Sansar

Good
  • Takes the features and success of Second Life while modernising it and throwing in VR
  • Huge list of impressive virtual worlds to explore which is supported with robust event organisation systems
Bad
  • Has struggled to secure and hold onto a consistent audience of players which makes the worlds (while impressive) feel like empty ghost towns
7.5

Growing their virtual offerings Linden Labs has taken the success from Second Life and moved it into a VR environment with Sansar. Still available to play through a desktop client for Windows Sansar remains accessible to players who haven’t opted to engage with virtual reality gaming yet.

Ultimately the promise of Sansar is similar to that of Second Life but aims to be more expansive and modernised over the ageing Second Life experience. This means you’ll be connecting with other players based on shared interests and be able to celebrate this love by creating events, worlds and creative recreations.

sansar-gameplay-atlas-worlds

The heart of Sansar is the vast number of virtual worlds and experiences that have been created by users alongside a smaller number of Sansar developed worlds. The result is thousands of custom experiences just waiting to be explored with different themes spreading across music, movies, TV and other popular culture references.

All of these worlds are available at anytime from the central game Atlas where you can explore all current worlds, featured worlds, Sansar created worlds, worlds your friends have created and your own favourites. Popular worlds are constantly in flux within Sansar and range from beach paradises, recreations of sci-fi universes, spectacular mansions, classic pubs, beautiful nature settings, museums or pumping clubs.

Events are another key pillar of Sansar with the ability to host and attend a range of event formats from a classic game night to more standard meet-ups and even a reddit AMA inspired format. A subset of events allow for engagement between influencer and fans as well with the ability to create custom streaming rooms for parties or meet and greet. The event landscape of Sansar is without a doubt industry leading leveraging off popular real world event frameworks and supporting it with robust virtual technology.

sansar-gameplay-avatar-worlds

Your avatar for this exploration and event filled free to play experience is entirely in your control with a wealth of customisation. To start you’ll pick your desired gender which will generate a random starting template for you to work from. Options include skin colour, hair style, a range of sliders for facial features, clothing and accessories. Worth noting is that the majority of features that use colour such as hair and nails have a full colour selector which is rare even amongst simulation games that generally opt for preset colour palettes.

Be it an alien like appearance, a representation of yourself or something inspirational like an astronaut all the tools to create these are included within Sansar and supported through the virtual merchandise system.

sansar-gameplay-sansar-store

Similar to Linden Labs other titles the ability to create, sell and profit from your virtual creations is at the core of the merchandise system encouraging the creatively minded to craft virtual items for sale in Sansar. In addition to creating avatar items creators can also create and sell 3D models, audio, scripts and skybox textures for use in virtual world creation.

Whether you’re a creator or a consumer of content the wealth of detail and possibility presented by Sansar is leading the way in the world of VR and non VR virtual worlds.

Summary:

  • Explore thousands of user created worlds based on real world locations, imagination or pop culture.
  • Customise your own avatar from base options and user created items.
  • Meet other players with similar interests and organise events, meetups, AMAs and more.
  • Play through the desktop launcher with a traditional computer setup or experience the world through VR.
  • Create your own virtual items and profit from their in game sale.

Links:

Videos:


Review Platform: PC

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Written by
Samuel Franklin
Samuel Franklin is the founder and lead editor of the Games Finder team and enjoys video games across all genres and platforms. He has worked in the gaming industry since 2008 amassing over 3 million views on YouTube and 10 million article views on HubPages.

Games Finder is a Steam Curator and featured in the aggregate review scores data of MobyGames and Neoseeker.
4 COMMENTS
  1. It doesn’t let me download it on my windows 10

    Reply
  2. I need a recommendation.

    Reply
  3. I got to this article via a Google headline asking “What replaced Second Life?”
    Where do these rumours come from? Nothing has replaced Second Life. It’s still going strong – especially during the pandemic – with new users logging in daily. The original creator, Philip Rosedale, is even getting involved again to take it to another level. I’ve been a content creator in SL for 12 years now.
    Sansar is a totally different product that has been sold to another company. Great place to hang out. But totally different from SL.

    Reply
  4. …Having enjoyed IMVU for many years, I’m looking for a similar game, for adults, that allows me to post art I’ve created, using items and settings I purchase, and my Avatar. I’m a loner, and married, so I’m not looking for any connections other than casual friendship, and I’m not into any face-to-face chatting. Is there a place I’d like? Any info would be appreciated…

    Reply
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