have much preferred the game to allow me to continue moving steadily forward from start to finish, but if you don’t mind revisiting old areas, then maybe you won’t find this aspect as tedious as I did.
The Siege and the Sandfox, approaching its release date and shortly after, had a lot of bugs that interfered with progression. Having finished my 10-hour playthrough (in which I didn’t spend any time collecting side content) after the game’s launch, I’m happy to say that the developers put a lot of effort into fixing these bugs. You’ll find the game in a very solid state should you choose to play it now.
The one thing I still have to complain about is that the game’s controls—at least on keyboard—feel pretty stiff. Wall jumping, ledge grabbing, and other parkour mechanics can feel a little annoying to pull off. This is pretty bad for a game that puts a big emphasis on stealth, as being slowed down can be the difference between going unseen or being caught by guards. To get around this, I highly recommend playing the game with a controller.
The Final Word
The Siege and the Sandfoxis a beautifully realized Metroidvania that succeeds in every artistic aspect, from its pixel-perfect visuals and soundtrack to its intricate worldbuilding. While it stumbles somewhat in its necessary backtracking and stiff controls, the overall experience is both compelling and memorable. For fans of stealth, fantasy, and classic Metroidvania exploration, this game serves as a rewarding adventure.
Try Hard Guides was provided a Steam code for this PC review ofThe Siege and the Sandfox. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles on ourGame Reviewspage!The Siege and the Sandfoxis available onSteam,GoG,Epic Games, andHumble Bundle.
