I don't know about you, but sometimes I find this whole 'being an adult' thing a bit much. That's why it's appealing to escape to laid-back cutesy life sims, and Starsand Island has a heck of a lot to offer. I spent ten in-game days there, and while I achieved an awful lot, there was even more I didn't even manage to get started on.
Starsand Island is a pretty chill place. There's a number of little shops and kiosks, a beach, a small farm, and even a panda house (yes, a little house that a trio of pandas live in). There's a kind of island story trundling along in the background, which you progress through by building certain structures and hitting milestones in your journey as a multitalented contributor to the economy. This slowly brings with it new opportunities; for example, by providing materials to rebuild the port, I unlocked visiting merchant ships. But life on Starsand Island is all about the small details of your day-to-day.
Starsand Stripes
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There are five mentors to chat with and take quests from, each of whom teaches you one of the pillars of island life: exploration, fishing, farming, crafting, and livestock. It's up to you when and how (and, to a certain extent, if) you interact with each mentor. I get started by chatting with the owner of the general store, Zerine, in order to begin climbing the crafting tree. Crafting will be the skill to concentrate on for most people, I would say. Almost everything – resource-gathering tools, storage boxes, furniture and home decor, even machines used for crafting other things – come from crafting.
One of the first things Zerine had me do was gather the materials to craft a skateboard. Later on she'd help me craft some rollerblades, which let me get around town a little faster, and (somehow) navigate steps easier. The moment I leapt over a fence on my skateboard – while realizing I had some rabbits at home thanks to the livestock mentor Pastelle – the yearning for such a life in the real world began.
Tempted as I was to spend the rest of my time looking after my bunnies and making skateboards to sell (almost 1800 coins each, not bad), I only had ten in-game days, so I reluctantly moved on. I could already tell that this game was keen to smooth my path to progress, though. Crafting, and understanding the requirements for items you've yet to craft, is pleasingly simple. I can also report that my embarrassingly poor sense of direction proved little trouble. You can set your own waypoints in the map, quests are clearly marked, and the locations of buildings and mentors can be easily tracked.
The gentle adventuring aspect of Starsand Island comes in the form of the Moonlit Forest, an area you'll need to visit in order to mine most ores. You slowly unlock more of this area as you gain new tools, and there are enemies to fight; though in my time with the game, I only unlocked a portion, and didn't come up against anything more fearsome than a "corrupted rabbit" (it took quite a few hits from my slingshot, mind you). That suited me just fine, though. I had to get back to build a chicken coop, and my wheat should be ready to harvest about now…
The mentors aren't just there to help you unlock new items and make money. The affection mechanic – while optional to hone in on – includes your teachers. You can increase their affection through dates, gifts, and completing their quests. They'll sometimes give you presents, too (Pastelle didn't seem to mind when I immediately sold the dried figs she gave me back to her). Though the build I played only allowed a limited amount of progress in this area, I could see that should you grow close enough, you can cohabit with somebody. Moving in with one of your mentors? Maybe the Starsand Island HR department will be added in post-launch DLC.
Isle get you
Still to come is a railway station for the island, and I've already seen footage of using animals as mounts to ride around. More forms of transportation can be found in the island garage, though the inventory was either not present in the build, or far beyond what my wallet could support in ten Starsand Island days. As well as cars and bikes, there was a jetski. A jetski! Now that's something to aim for. So, too, is having a pet cat. Alas, I wasn't able to woo the stray that wanders the beach within the limited time I had.
Now I've had a taste of Starsand Island, I want the whole cozy meal. I want to expand my house and fill it with decorations I've crafted. I want a resident to move in with me and appreciate how awesome I am. I want to continue haphazardly plonking down furnaces, worktables, and machinery around my yard, while still cramming in livestock and crops. I want to continue amusing myself by going to bed while holding an axe, pretending I don't trust the island residents as I'm getting a slight Midsommar vibe. I want all of that and more! And there's not too long to wait now…
