SAND HORDE: SURVIVOR

Sand Horde: Survivor is an intense top-down roguelite horde-survival, tactical exploration, and construction action experience built in Unreal Engine 5.3. Set across a harsh, irradiated desert wasteland, complex subterranean sewer networks, and fortified military bunkers, you must withstand unrelenting waves of mutated biomechanical abominations. Scavenge scarce surface resources, clear nests, recruit stranded survivors, forge modular weaponry, pilot heavy armored vehicles and Titan Mechs, and excavate your own subterranean hideouts before nightfall.

The Core Tactical Loop

• Scavenge & Explore: Search surface ruins, abandoned military outposts, and underground sewer grates [E] for ammo boxes, scrap metal, gold coins, and rare crafting cores.
• Eliminate Swarms & Level Up: Gather blue XP gems dropped by defeated monsters to acquire randomized rogue power-up perks upon each level-up.
• Fortify & Defend: Deploy sandbag barricades [J], automated sentry turrets [K], and excavate private bunker shelters [V] before elite swarms arrive.
• Upgrade & Specialize: Access the Command Hub & Shop [L] to calibrate ballistic weapon stats, apply 135-second elemental overcharges, and tune vehicle engines.
• Locate The Big Cheese & Extract: Infiltrate heavily fortified perimeter research vaults, secure the Golden Cheddar Relic, and hold the Helipad LZ for 5 seconds to achieve total victory!

When beginning a new campaign from the Main Menu, players can choose between three distinctive operational presets:

Open the Options Menu at any time from the Main Menu or by pressing [ESC] / [P] in-game to configure audio, display, graphics, and controls across 4 dedicated tabs: GENERAL, VIDEO & GRAPHICS, CONTROLS, and AUDIO.

• Display Modes: Seamlessly toggle between Borderless Windowed (Default, recommended for Discord & OBS streaming), Windowed, and Exclusive Fullscreen.
• Frame Rate Pacing & VSync: Full native resolution support with togglable VSync and target frame rate limiters (30, 60, 120, 144, or Unlimited FPS) to guarantee stutter-free presentation.
• Graphics Fidelity: Scalable Shadow Quality, Particle FX Density, Screen Shake Intensity slider (0% - 100%), and Post-Processing bloom levels.

Sand Horde: Survivor features a fully customizable keyboard and mouse remapping architecture. To remap inputs, pause the game with [ESC], select OPTIONS, and click Tab 3: CONTROLS. Every combat action, defense hotkey, and menu shortcut can be freely rebound.

A. Character Movement & Core Combat Controls

B. Tactical, Base Defense & Field Skills

C. Vehicles, Mechs & Aerial Support Controls

D. Hotbars, Systems Menus & Interface Modals

Mastering Sand Horde's economy is essential for surviving beyond Night 3. Resources are split between immediate tactical consumables and permanent meta-progression currencies:

• Gold Coins: Earned by slaying elite mutant champions, destroying golden treasure urns, clearing bounty board contracts [N], and winning at the Desert Casino [O]. Spend Gold to buy rare weapon catalyst cores, calibrate barrel ballistics, apply 135-second elemental overcharges, and unlock Titan Mech drops.
• Scrap Metal: Salvaged from mechanical drones, destroyed vehicles, scrap piles, and scuttler shells. Used to repair firearm wear, build sandbag barriers [J], manufacture auto-turrets [K], and forge construction tools (Shovels, Quick-Set Concrete).
• Blue XP Gems & Rogue Perks: Slaying enemies releases glowing blue XP orbs. Filling your level bar presents 3 randomized rogue upgrade cards (e.g., Ricochet Rounds, Siphon Lifesteal, Lead Storm, Kinetic Dash, Reactive Armor). Choose carefully to synergize with your current firearm build.
• Ammunition Management: Weapons draw from Light, Heavy, Shotgun Shell, and Energy battery reserves. Purchase surplus ammo boxes in Shop Tab 1 or scavenge abandoned ammo crates in underground sewers.
• Persistent Stash: Gold and unlocked blueprints banked in underground vault lockers remain permanently unlocked across all subsequent runs.

The world of Sand Horde extends deep beneath the scorched desert sand. Subterranean environments provide shelter from deadly surface radiation storms, contain high-tier loot caches, and house friendly scavenger outposts.

A. Four Vertical World Tiers

• Tier 0 — The Scorched Surface: Vast open desert dunes, military ruin outposts, vehicle travel, sandstorms, and roaming elite boss titans.
• Tier -1 — The Flooded Sewers: Reached via sewer manholes and pipe ladders. Tight, claustrophobic waterways rich in scrap piles, toxic slimes, and hidden weapon cache rooms.
• Tier -2 — Sub-Bunkers & Outposts: Reinforced military blast shelters equipped with power generators, automated security turrets, and survivor trading posts.
• Tier -3 — Deep Ancient Caverns: Bioluminescent caves, rare crystal geode nodes, elder hive nests, and the fortified Big Cheese Relic Vaults.

B. Dynamic HUD Distance Pins & Clean Interaction Indicators

All subterranean entrances feature glowing, unobtrusive HUD markers that project through terrain: [SEWER ENTRANCE: 45m], [BUNKER SHELTER: 120m], or [EXTRACTION HELIPAD: 280m]. As you approach within 3 meters, clean interaction prompts appear: [E] ENTER SUBTERRANEAN SHELTER.

C. Excavating Custom Player Bunkers & Underground Basements

Survivors are not limited to pre-existing shelters—you can excavate your own fortified subterranean hideout anywhere on the surface map:

1. Acquire Tools: Purchase an Entrenching Shovel and 3x Quick-Set Concrete Bags from Base Supplies (Shop Tab 8) for 150 Scrap and 35 Gold.
2. Select Terrain: Find an unobstructed patch of open wasteland away from rocky cliffs.
3. Dig & Pour: Hold down [V]. Your character will spend 4 seconds excavating soil and pouring a reinforced concrete hatchway with an iron ladder leading into your private underground basement.
4. Personalized Safezone: The custom bunker entrance is permanently marked on your mini-map with a blue shelter pin. Mutants cannot open the reinforced hatch!

Sand Horde features a deep, procedural weapon crafting system. Rather than static guns, every firearm is composed of 5 interchangeable mechanical components:

• 1. Barrel Assembly: Governs bullet velocity, effective range falloff, and horizontal recoil kick.
• 2. Receiver Core: Dictates cyclic fire mode: Semi-Automatic, 3-Round Burst, High-RPM Full-Auto, or Charged Energy Beam.
• 3. Stock & Grip: Calibrates ADS stability, weapon spread recovery, and sprint-to-fire transition speed.
• 4. Magazine Housing: Determines ammunition capacity (20-rnd, 45-rnd, Dual Drum 100-rnd) and reload speed.
• 5. Catalyst Chamber: Modulates raw damage multiplier, armor piercing, and elemental resonance conductivity.

135-Second Elemental Overcharge Infusions (Shop Tab 5)

Infuse your equipped weapon with temporary elemental catalysts that last for 135 Seconds of continuous combat:

• Incendiary Overcharge: Bullets ignite targets on contact, inflicting stacking burn damage over 5 seconds. Ignited enemies panic and spread fire to nearby horde members.
• Cryo Frost Overcharge: Chills enemy movement speed by 50%. Frozen targets shatter into lethal ice shrapnel upon death, causing AOE damage.
• Corrosive Acid Overcharge: Melts armored mutant carapaces, reducing target damage resistance by 40% and leaving hazardous acid pools on the floor.
• Siphon Vampiric Overcharge: Converts 15% of all kinetic bullet damage directly into survivor health restoration.
• Graviton Singularity Overcharge: Critical hits generate micro-black-holes that pull surrounding enemies together for devastating explosive combos.

Legendary Quick-Craft Blueprints

Detailed specifications and handling guidelines for all pilotable vehicles and close air support platforms:

• Tactical Combat Buggy / Go-Kart [C]: High speed and sharp cornering. Press [Spacebar] while driving to activate Nitro Afterburner for high-speed ramming. Carry Portable Fuel Cans [F] and Repair Kits [R] to maintain performance.
• Armored War Truck: Heavy 6-wheel mobile bunker with a steel cow-catcher. Mounts up to 4 roof turrets and crushes large mutants on impact.
• Attack Gunship [`]: Heavy twin-turboshaft attack helicopter called via tactical airlift. Equipped with 30mm Chin Gatling (LMB) tracking the mouse cursor in real-time, and AGM-114 Hellfire Missiles (RMB / F). Chobham composite armor absorbs 85% of incoming damage. Press [X] to emergency parachute-eject; the crashing hull explodes for 1,200 AOE damage.
• Titan Combat Exosuit [T / B]: Heavy orbital drop-pod delivery. Dual 30mm rotary miniguns, 8-missile cluster micro-missiles [G], and high-pressure napalm flamethrower jet [F]. 3-second audible klaxon sounds on critical breach—eject immediately with [X]!
• Companion Drones & Orbital Airstrikes [ALT + A]: Equip Striker, Cryo Sentinel, or Medical Tether drones. Target designators call down 500lb bunker-buster airstrikes on coordinates.

Launch the Creative Studios Suite by pressing [F6] during gameplay or selecting "CREATIVE STUDIOS" from the Main Menu.

• Monster Maker Studio: 3D inspector to adjust creature HP (50 to 50,000 HP), movement speed, melee damage, attack range, and AI profiles. Includes a live test arena button [TEST SPAWN] to fight your creations.
• Modular Weapon Maker: Mix custom barrels, receivers, stocks, and catalysts with custom ballistic speeds, pellet counts, muzzle flashes, and audio acoustic synthesis.
• Shelter & Bunker Architect: Grid-based blueprint editor to construct custom underground bunkers with power generators and scrap recyclers.
• Sector & Map Architect: Paint sand dunes, radioactive craters, sewer access shafts, and monster nest densities across 16x16 sector grids.
• Real-Time Audio Soundboard [ \ ]: Multi-track mixer to live pitch-shift creature screams, music tracks, and weapon impacts.

To ensure a streamer-safe and family-friendly experience across all community-generated content, Sand Horde includes an intelligent, real-time Universal Profanity Filter Engine.

• Multi-Language Censor Dictionary: Automatically detects and censors inappropriate language across player profile names, custom monster tags, weapon blueprints, and shelter names.
• Leetspeak & Obfuscation Heuristics: Recognizes symbol substitutions (e.g., @, $, 0, 1, 3), phonetic circumventions, and spaced character evasions.
• Graceful Wasteland Sanitization: Filtered words are replaced with wasteland-themed humor tags (e.g., "[SLAG]", "[MUTANT JUNK]", "[SCRAP]") preserving immersion.

Take a break from the carnage and test your luck in the Desert Oasis Casino! Access the casino modal by pressing [O] or [NUMPAD 0] in peaceful settlements or from mobile casino trailers found in the wasteland.

• Lucky Cactus Slots: Classic 3-reel, 5-payline slot machine. Match 3 Golden Cacti to hit the progressive jackpot awarding thousands of Gold Coins and rare weapon cores.
• Wasteland Roulette: Place bets on Red/Black, Odd/Even, or specific numbers (0-36). Features simulated physics ball spinning and 35:1 straight-up payouts.
• Outlaw Blackjack: Go head-to-head against the cybernetic dealer. Classic 21 rules with Split, Double Down, and Surrender options.
• Fortune Wheel of the Dunes: Spin the giant fortune wheel once per run for free scrap crates, surplus ammo bundles, or vehicle nitro refills.

Every mutant species in the Sand Horde wasteland possesses distinct strengths, vulnerabilities, and behavioral patterns. Review their profiles to optimize your tactical loadout:

The ultimate end-game objective in Sand Horde: Survivor is locating the legendary Big Piece of Cheese (an irradiated pre-war golden cheddar bio-relic) and calling in a tactical extraction helicopter to escape the wasteland.

A. Relic Lore & Fixed Strategic Vault Coordinates

The Big Cheese is sealed deep within reinforced underground research vaults located at 4 fixed perimeter sector coordinates on the wasteland map:

• Northeast Vault: Sector Coordinate [2, 2]
• Southwest Vault: Sector Coordinate [-3, -2]
• Southeast Vault: Sector Coordinate [-2, 3]
• Northwest Vault: Sector Coordinate [3, -3]

Enter any of these vaults and press [E] TAKE THE BIG CHEESE on the golden pedestal. Claiming the relic instantly awards +500 Scrap Metal, +50 Gold Coins, +100 XP, and binds the objective into your survivor's inventory.

B. Locating Helicopter Extraction Zones (Helipads)

Extraction Helipads are located in outer wasteland sectors where the sum of coordinates is odd (e.g., [1, 0], [-1, 1], [0, 1]). Helipads feature illuminated landing lights and an interaction prompt: [E] EXTRACTION HELIPAD (REQUIRES BIG CHEESE). Attempting to activate extraction without the cheese triggers HQ's denial: "NO CHEESE, NO EXTRACTION! FIND THE BIG PIECE OF CHEESE FIRST!".

C. The 5-Second Extraction Holdout

Pressing [E] on the Helipad with the Big Cheese in possession broadcasts an emergency extraction flare, triggering an intense 5-Second Extraction Holdout:

• Enraged Swarms: The distress flare draws every mutant and boss titan in the sector directly toward the Helipad.
• Perimeter Tether: You must remain within the glowing helipad boundary zone for the entire 5.0 seconds. Stepping off the pad pauses the countdown timer!
• Defensive Preparation: Pre-deploy Sandbag Barriers [J], place Auto-Turrets [K], or summon your Titan Mech [T] to absorb incoming attacks.

• Wanted Bounty Board [N]: Accept high-stakes contracts to eliminate legendary mutant alphas. Bounties reward massive Gold payouts and rare cosmetic weapon skins.
• Trophy Hunter Encyclopedia [ALT + B]: Records all 24 discovered creature species, weak points, total kills, and collected boss relics.
• Career Statistics Dashboard [M]: Tracks lifetime stats: Total Kills, Accuracy %, Highest Night Survived, Gold Accumulated, and Extractions Achieved.

• Instant Fullscreen Toggle: Press [ALT + ENTER] TWICE (2X) at any time to toggle fullscreen without entering menus.
• Performance Diagnostics Overlay: Press [F3] to toggle live frame-rate (FPS), frame-time latency, and active entity counters.
• Discord Streaming & OBS Optimization: Use Borderless Windowed mode with the built-in 60 FPS frame rate limiter. This eliminates DXGI swapchain contention and prevents micro-stutters when capturing with Discord's video hook.
• Live Audio Soundboard Mixer: Press [ \ ] (Backslash) to dynamically adjust creature screeches, music, and weapon volumes.
• Command Terminal Prompt: Press [ENTER] to toggle console inputs for coordinate queries and server status.
• Emergency Run Respawn: Press [R] upon defeat to quickly respawn back at base camp for your next attempt.