Well, it's official. After a year of getting over my cozy game obsession by expanding my Steam library like never before, 2026 has immediately sucked me back into the genre in full force. I've played 25 hours of the Early Access version of the new life-sim Starsand Island and struggle to focus on much else, to be honest.
After all, my real-life adult chores are a lot less cute and colorful than tending my thriving farm or skating around the cute coastal community with my handmade roller skates. And the good news is that it looks like the new game will offer me a comforting route to escapism for a long time to come. So far, I've played an entire month of the game, and despite a few bugs and having to restart my save file (I'm still slightly traumatized), I can confidently say that I'm hooked into the grind in a way I haven't been since playing My Time at Sandrock three years ago.
A new beginning
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Filled with bright colors and charming anime visuals, Starsand Island's idyllic mantra and style hits you like a comforting sledgehammer as soon as you load up the game. I was immediately struck by how bright and vibrant even the character creator was, as I locked in and made my perfect resident, complete with a fun eye combo and customly colored hair. The limited options and lack of diversity are things I hope will change in the future, but the sunny backdrops and the cute character styles are already a perfect introduction to the start of my new island paradise…or should I say empire?
On my first day in Starsand Island, I got hit with the typical cozy game setup: my character wanting to escape the urban jungle and return to their childhood home. I have a piece of land, a roof over my head, and an overarching goal to help out the island and its residents as well. It's a classic formula that developer Seed Sparkle Lab not only understands but enhances, thanks to a gameplay loop with multiple missions, collections to complete, and progression trees to climb immediately.
Unlike other cozy games in the genre, there is no big overarching plot that you need to work towards in Starsand Island. Instead of revitalizing a community center or thwarting a corporation's hostile expansion methods, the game focuses on the player's progression itself, leveling up your Islander rank via hitting multiple milestones. I was initially pretty sceptical about this set-up as I love a good rags-to-riches storyline with a snooty villain to root against (looking at you JojaMart).
However, when I was given my in-game phone, which was complete with multiple apps, each with its own set of rewards and progression requirements, my grind-obsessed goblin senses started tingling, and I was locked in. If you've played Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you'd be familiar with the concept of using an app on your "Nook Phone" in order to gather up achievements, unlock a secondary currency, and mark progression. Starsand Island employs a similar mechanic with all its apps.
Quests, quests, and more quests
The Island Life app tracks your overall Islander ranking and is connected to big milestones that implore you to explore all the features in the game, such as completing quests for the local community board and buying land to expand your work area. The Star Note app offers rewards for doing daily islander tasks such as tilling fields for crops, looking after your animals, and more. And finally, the Workpedia app lets you use the secondary currency from completing quests (similar to Nook Miles) to level up professions…which brings me to the topic of even more missions.
There are five mentors in the game that each introduce a profession for you to start working through and completing quests: farming, crafting, fishing, ranching, and exploration. Each has their own set of blueprints, prizes and requirements, which means there was always something to work towards. Every day in Starsand Island will likely gift you with a new mission or rewards from another, and the game, even in its Early Access state, feels delightfully moreish and rewarding as a result.
Is the soft coastal setting of Starsand Island relaxing? Sure. Did my character originally escape city life for a more chilled out existence? Yes. But, like every great cozy game, the idea of taking things at your "own pace" is soon replaced with the endorphin rush of collecting materials to mass produce products, seeing your money tick up, and the sweet sweet victory of unlocking new recipes and blueprints. Just like in the cozy games My Time at Portia and My Time at Sandrock, the missions and resource-gathering loop is what keeps you coming back here, and I personally love it.
During my month in-game, I became a junior in all the professions and an intermediate certified rancher, thanks to my obsession with getting all the cute cartoony animals that I could on my farm immediately. I've unlocked the next level of tools, defeated two bosses in the combat areas, and have even expanded my land. That may sound like a lot for just one month, but I cannot emphasise how much is still left for me to do and unlock. I haven't even started playing around with the building capabilities of the game, which so far seem incredibly fun and detailed as well.
I should also mention that Starsand Island lets you take your time if you want to. There's a stamina bar to pace progression, and plenty of good-looking NPCs to meet and scope out as potential future marriage material during some downtime. However, the quests are the most fleshed-out aspect of this current version of Starsand Island, and to me, that is where the magic of this game really is at the moment. But, unfortunately, if you're after the romance and relationship side of the life-sim, you may be left out in the cold for now.
Room to grow
During my 29 days in-game, I did encounter some bugs. Some were major (I was softlocked at one point), some minor. Luckily, most of them have already been resolved with updates from the team. However, I still encountered major issues during the Beach Day festival at the end of the first month. The quests in Starsand Island feel polished now; however, the issues with the festival were pretty reflective of the social state of the game currently.
Inviting marriage candidates on outings wasn't available during my playthrough, and while all the characters have very clear personalities, their interactions are pretty short, and you can't really do much else with them other than gift giving and taking a photo together. In their current state, the NPCs feel pretty lifeless. This also means that my character's backstory of being childhood friends and connection with Starsand Island itself was never really explored or expanded on either. Without these elements, the game is missing a lot of personality and that certain uniqueness to truly set it apart in the cozy genre.
Hopefully, all that changes soon, as the developers have mentioned an expansive relationship system will be in the game at some point, and we already have some cute character cut scenes that seem promising to the direction we're currently going in. There are also some small issues with in-game textures and NPCs occasionally clipping through buildings. This game is in Early Access, and you can tell it's not finished yet, so keep that in mind before you jump in.
Starsand Island is fun to play in Early Access, but it is also very rough around the edges. I know that I'll personally be putting 100 hours into it myself as I'm fully sucked into its gameplay loop, and have just unlocked adorable sheep to add to my farm. It hasn't reached its full potential or the social elements that the full release promises us just yet, but it is, in my opinion, a great start to 2026 for all of us cozy gamers.
For more future titles, you can head over to our round-up of all the upcoming Switch 2 games on the horizon. Or for more cozy recommendations, we also have a list of the best farming games to play today.
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