The new title 'SAND: Raiders of Sophie', which features expeditions on massive mobile bases across a desert, hit third place on the Steam global top sellers list immediately upon its release on the 23rd.

This is an extraction shooter set in an alternate history where the Austro-Hungarian Empire spearheaded space exploration in the 1910s. You are dropped onto 'Sophie', a planet reduced to a barren sand desert, and must scramble for resources while fending off rivals. The centerpiece of your traversal is the 'Trampler', a colossal mobile walking base. You get to customise its armour, weaponry, and internal compartments, effectively turning your base into a mobile war machine to scavenge through abandoned streets, monuments, and wreckage.

Combat is a chaotic mix of heavy artillery barrages between these behemoths and close-quarters boarding actions. Your primary objective is the Trampler’s core, the reactor; smash that, and the enemy is left dead in the water. You can chip away at armour with heavy ordnance or opt for small arms, and once you’ve breached a disabled ship, you can pillage their black box and loot. Encountering foes offers a choice between engagement or evasion via flare signals, but be wary—the enemy might just be baiting you into a trap.

Early player reception for SAND: Raiders of Sophie is currently 'Mixed' (based on 840 reviews, with 60% positive). Fans are praising the unique world-building and the sheer thrill of operating a Trampler, especially when coordinating roles with friends, all at a reasonable price point. However, the launch has been marred by severe server instability, which is proving to be a major headache. Solo players are also crying foul over unbalanced matchmaking that pits them against full squads. Add in some frame rate drops, dodgy hit detection, and the occasional character getting stuck in geometry, and you have a launch that needs some serious polish.

Elsewhere on the charts, Metcha Chameleon holds the top spot for the ninth consecutive day, riding the momentum of its recent Japan-themed map update. Meanwhile, Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition surged into 9th place, taking advantage of its first 50% discount.

In the daily peak Concurrent Players chart, Path of Exile 2 dropped to 7th place, slipping below the 200,000 mark with 183,402 players. While it boasted over 400,000 players at the start of its new league, the numbers have more than halved after about a month. While most titles saw a general decline in player counts post-weekend, Don't Starve Together managed to sustain over 120,000 players, climbing to 13th.