Oneiric Worlds, the French solo dev studio behind the “Zelda-like” Zefyr: A Thief’s Melody (Review here), just unveiled their upcoming cosy survival-crafting desert road trip, Yashi – Sand Driver. In this game, you’ll explore the desert where you upgrade your van and travel with your faithful coyote in search of humanity’s last sanctuary. Yashi – Sand Driver was born from a desire to create a pure exploration experience where the desert itself becomes the main challenge. Through its quiet journey of solitude and minimalist survival, the game invites players to experience a longing to reconnect with a long-lost nature and with humanity itself. In an endless desert, you set into the footsteps of Yashi, a lone survivor, who starts their journey towards New Eden, after a mysterious radio signal changes everything. Somewhere beyond the horizon lies this paradise, perhaps the last refuge where humanity may still endure. As such, you jump into your van, drive across the wasteland, survive the heat, scavenge resources, craft tools, brave the elements, and find your way to New Eden in this feel-good road trip. Designed as a short but soothing journey where you’ll experience both the loneliness and peace of a vast desert, Yashi – Sand Driver is built around exploration and scavenging, leaning into survival game mechanics rather than the developer’s previous focus on exploration and puzzles. Still, despite the shift in focus, Matthias, the solo dev behind the game, aims to keep the game approachable for players of all ages. “Like many, my love for video games began in childhood, back in the ’90s. I’ve always been fascinated by their creative potential. Since then, I’ve spent all my free time making my own games”, Mathias explains. “After spending 12 years creating Zefyr, I wanted to make something smaller, calmer, and more focused on exploration. Yashi is my vision of a peaceful road trip where the desert itself becomes your companion. As always with my creations, I will try to strike a nice balance of adventure, humour, and feel-good vibes.” If you want to check out the game for yourself, you can wishlist it on Steam. I, for one, am incredibly excited to see another title from the creator of Zefyr (and other games). The atmosphere, worldbuilding, and gameplay of Zefyr were phenomenal, and I am really looking forward to seeing how Yashi will play out, especially given how enigmatic the world seemed in the reveal trailer and given how much the setting reminds me of The Flame In The Flood. Hence, I’m really looking forward to checking out the game and also possibly writing more about it in the future! This post was originally published on Indiecator. If you wanna get in touch with me, feel free to stop by for one of my Twitch streams. For business inquiries, please reach out via email.