Sands of Aura is a beautiful action RPG that passed me by in October

We're counting down the most anticipated PC games coming in 2024 and beyond during the PC jinda44 Gaming Show: Most Wanted, but not everything in the show is yet to come. Featured during today's livestream was Sands of Aura, a top-down action RPG that hit 1.0 in October.

Developed by 12-person studio Chashu Entertainment, Sands of Aura didn't ping my radar until recently. The RPG initially hit early access in 2021, and I'm surprised I didn't check it out at the time. It's got a very pretty world, lanky characters with Tim Burton proportions, and a wind sailing mechanic that looks like natural fun.

Sands of Aura has a neat little premise: the world is covered in sand, not due to some ecological meltdown caused by the mistreatment of the planet, but because god got angry and shattered the hourglass of time, burying civilization in the process.

When in your sand boat, Sands of Aura zooms out to a third-person sailing view that reminds of my relaxing trips across the seas of Wind Waker. Once docked, it's Diablo with soulslike rules—complete with stand-ins for bonfires and estus flasks. I'm a little burnt out on FromSoftware's unforgiving RPG disciples, but I can't deny that checkpoints that refill healing items is a strong loop for an action game.

Also featured e19 at the PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted was a volley 2024 games coming from Sands of Aura's publisher Freedom Games, including a new G.I. Joe game, a farming sim in the 2.5D stylings of Paper Mario, and a medieval open world survival game called Lost Isle.