Sands of Aura doesn't make much of an effort to hide its influences. Its top-down view, socketable runes, and emphasis on proccing calls to mind dungeon-crawling ARPGs like Diablo and Path of Exile. It's also got plenty of Soulslike mannerisms: you can rest at shrines, but it will respawn all nearby enemies; stamina management and well-timed movement is essential; enemy ambushes are common; and its bosses can take you out in a couple of quick hits.
Where Sands of Aura differs from those aforementioned ARPG titans, however, is how it handles loot. You don't get shiny new weapons from slaying enemies, instead they're forged by combining different weapon components, which you find in fixed locations around the world. These components – handle, blade, pommel, and style – can be mixed and matched freely, and there are hundreds of combinations you can craft over the course of the game.
You can assemble some pretty wild combinations, and for my first run I try out dual-wield maces that occasionally fire out daggers and let me move at full speed while recovering. Later, I try a massive glaive with buffs that refill my stamina with every hit, and a spear that increases my attack damage after I get hit and gives me a massive speed boost after securing a kill.
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