Sandustry Demo vs Early Access

That answer is worth stating plainly because most pages covering this question hedge it. It is the first entry in a FAQ that Hooded Horse pinned to the game’s Steam discussions, and it also settles the two mod questions further down this page.

What else is different

	Demo	Early Access
Price	Free	$14.99 list
Released	31 Jan, 2025	13 Aug, 2026
Platforms	Windows only	Windows, macOS, Linux
Interface and subtitle languages	English only	23 languages
Steam achievements	None	Yes
Steam Cloud	No	Yes
Steam Workshop	No	Yes
Modding	FluxLoader	Steam Workshop, on the mods branch

Neither version has voice acting — every language on that list of 23 is interface and subtitles, and the store’s Full Audio column is empty for all of them.

Two entries there matter more than they look. The demo has no Steam Cloud and no achievements — its Steam categories are literally just “Single-player” and “Game demo” — so if you have seen a comparison table listing “demo saves” under cloud, or “demo-limited” achievements, that table is wrong.

How much of the game the demo is

The demo “showcases the first few processing tiers on a limited map.” That sentence is the only boundary the developers ever drew around it, and it has since been removed from the demo’s store page — what is there now is the full game’s marketing copy, which describes content the demo does not contain.

The developer has been blunter in the forums: “nothing in the demo is end game. Everything in it is early game,” and the full release “will be one big procedurally generated map. There will be an objective and the demo is pretty much the early game.”

There is no official figure for how far the demo goes — no tier number, no building list, no time limit. Anyone quoting one is guessing.

The demo is a 2025 build, and it plays differently

This is the part that catches returning players. After eight patches the developer stopped updating the demo to focus on the release, and then rewrote the game underneath it:

Having validated the game concept I knew I had to do it: a full rewrite of the simulation. […] I’ve also addressed the most common complaint in the demo: movement. You’re now much faster and can traverse pixels automatically. The movement system itself has also been remade making it feel much better and more fluid. I would love to backport this to the demo but it’s not easy. I will however make an updated demo further down the line.

So the demo is not a smaller Early Access — it is the older game. Movement in particular is not the movement you will get. An updated demo was promised; as of this page’s last check no announcement of one has been posted.

The demo is still free, still on the store, and still worth an hour if you want to know whether pixel-physics automation is for you. Just do not judge the feel of the released game by it. Its own numbers say people did stick with it: “nearly 100k players averaging over 6 hours of playtime (median: 3 hours).”

Note that the build on itch.io is that same February 2025 demo, not Early Access.

Mods: the two ecosystems do not meet

This is the second thing the pinned FAQ settles, and the one every other guide misses:

Modding will be available in two places, depending on which version of Sandustry you’re playing. FluxLoader is only for the Demo, while Steam Workshop support is available for the Early Access version.

FluxLoader is not “also supported” on the release — it looks for a demo install and stops when it does not find one. Anything built on it, the Custom Map Loader included, is demo-only for the same reason.

To use Workshop mods in Early Access you have to switch branches manually, which nothing in the game tells you:

To access Steam Workshop modding in Early Access, switch to the Mods branch in Steam. Right-click Sandustry in your Steam Library, select Properties, go to Game Versions & Betas, then choose the appropriate branch.

Read the warning that came with it before you do:

This branch is unstable and not up to date yet, so do not use it if you only want to play vanilla.

So the honest advice is: stay on the default branch unless you specifically want to test mods.

Where your saves are

For Early Access on Windows, the publisher gives the path directly — press Win + R and paste:

Back that up before any update, and before you touch the mods branch. A demo save will not open here, so this is the only folder that matters.

Should you buy it now

The release is described as “fully playable and has all the content and features described on the store page,” with more planned: additional buildings, resources, production chains, quests, biomes and technologies. The developers “plan to remain in Early Access for a year, but that could change.”

One thing to weigh if you are waiting: they have said they “might increase the price during the Early Access period as additional content and features are added.” Waiting does not obviously get you a cheaper copy.

Related

• Is Sandustry on Game Pass? — the other way to get the released game
• Sandustry Mods — what is actually worth installing once you are on the right branch
• Sandustry Mod Loader — Which One You Need — FluxLoader and Workshop, and which applies to your copy
• Where Sandustry Saves Your Game — the full path list
• Sandustry Beginner Guide — the first hour on the released game