During today’s Summer Game Fest kickoff showcase, Bandai Namco revealed a trailer for a game based on Dragon Ball Z creator Akira Toriyama’s classic manga, Sand Land.
Sand Land (the manga), which debuted in 2000, is a fantasy action-adventure series that takes place in a desolate world where demons and humans coexist (or at least try to). The series follows a demon named Beelzebub as he joins a sheriff to find the mysterious Phantom Lake. Although the series was pretty popular in Japan, it, as well as Toriyama’s madcap gag manga Dr. Slump, are often overshadowed by the shonen battle series DBZ in the West. Or at least they have been until now. You can check out the gameplay trailer below.
Although brief, the announcement trailer packs a ton of gameplay featuring characters like Sheriff Rao, Thief (yes, that’s his name), and Beelzebub, as they cruise across vast sand dunes on the backs of dinosaurs and other mechanical contraptions whilst Monster Hunter-esque demons chase them across the arid landscape. Luckily, Beelzebub and crew are equipped with all sorts of explosive artillery and DBZ-esque combat skills to keep the monsters at bay.
Prior to the trailer reveal, host Geoff Keighley mentioned that the game about to be shown was built in Unreal Engine 5. While no release date was confirmed for Sand Land, the announcement trailer revealed that it will release on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
Aside from Toriyama’s lesser-known manga series receiving its own video game sometime later this year, Sand Land will also receive an anime movie adaptation by studio Sunrise later this summer, according to Anime News Network.
Kotaku is covering everything Summer Game Fest, from the main show on Thursday to other events happening throughout the next week. Whether you’re into larger-than-life triple-A games or intimate, offbeat indies, you can keep up with all things SGF here.
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