Will Sand Put Hungary Firmly Back into the Video Games Scene? 

The upcoming video game Sand promises a unique twist in that the narrative transports players into an alternate timeline where Hungary leads the space race. Will it be a success and add to the relatively small list of video games that have featured the country heavily? We can get a feel for its chances by looking at some other games set here.

Hungary’s History in Video Games – Yoomurjak’s Ring

Many of the video games set in Hungary are based on sports or warfare. Yoomurjak’s Ring takes a different approach. Created by Hungarian musician Pierrot and released in 2005 by Private Moon Studios, the action takes place in the beautiful, historic city of Eger. Here, American adventurer Jonathan Hunt is visiting his mother’s birthplace when he gets caught up in a mysterious tale involving time traveling.

Yoomurjak’s Ring is a point-and-click game that does a terrific job of introducing players to Eger through numerous photos and more than an hour of filmed footage. The town hall and local museums are among the locations to be discovered, while Hungarian actors László Görög and György Bárdy play key roles in the game.    

Dracula 4: The Shadow of the Dragon Travels to Budapest

This Dracula-themed game, which was released by Koalabs Studio in 2013, provided another chance to play in a Hungarian setting. Although games featuring the famous vampire typically take place in Transylvania, this game has art restorer Ellen Cross visiting Budapest to track down a missing painting. While in the capital, she finds the great-grandson of Bram Stoker and embarks on an adventure to find out more about the painting and its history.

As well as video games, Dracula has also featured in several casino slots. We can see titles like Book of Vampires, Blood Suckers II, and Vampire Night at Vegasslotsonline. While these games leave the exact setting up to the player’s imagination, they typically include many of the theme’s classic images such as bats, castles, and garlic. So it’s easy to imagine that they’re set in Dracula’s infamous castle rather than Budapest.

Sand Puts the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Space

In mid-2023, it was announced that Ukraine-based Hologryph was working on a new game titled Sand. It’s set in space and the idea behind it is that the Austro-Hungarian Empire was able to discover new energy sources that allowed them to travel to space and colonize some of the neighboring solar systems.