SAND: Raiders of Sophie’s First Major Update Adds a Lava Biome and New Extraction Site

The live update also brings a timed dropship crash event, reactor-powered doors, new lore notes, and fixes for gamepad controls and more.

Bojan Kicevski4 minutes ago

0 3 4 minutes read

A dark volcanic crater in SAND: Raiders of Sophie, with jagged black rock formations and glowing lava fissures.

SAND: Raiders of Sophie’s first major content update, Last Port in the Storm, is live. It adds a new island, a heat-threatening volcanic biome, and fresh events. Hologryph and tinyBuild Games shared the full details in the Steam announcement.

Spaceport is a new island filled with loot and resources that will serve as a final extraction point in Storm Dive. The Obsidian Crater adds a different kind of danger: Aurogen Crystals appear only in this biome, while nearby lava cracks can hurt players and Tramplers. A new heat mechanic also raises character temperature until it starts dealing damage.

A large terminal complex rises above the desert at Spaceport.

A Dropship Crash Site event now appears during a specific time window. The current dropship must despawn before the next timer starts, and at least one player must visit the site first. A dropship covered by the Storm counts as visited. The crash site appears on the map, but approaching it brings Ironclads into the fight.

A smoking dropship wreck lies partly buried in the desert.

Some islands now have extra hidden spots and Energy Powered Doors. Each door needs an active reactor with available energy, and wires show which devices are connected to each reactor. The Dreadnought’s reactor is broken and cannot be refilled, so energy for its linked doors is limited. New readable notes also add to Sophie’s lore, with more planned for the future.

Impact Grenades have a longer wind-up to prevent players from spamming throws. The update also adjusts world generation to make terrain less mountainous and keep more islands away from the map’s edges, removes an item duplication exploit that included Orbital Strike, and fixes gamepad controls alongside reload, interface, and visual bugs.

The update trailer is available below.

SAND: Raiders of Sophie Content Update #1 Patch Notes

New island: Spaceport
- An expansive new island filled with valuable loot and resources
- Will be used as a final extraction point in Storm Dive
New Biome: Obsidian Crater
- Aurogen Crystals will only spawn in this biome
- Has a unique POI inside it.
- Has unique lava cracks that will deal damage to players and tramplers who approach them too closely
- Has a new Heat mechanic that will accumulate character’s temperature and will start dealing damage once it is accumulated enough.
Dropship Crash Site
- Small event that happens once in a specific time window
- In order for the new dropship timer to start, the current one should despawn first. For that it should be visited at least once by any player.
  - Dropship that got covered by Storm automatically counts as visited.
- Dropship Crash Site is marked on the map
- Approaching the Crash Site will trigger the Ironclads to spawn.
Some Islands now have additional secret spots to explore
Some islands now have Energy Powered Doors
- In order to open those doors, the reactor should be enabled and have energy.
- Every Energy Consuming Device is now visually linked to its reactor by set of wires.
- Reactor on the Dreadnought is broken and can’t be refilled, so make every second count while using the doors linked to them
Added some readable notes. To some of the islands to expand the lore of the Sophie a bit,
- More notes will be added in the future
Nerfed The Throwing Speed of the Impact Grenades
- They can no longer be Spammed because of the increased wind up time.
Improved the musical system so that combat music will start and stop correctly
Added “Report Player” button to the “You’ve been killed” screen
Updated the drop items mechanic so that items couldn’t be dropped through obstacles
Fixed an issue with the world generation. Now terrain should be less mountainous and easier to traverse
- Also the Islands should stay a bit further away from the edges of the map so most of them don’t get covered by the first circle.
Fixed an exploit that allowed duplicating some items (including Orbital Strike)
Fixed an issue where it was impossible to reload the ‘M82’ Rifle with non-default ammo if it was brought from orbit
Fixed an issue that player name might not be shown to other players
Fixed a lot of issues with gamepad controls
Fixed an issue that gunboats would be semi-transparent
Fixed an issue that some VFX weren’t visible through the windows
Fixed an issue where “Apply” & “Save changes” buttons become unresponsive after entering the Keyboard & Mouse Keybindings
Fixed an issue where the trampler blueprint image would be corrupted in some cases
Reverted “Fixed an issue where the trampler kept moving after the steering wheel was destroyed”
- Now the trampler will continue moving after the Steering Wheel was destroyed
Fixed an issue where the avatar appeared partially or completely below the ground after re-entering an expedition
Fixed an issue that allowed players to use ladders to access restricted areas.

You might notice freezes/FPS drops in the first ~20 minutes of your match. This happens because of the shader compilation. In future updates, we’ll try to improve the compilation process so it doesn’t affect gameplay.

Known Issues

There may be graphical issues and artifacts when playing on Intel GPU’s
The character cannot enter the Expedition if the Invite has been accepted at the Tutorial pop-up background
Items may be displayed inside the character’s body in some cases
Large items may float around the character
Character may become invulnerable to melee damage while interacting with turrets or the steering wheel
Bullets can pass through the character on a speed-boosted trampler
Shotgun might not deal damage at close range distance
Ironclads can be triggered multiple times by reentering the trigger area
Character can become occluded in some cases
Character hands are “broken” when they carry energy rods
Player may not receive a corresponding VFX from heat damage
Boxes may remain stuck inside the fridge after the Trampler is destroyed
Unfortunately, the flickering and teleporting ghouls have returned when attempting to mount a turret.
There might be places in terrain where the character can fall under terrain
- This occurs in places where terrain is extremely steep
Character can let go of ladder if it’s under an angle
Box with cannon can fly in the air after uninstalling it while holding large items in hands

Players can report issues or share feedback on the game’s Steam Forums.

Share your take on the new Spaceport extraction route or the Obsidian Crater in the comments. For more on SAND’s changing islands and extraction events, stay connected on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram, Steam, and Telegram.

In an alternate 1910, scavenge the sands of Sophie in towering Tramplers. Build your highly customizable walking base. Squad up or go solo. Gather loot, weapons, precious artifacts. Clash with other players in a brutal procedurally generated desert forged by history and chaos.