Sands: Walkthrough

Listen to the narrator while riding the railcar. Don’t worry, you can’t get off as an invisible wall doesn’t let you. Notice the special cargo and the green canteen behind you. Suddenly, we come to a stop. You can see something in the distance to the left. This is a water pump so that we can get some water. Pick up the green canteen first and go to the pump. Remember to hit F for interactions. Objects we can interact with become highlighted.

Soon after we come to a stop again. Notice the airships in the sky to the right. Further to the right we see a beacon. We need to follow this. Once we get close to it another light source becomes visible in the distance. We have to go from one beacon to the next to eventually reach a shelter. If you face a beacon and run towards it you can see it can disappear: don’t worry as it simply means the elevation changed but you are still walking in the right direction. Once the storm has passed go back via the usual way.

Now, here something funny happened to me. To start the railcar, we need to activate its controls. When jumping on the vehicle I hit F but accidentally slid off. So, the vehicle started moving without me. I wasn’t able to get back to it and I had to reload the last checkpoint. It appears that we need to wait a couple of seconds for the invisible wall to reappear that stops us from falling off.

Our next stop will be a bridge. You can see it needs to be raised. The switch can be found to the left in a small booth but don’t go there just yet. To the right in the distance we can see some rocks. As we get close they turn out to be some rusty metal object and a container. In between we can find the missing wheel. Now head back to the bridge and pick up the cog near the booth. Let’s apply both as they were the missing items and now that everything is in its place the button can be pressed in the booth.

We have come to the gate puzzle. This includes several sections where we always need to open a gate to proceed. The controls are always nearby – when pressing the button remember to hold it so that the gates can be fully opened. The first couple of sections are easy. Then we notice one gate automatically closes (but only the left side of it). It happens too fast and we can’t get past in time. Look at the panel with a whole appearing on the wall on the left. This is where we need to insert the metal object we can find near an upside-down, rusty railcar. This will make the wing stop so that releasing the button won’t be an issue any more. Now, this section can be bugged as when you start the car it can hit the next gate. You are immediately put back at the beginning. This is an error as you are meant to slow down automatically as soon as you get close to the next gate. The tricky part here is that once you get past a section you need to go back and pick up the metal objects you inserted. The gates can now close since you are fast enough to run through and the railcar is already ahead of you. The last section involves two gates but the distance is too small between them so your railcar cannot stop there which means 4 metal objects will be needed. 2 you already have from previously. Use them only on one side so you can get past the gates on foot. Outside, in the open desert you can see a container to the left and some metal objects to the right. This is where you will find two more metal objects and you can finally leave the gates puzzle for good.

Now, as we continue ahead we come to a stop. I misunderstood what the narrator was saying and I thought we do this deliberately meaning we have to leave the railway. But if you start walking to the left or to the right you come to an invisible wall. So, the rails we still need to follow (our car probably malfunctioned). There is a tower in the distance – just think of it as our next destination. Suddenly, our heart rate becomes faster, our protagonist finds it difficult to breath and his eyesight worsens. All good signs indicating we are going in the right direction. Eventually, we pass out.

We are imprisoned. We can see movement if we look outside the window. If we look to the right we can see a box and a metal object standing next to it outside our prison cell. If we wait a couple of minutes this object falls and we can pick it up. Remember to crouch so that it can become highlighted. Now, we use it twice on both doors to get out. Once outside we can see a familiar beacon in the distance. Just follow it to get to a manhole cover which will be our shelter.

We are in a cave system. As we drop down we can see a vault door not far. On the right-hand side, the display indicates it is missing 3 batteries. They must be inserted to the left – these metallic panels are familiar from the gate section. As we start walking around a worm appears. Naturally, we have to run and it is, in fact, easy to make sure it loses our sight. We can avoid the chase as the creature’s surroundings always become lit – the approaching blue light can help tremendously in the cave system. Now, we need 3 batteries but I’m sure there are more we can find. One is not far from the vault door to the right and 2 more can be found in the back. I found two displays showing the map of the cave system (also displaying our position) and one of it had a battery attached to it. Once we have all 3 items head back to the vault door and open it. Then we have to walk some more to get to a ladder, to our freedom.

Outside we can see a container in the distance. Once we reach it we notice the very city the narrator was talking about before. Start our final journey towards the city. After walking for a couple of more minutes there will be a cutscene.

Congratulations! You have completed the game!