Sand physics and ocean waves: indie game Sandcastle lets you build castles by the sea

Bubblebird Studio is working on Sandcastle – a relaxing sandbox in the most literal sense. The game puts you on a tropical shoreline, building sandcastles while real waves slowly wash them away.

The core mechanic is a physical simulation of sand and water. Sand behaves realistically: it clumps when wet, compresses under pressure, and crumbles if a structure gets too thin. Waves don't just play out as animations – they actually interact with whatever you've built, eroding walls and filling moats exactly as they would on a real beach. A tower that isn't reinforced with damp sand will simply sink under its own weight.

The gameplay is deliberately pressure-free: no timers, no score counters, no fail states. The pace is set by the tide itself – slow, steady, almost meditative. Between building sessions, you can explore the shoreline hunting for hidden treasures that waves wash up or bury in the sand. Shells, seaweed, sea-smoothed pebbles, and driftwood all double as decoration for your castles.

As you progress, nine distinct locations unlock, each with its own character: calm atolls surrounded by turquoise water, quiet shallow lagoons, wind-sculpted sandbars, and river deltas where freshwater currents meet the sea. Every new beach brings different building conditions and its own atmosphere.

Sandcastle is aimed primarily at players looking for a calm experience with no competitive elements. The warm color palette, the sound of breaking waves, and the tactile feel of the building process combine into what the developers describe as a "beach chill" – the sensation of sitting by the water with your hands buried in wet sand.

No release date has been announced yet, but there's already a Steam page.