The Siege and the Sandfox

Not sure about the negative reviews. Possibly due to an earlier state of the game?
I think i'm around midgame and so far it's living up to my expectations. Beautiful pixel art, great map and sense of progression, great setting, awesome narration, not the most original plot maybe but who cares. Happy I got this despite the negative reviews. Only encountered 1-2 minor glitches so far.

10/10 - If you're a lucky Sandfox
THE UNFORTUNATE
To get that out the way. People are having technical issues with this game. Myself I only had one crash and guards being permanently locked into a state of alertness a couple of times within the first hour. Now, 7 hours into the game, nothing but smooth sailing and lots of joy.
THE GREAT
Where to begin... everything, absolutely everything about this game is amazing. The narration, which feels like reading a book of One Thousand And One Nights, is delivered perfectly. The world map is beautiful and incredibly well crafted, full of detail and decor. High temperature areas are even underlined by having colors in a glaring hue, it's like you can feel the heat. The shifting background scenery gives you a feel of being in an actual geographic location, with the caves, caverns, deserts and mountains in the distance.
The pace, platforming and controls, perfect. None of it is by chance, you can tell the game was crafted meticulously with intent and great care, and love for the material that gave inspiration.
Inspiration
Speaking of inspiration. My most favorite part about it is how the game is a perfect blend of two most iconic games - "Thief: The Dark Project" and "Prince Of Persia".
Gameplay & Controls
The Stealth part (danger areas) of the game feels more like Thief than I have anticipated. While the gameplay is rather simple, I think it is not the main focus. The main focus is the feeling. The eerie atmosphere, immersive ambient music, spying trough the key hole and picking locks. It all feels like a 2D Thief game.
(I only wish that walking had two paces, like Thief, where you could walk very slowly when moving the controller stick slightly, so you could approach corners more carefully, and the default walk by moving the stick all the way).
The Platforming part (exploration areas) plays a lot like the original Prince Of Persia. Even very similar to the original Tomb Raider. The way you climb trellis, swing on poles, grab ledges, slide and jump.
The Gear that you acquire progressively is very simple, but believable the way it expands your abilities to traverse the environment and interact. Climbing gloves, boots, lock picks, a black jack to knock out guards if you have no interest in a ghost run.
Gameplay feels very believable, toned down in a way that it feels meticulous and deliberate and not over the top fast paced.
The Controls are generally very responsive and precise. The game is rather slow paced, so you need to be deliberate with them, because you can not do a lot of corrections while executing maneuvers.
Conclusion
It's not a flashy Metroidvania, it's all about immersion and atmosphere. And immersed I was. Needed to make time for it, because I was totally losing sight of time.
Running is a platforming tool, because the environment is narrow and yet spacious enough and immersive, so that I feel no urge to rush through it in run mode. Instead I walk all the time, take in every moment. No rush, just be in the present and enjoy the game.
The Siege And The Sandfox is a real gem of a game, which unfortunately, due to the circumstances, will likely be lost in time, like tears in rain.

I really enjoyed this game.
It is buggy, as other reviews state, but I believe a lot of work has gone into fixing it. I never encountered any game breaking bugs, just things like stuck sprites and repeated audio.

The story is told by a narrator who does a wonderful job and really is the highlight of the game, her performance is stellar and I looked forward to whenever she talked, barring the repeat dialogue mentioned above.
Visually the game is excellent too, every new environment has a different feel, and the pixel art/16 bit style is diverse and beautiful.

Gameplay wise, the platforming is technical and fluid but not difficult. Think pre-Ubisoft Prince of Persia. The main challenge comes from paying attention and figuring out where to go. Metroidvania games can be extremely demanding, but this is not one of them. It is frustrating to accidentally pass a point of no return in an already-cleared zone and be forced to run all the way through the one way platforming challenge for a second time. A lot of this could be resolved by implementing a "teleport to fast travel point" feature as seen in other MVs.

Since this is a stealth focused game, progressing through a combat zone is generally a claustrophobic and slow process. A sort of fog of war covers areas of the screen which the player character sprite doesn't have line of sight of which adds tension in a visually satisfying and beautiful way. I definitely got spotted by carelessly opening a door without checking who was on the other side first. There are only six or so enemy types in the game, and you quickly get used to them. Again, this is not a difficult game.

Finally, my complaints:
The map really needs a key to show which coloured icon means which obstacle. Even after 11 hours with every ability unlocked, I was wondering which one was which.
There is little optional exploration. You will basically visit 100% of the map by completing the story. It never triggered that "what if there's something good up there" feeling that other MVs have all over them.
The ending is a one way trip through a very simple area. You have to manually back up your save game in order to return to the main palace. This is mentioned in the forums but I had already saved outside and there's no way back. I would cut the save points from the final area and make the player do it in one go. That way, reloading the save would put you back in the palace to finish up any missed achievements.

Oh and it runs perfectly on the Steam Deck.

Definitely a recommend from me!

This is an enjoyable experience now.
I'll state up front. I didn't play the game at launch and any dev who launches a buggy game deserves what they get. I skipped on it due to how everyone mentioned the bugs, but I had someone mention it recently and they said bugs weren't a problem so I gave it a shot and they're not.
It's not bug-free, but I only really experienced one bug that hampered the experience during my playthrough, although it happened with some frequency and is not one that's good for a stealth game to have. Basically it is possible for enemies to get "stuck" and their alertness meter doesn't go down. This can be fixed by showing yourself to them and hiding again to jostle them free or reloading the checkpoint. It's not a good one, but I can't say it was particularly a problem for me either.
I had some other issues with the game that wasn't bugs, for instance the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ gliding mechanic I've ever seen - and some instances of enemy placement (although that gripe is not unusual for stealth games).
Ok, to the game itself. This is a no-combat MV, it's all stealth in the "ghost" style, AKA remaining undetected. It's not stealth until you get caught and it's not stealth to kill everyone in sight. There isn't even any bosses, including a final boss (which is a mistake many stealth games fall into, e. g. Aragami). You have one offensive move, where you can knock out *some* enemies if you catch them unaware, but even that can't be used all that frequently due to enemy placement - your goal here is to keep moving and remain undetected. As someone who enjoys 2D stealth games, I found the stealth to be incredibly good. It's probably on par with Mark of the Ninja, Gunpoint, and possibly Wildfire (probably not Wildfire).
So how is it as an MV? It's actually pretty good. After a linear section the world opens up and there are at several points in the journey different locations you can explore in any order. The abilities are for the most part pretty unique here since they're focused on parkour and remaining undetected. There is however not much exploration to speak out outside of it being enjoyable to explore the world and make progress. There are no stat upgrades - you have 1 health, you get hit you die - there are collectibles where you'll get a bit of lore about the world and the order the Sandfox belongs to, but that's it.
Platforming is a big part of the game so if you don't like that well be aware. It's not all that difficult or anything, but it is a big part.
All in all, my verdict is this is an incredibly good game. As a fan of stealth games and MV's I'd give it probably on 8.5-9.0 and A-tier as an MV, despite the odd issue I have. Almost tempted to give it an S-tier ranking, but I really cannot because that one bug that remains, while I don't consider it a critical issue, it's still something that is something you have to navigate that you shouldn't have to.

This game feels like Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Thief: The Dark Project combined, there's even a narrator turning your actions into a story told long after the events. Gameplay-wise, it's both shadow-based stealth and platforming, which is a lot of fun
Its reputation for being buggy is way overblown, there's the occasional goofiness but nothing game-breaking or that isn't fixed by reloading to any of the frequent checkpoints

I'm a fan of stealth games and I like Metroidvania games (even if they don't like me). This one has a lot going for it.

Pros:
- The music, narration, and graphics are really nice; they don't distract from the game (besides unclear pronoun reference by the narration at times).
- I like the stealth and parkour.
- The controls feel rather smooth (probably more so for better gamers. I'm using a wired Switch controller. I think a keyboard would be agravating.
- The biomes are interesting to travel through. They aren't as explicitly unique as say Hollowknight, but there are dungeons, libraries, rooftops, slums (a tiny bit so far), catacombs, caverns, temples, palaces. There are some different foes in them and different types of platforming challenges too.
- I really like the little colour-coded tick-marks on the map to remind you about the power-ups needed to get through different areas.

Cons: My biggest cons are with the map presentation and a stylistic choice of PC pronouns.

Map:As you explore you reveal the map. Standard fare there. However when you visit the fast travel points and are selecting where you want to fast travel to, the game reveals all tunnels all around each location you've unlocked. It spoils so much of what is connected and how to get there.

PC Pronoun: I realize they/them pronouns are a thing. Maybe the devs are just trying to be trendy and trying to make a character that can be more accessible to more people. Or as some sources think online, it's to make the Sandfox more mysterious. But with how often I need to do mental gymnastics to figure out who the narrator is talking about (Are "they" the people I followed who revealed the password when I eavesdropped or is "they" the singular PC?) Some is that I'm not hip and worldly enough for alternate pronouns, and some of it is just plain, unclear pronoun reference. When pronouns are unclear, it's up to the writer to be more clear in the writing.

Meh: there are indeed bugs. I haven't encountered the soft-lock problem or anything else gamebreaking that some reviews mention. When guards were inexplicably detecting me when I was in an urn or box or crouched in shadow, I just restarted from the last checkpoint (which are plentiful); even with my older computer, reloads were only a few seconds. It wasn't a big deal, but some of those points took several reloads to manage. Sometimes AI needed several reloads to get fixed. The most drastic bug I found was when I clipped through the ground on death and trigged a later checkpoint. If it hadn't been advantageous for me, it would have been especially frustrating. As it was, I felt like a dirty cheater not having to earn the advancement.

Another point against this game related to the bugs is that seemingly the devs have abandoned it. There are indeed bugs, and besides one update in the first month (in May or June 2025), there don't seem to have been any further bug fixes. The various sites I've referred to for info on the game don't seem to realize that the game is out yet. Obviously the missing bug-fixes are more dire than a lack of online info. However, the lack of follow-through by the game company / publisher bodes ill for future updates.

I held off playing the siege and the sandfox for about a year after the poor reception, hoping for a patch to smooth things ou. That patch never came so i figured i might as well get it over with and clear it off my backlog. Turns out the game was much better than the ratings had led me to believe. Doesn't mean this game is flawless though, it has many issues that no doubt contributed to its mixed reviews. It's just that for me it does a few things very well, particularly the 2 things that i adore in metroidvania's; exploration and level design. All while bringing something completely new to the table in the form of stealth rather than combat. This is the siege and the sandfox's flagship feature which makes it stand out among its peers.
The stealth gameplay is very unique and at times kinda fun, depending on your patience levels. Stealth gameplay has always needed some degree of patience but that's especially the case here. I won't proclaim that it's the deepest stealth system i've seen, especially without throwable distractions. There is a few other unique mechanics though that i appreciated such as peeking through keyholes, closing and opening doors to break LoS and torches that can be doused for the cover of darkness. These mechanics are pretty cool but most often obsolete as the AI is kind of dumb, which does make it feel less rewarding. There's also a few rather challenging sections that are a bit frustrating at times by design.
Isolated enemies are almost never a challenge but as soon as they come in duo taking them out becomes a lot harder with them watching eachother's backs. Not every enemy type is equal in this regard though but there aren't too many varients for this anyways. However there were some suprises here and they all had their gimmick to make them different. What made the encounters more pleasant though was your options to deal with them. Taking them out one by one is a viable strategy if their numbers aren't too great but if you were quick on your feet you could also run past them. The most fun and consistent though was platforming above/underneath them in the cracks & crevices of the world without being noticed.
Here the level design really shone with every room giving you multiple routes past your enemies, there were quick routes with high risk or slower and safer options. I personally prefered these as it made me engage with the platforming more which was a mostly smooth experience with some asterisks. The jump height itself was the real contributor to the controls feeling a bit akward sometimes since you jump higher when you stand still which some parts of the level design rely on. But doing that while being chased can lead to some early game-overs since you're oneshot when caught. The glide, which you unlock very late into the game, is also rather clunky. If you're falling from up high you can only start gliding early as it'll refuse to open once you reach critical velocity.
Light control quirks aside though the platforming is really cool, the way you scale walls and swing poles feels properly badass like a thief in the night. The level design is excellent because it allows multiple paths in each room as mentioned before but even on a larger scale the map allows for so many paths to progress with an INCREDIBLY dense map that's fully interconnected. It starts of sorta linear in the early game but by midgame it blows wide open with a super nonlinear approach that lets you unlock movement upgrades in the order you chose. I also love how the rooms are seamless, so no room transitions that fade the screen to black and break immersion. Just non stop uninterrupted exploration of a rich and varied world.
Said world is absolutely gorgeous with some of the best pixel art i've seen, maybe even top 10 for me personally. There's a nice variety in environments ranging from great caverns, grimey cisterns and dungeons to opulent palaces, dusty tombs and lush gardens What i especially love is how the level design and the visuals work in tandem. Each platform and wall feels like it's actually a part of the world instead of a random floating platform sitting there because of video game logic. No, every single thing is attached in the background or foreground which makes the game super immersive paired with the realistic platforming. This immersive atmosphere is further boosted with great sound design, ambient SFX and music that make this world a joy to explore.
Said world also lots of puzzles to spice things up a bit and add some variety on top off lots of quests and a handfull of collectibles. Most of these have to be backtracked for which leads me to a nitpick regarding QoL. You can only have two map markers at the same time which is ridiculous for how insanely big the map is. At least quests get marked automatically but the tracking system for their completion is also bugged and thus hard to know if you missed any. It's a pretty hard game to 100% since there's no maps or guides online and the game's completionist tools are basic and inaccurate. I also think that some achievements are bugged because i found every collectible (the tracker said as much) and still it didn't pop.
I wish that's where it ended with the bugs but there were many more than that, especially related to the AI which sometimes spazzed in place. I also got stuck inside the actual terrain once but this and every other bug i encountered was fixed on a reload which takes you back to one of the plentifull save points that activated automatically when you run past them. Loading back in goes pretty fast and framerates were smooth although i think i did crash once. So on a technical level the game isn't quite there yet but you can beat it to credits at least. If i had a list of things i'd want the devs to fix it'd be these bugs first, followed by QoL for the map and completionist experience. The tolerance for this type of stuff varies between people though but i can live with it.
Finally then there's the narrative which is despite some unresolved plot points still pretty good as well. I was an especially big fan of the narration which was done by a singular female narrator whose voice fit the setting perfectly. Both the writing and delivery were excellent and it made me engrossed in the game's world. There were cool lore snippets found in the collectible scrolls as well as lots of environmental story telling but the ending did leave me a bit bewildered. Also despite having siege in its name the game never feels like it takes place in a city under siege. All of this to say that the narrative and worldbuilding were also pretty cool, so despite some QoL, bug and control issues i liked everything else this game had to offer but that's because exploration and level design are so important to me which this game excelled at.