It’s repetitive. It’s unproductive and meaningless. It’s a lot of monotonous resource micromanagement, frustrating and obtuse dependencies, and UI problems. And it’s total meth.
I blame loadshedding. With the power flipping out multiple times per day now and the prospects of a for-reals apocalypse increasing with every Eskom update on Twitter, I’ve been stuck at home with my Nintendo Switch Lite. Since purchasing the thing kind of impulsively at Vodacom rAge, I’ve been jonesing for a repetitive, unproductive, meaningless, monotonous resource management game with frustrating and obtuse dependencies and UI problems. Okay, maybe not so much the UI problems, but that’s probably an inherent feature for this sort of game on a mobile device with restrictive control and screen economy.
Introducing Of Mice and Sand. It’s a less-for-reals-apocalyptic space-cowboy build-’em-up, somewhat like Sheltered, but with (guess what, you guessed it) mice instead of people, and without the existential drama. Because, you know, mice. They’re not that complicated. As the supervisor of a desert expedition to the cheese-rich El Dorado, you must accumulate junk to bolt onto your sandship so you can accumulate new kinds of junk to bolt onto your sandship so you can accumulate other new kinds of junk to bolt onto your sandship. Over time, you can purchase new sandships with extra space to accumulate even more junk.
I told you it was repetitive, but sometimes the mice have babies to mitigate the dreariness of accumulating junk. I dunno how these guys bone, though, because they share two bunks in a dormitory. Who knew mice were into exhibitionism? This game is educational too.
But it’s also so compelling. From its ostensibly simple start, the game loop becomes much more complex as you venture out into the wasteland, necessitating the accumulation of special junk and construction of new equipment to deal with zone hazards. With limited construction slots on your sandship, choosing what to build is a tactical puzzle – more workbenches of factories, for example, can boost item generation capacity, but you’ve got to save slots for the kitchen, infirmary, and turrets too. And in the meantime, accumulate more junk.
