Starsand Island from developer Seed Lab is a life/farming sim that’s as gorgeous as it is relaxing and fun, and the hours I sunk into the preview of the game only made me more excited for its release.
Starsand Island takes place on an island with the same name, which is where the player’s character is originally from. Like plenty of other similar games, life in the city is too chaotic, so the player returns to their hometown.
The similarities to other games end here – Starsand Island takes this trope and creates something more gorgeous, entertaining, and full of life than some of the biggest names in the genre.
To start with, the graphics of Starsand Island are beautiful. Not only is the island itself a visual treat, but the characters themselves are adorable.
Seed Lab has been adamant that each of the romanceable characters is full of life and individuality, and while I didn’t get too deep into any character stories, it’s clear through their designs and even movements that this is the case. Even meeting the characters triggers some of the prettiest animated intro scenes that are full of life.
Starsand Island itself is also full of life. There are NPCs and animals everywhere that players can interact with and breathe life into areas that could otherwise be bland.
The NPCs aren’t blank moving bodies, either – they have requests for the player and will talk about the island. The animals can be pet and have their own relationship meter as well, which is always a bonus.
One of the cutest features in Starsand Island is the camera. While out and about, players can take pictures. A Photo Mode isn’t exactly an unheard-of concept, but players can use their photos to customize their home.
The gameplay is surprisingly well-organized. There’s a guide of sorts that players can use to keep track of their progress, specific quests, and things to do in the different systems, like farming, fishing, and exploring.
The way everything is laid out just makes sense, and it seems to resemble something more akin to an RPG than a farming or life sim. It simplifies systems that are too often complicated for no real reason.
It also gives players daily quests/missions to do, which keeps things from feeling stale, a problem that can plague games in the genre.
The only thing that I wasn’t a fan of was zipping around on the skateboard. It was a bit hard to maneuver, though this could be a feature of the skateboard itself versus the moped or other later movement items.
Not having the skateboard didn’t bother me at all – walking around Starsand Island was a treat, so I didn’t mind not having a faster way to move.
Overall, Starsand Island is off to a really great start based on my preview of it. It has a great foundation, and some of its best features are the ones that many similar sims seem to struggle with. It adds to the farming/life sim genre significantly, and without sacrificing anything. I’m very excited for its launch in Q4 of 2025.
Full disclosure: the author of this article has backed Starsand Island’s crowdfunding campaign.