The next game from Paratopic’s devs has a tropical Paradise Killer feel

First-person adventure Roman Sands RE:Build was announced during Nintendo’s House Of Indies holiday event, and it’s coming to Steam in summer 2023 too. Described as an “end of time adventure gacha puzzle apocalypse visual novel simulation horror trip”, Roman Sands RE:Build hails from the devs behind horror game Paratopic. It’s got a vaguely vaporwave sensibility that reminds me a smidge of Paradise Killer. Watch the trailer for Roman Sands RE:Build below, and please explain to me if you understand what’s going on.

Looks very different from Paratopic, right? There’s a strong vibe of Kaizen Game Works’ murder mystery to Roman Sands, and maybe just a hint of the island exploration of Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. That automatically put it on my radar for things to keep an eye on in 2023, thanks to its mix of horror, puzzling, and survival in a visual novel format. I’m not sure why everyone’s arms are so floppy though, that’s a bit concerning.

Roman Sands is set at a luxury retreat “after the end of time”, and its characters are waiting for the Sun to die. Or so it seems, because there’s really two games in Roman Sands. The other part takes place in the confines of a zoological research facility, while the world outside lies devastated by ecological disaster. There’ll be a bunch of genres popping up as you play through both parts of the game, forming one whole story. We got on rather well with devs Arbitrary Metric’s Paratopic, which AliceO thought was one of the best games of 2018.

Roman Sands RE:Build is heading to Steam in summer 2023. It’ll be on Nintendo Switch, too.