About This Game

Chains on Sand is a brutal, tactical roguelike where you take the role of a gladiator condemned to fight for survival. Start as a nobody, build your legend in the arena, and climb your way toward freedom—or die trying. Every victory earns you loot, gold, and experience—but death is permanent, and the crowd is always watching.

Core Gameplay

• Tactical Combat: Engage in turn-based grid combat with hit locations, active defenses (dodge, parry, block), flanking, knockdowns, and limb damage. Positioning and decision-making are key.

• Character Creation & Growth: Design your fighter using a point-buy system that allows flexible builds. Choose stats, skills, and unique traits that change your fighting style.

• Loot & Equipment: Equip dozens of melee weapons, shields, and armor with varying quality, durability, and weight. Everything your opponent wears can become yours—if you kill them.

• Magic System: Master one or more of four spell schools—Body, Heal, Protection, and Elemental—each with their own unique tactical spells and effects.

• Legacy & Permadeath: Death is final. But those who defeat you may return as deadly opponents in future runs. Retire your most successful gladiators and one day face them again—this time, from the other side of the sand.

• Elite Opponents & Rare Loot: Survive long enough to face powerful champions wielding legendary weapons and armor. Defeating them is your only chance to claim the rarest gear in the game.

• Popularity & Crowd Reactions: Earn the love or hatred of the audience based on your actions. The crowd will demand mercy or death. Disobey at your peril.

• Between Fights: Spend downtime choosing upgrades, selling loot, healing wounds, or reducing your debt to your owner—if you're still a slave.

• Procedural Opponents: Fight a wide variety of enemy archetypes with unique tactics, gear, and personality. No two battles are the same.

Development & AI Disclosure
Chains on Sand is built by one person. To keep the project moving, AI tools were used to assist with code (prototyping, refactors, debugging) and with art (concepts, iterations, and some final sprites). The music is AI-generated.

All gameplay systems, design decisions, and the final code are authored, reviewed, and maintained by the developer. Visual/audio outputs were curated and edited to fit the game. As resources allow, the developer may commission original art and music and replace AI-assisted assets over time. Thanks for understanding. If you have questions or concerns, please reach out on the Steam Community Hub—the developer is listening. 

Mature Content Description

The developers describe the content like this:

This game depicts stylized but graphic violence, including blood and decapitations, in a turn-based arena setting. No nudity, sexual content, drug use, or self-harm.

Themes include forced combat for survival (“bonded fighters”) and player-driven moral choices like sparing or executing defeated opponents.