I had the chance to play Roman Sands at PAX West, a surreal, narrative-driven game set in a dystopian world. It feels like two different games rolled into one. While I didn’t get to spend as much time with it as I would’ve liked, what I did experience definitely piqued my interest. It’s also, in many ways, quite bizarre.
The game begins on an island resort, where the people staying at the resort have me running errands as the world is ending. I share something in common with the character I’m playing—we both have no idea why we’re here, how we got here, or what we’re supposed to be doing.
The game is presented in first-person, and the characters I encounter look very cartoony, while the world itself is drab—almost eerily so, with muted blue tones. The characters are rude, asking me to do things like fetch them a drink, find their luggage, or deliver a note. It all feels strange, especially with the world on the brink of collapse.
As I run around completing these quests, there’s a timer, and I often run out of time before finishing the tasks. When that happens, the game resets, and I’m stuck repeating the same tasks over and over, yet my character seems to know I’m stuck in a loop. One key task—fixing the elevator—seems necessary to advance the story. The characters tell me the parts are in the storage room, but finding it was a challenge. Even when I located it, I didn’t realize the piece I needed was hidden in a vending machine. I wasn’t alone in this struggle—other players had trouble figuring it out as well.
After fixing the elevator, I wake up in a spaceship, signaling the start of Act 2. This part of the game feels entirely different from the first—the environment seems more realistic, and a female voice directs me to fix various parts of the ship. I found myself wandering around, absorbing the surroundings, and trying to figure out what’s going on—why I’m here, and if there’s anything in the environment that offers clues. Unfortunately, nothing seemed clear. My time with the demo ran out before I could finish Act 2.
I left the demo still wondering what had just happened. Part of me is intrigued by the story and curious about how the two acts connect, while another part of me is baffled by the whole experience. It didn’t feel like a typical game—it was more of an experience. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I was left wanting more. I'm sure with more time, a lot of my questions would be answered.
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