New sandbox RPG hits Steam with physics-driven world and building tools, plus promising reviews and a launch discount

The long-awaited voxel project from solo developer Matt, known online as Tooley1998, officially hit its full release this Wednesday. After years of well-documented development on both Patreon and YouTube, Lay of the Land has finally arrived on Steam as a physics-heavy alternative to the block-based survival genre. The game also comes with a 10% introductory discount, which lowering the $19.99 MSRP to $17.99 for the first two weeks of launch. While the voxel aesthetic will definitely invite surface-level comparisons to other sandbox titles, the core hook here is a world that behaves with realistic physical consequences. Every tree, cave ceiling, and body of water reacts to the player's presence and combat choices.

Building in Lay of the Land isn't based on the rigid grid systems which are common in the genre. Instead, it introduces a procedural shape system. Rather being limited to squares and rectangles, you can utilize cylinders, cones, and sloped roofs to create more natural and complex architectural structures. The terrain itself is fully sculptable, so you to carve out roads or raise mountain peaks with dedicated tools rather than placing individual voxels. This flexibility is also available when it comes to the interior of buildings - a variety of furnishings like tables and shelves can be placed to turn a hollow shell into a functional home or a castle.

The simulated world is designed to be utilized as a weapon during encounters with bosses and roaming monsters. You can fell a tree to crush a dangerous target, collapse a cave roof onto a group of enemies, or use fire and water systems to control the battlefield. The combat system supports melee, ranged, and arcane styles, and there are loot drops that encourage players to experiment with different gear combinations. Because the environment is fully destructible, no two battles play out the same way, as a missed fire spell might accidentally incinerate a nearby forest or a heavy blast could create a permanent crater in the middle of a trade route.

Early community feedback has resulted in a 76% "Mostly Positive" rating from over 260 reviews. While players are largely loving the depth of the building mechanics and the refreshing focus on physical interaction over menu-based crafting, the technical state of the launch build is a point of discussion, even mild concern. The game is currently heavy on hardware resources, with Steam Deck (curr. $819 on Amazon for the 512 GB variant) users reporting unstable performance between 20 and 35 frames per second even on minimal settings. The developer has already committed to a frequent update schedule to address these issues and refine the AI pathfinding, which can occasionally struggle with the game's dynamic and destructible landscapes.

This launch has a substantial amount of content for the price. The absence of multiplayer support looks to be a deliberate choice to make this a strictly solo journey through a reactive fantasy world. As Southern Cross Interactive moves into post-launch support, the focus will likely be on polishing the existing simulations to ensure that the game's ambitious "everything is physical" promise holds true across a wider range of PC hardware. You can read more about Lay of the Land here.