Critter Cove News

Ahoy Critters!

The Critter Cove demo is now live on Steam, just in time for Steam Next Fest, which we’ll be taking part in very soon. You can download it on the store page!

It’s been a long time coming and we’re super excited to share it with you all. We couldn’t have gotten there without all the feedback and encouragement from the community, so thank you for being a part of our journey.



The demo includes the first several hours of the game, and most importantly, you’ll be able to pick up your save file right where you leave off in the demo.

There’s also some new improvements to check out, even if you played recently!

We’ve added in new quests that will build a resource finder that will make finding salvage and resources easier, a bracelet that will help you keep track of your critters, and build a ship upgrade terminal. We’ve also set up key remapping, increased the number of sound effects and musical tracks in the game, added icons to the map to make finding shops and your house easier, and tons of QoL and bug fixes.

The demo is currently available in English, Chinese (Simplified) and Russian but we are planning on adding French and Brazilian Portuguese very soon.



If you have any further feedback or encounter any bugs, please let us know in Discord or on the Steam forums and we'll do our best to help.

See you on the island!

The Critter Cove Team

Ahoy Critters!

Just a real quick note to say the second playtest is now live! If you signed up before reading this, you’ve already been approved! If you didn’t get the chance, we’ll be approving some additional play testers throughout April, so hit the “Request Access” button for a chance to join in. You can also join us on Discord where we’ll also be regularly handing out codes for instant access.

If you do get a chance to play this month, we’d love to know what you think. It really does make a huge difference knowing what people like and don’t like about the game and gives us a chance to tweak and fix things before launch!

You can drop feedback on the Steam Forums, Discord or via our form; and if you’re also signed up to our Discord, you’ll be entered into a prize draw to win $50 of Steam Credit and a free copy of Critter Cove! More info on how to take part is available here.

The Critter Cove Team

[h2]Atualização[/h2]

Olá, Critters!

Decidimos adiar o início do teste por uma semana, até 4 de abril, para garantir uma experiência mais fluida e divertida para todos os nossos aventureiros.

Pedimos desculpas pelo atraso, mas não se preocupem! Esse tempo a mais vai nos possibilitar fazer pequenos ajustes ao jogo e assegurar que ele está nos trinques para que vocês se divirtam. O teste ainda vai durar por todo o mês de abril, então haverá bastante tempo para se juntar a nós na ilha!

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[h2]Update[/h2]

Ahoy, Critters!

We've made the decision to delay the playtest for one week, until April 4th, to ensure a smoother and more enjoyable experience for all our adventurers.

We apologize for the delay, but fear not! This extra time will allow us to fine-tune the game and ensure it's ship-shape for your enjoyment. We'll still be running the test throughout all of April, so there will be plenty of time to join us on the island!

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Ahoy Critters!

It’s nearly time to set sail for our second – and final – closed playtest!



[h2]Playtest Timing[/h2]

You’ll be able to play starting March 28th, and the playtest will be available on Steam until the end of April, so plenty of time to check out the game.

This is a closed test, but if you sign up before March 28th, you’ll be guaranteed entry! To sign up, you need to hit the “Request Access” button on the main Steam page.

[h2]What’s New in Playtest Two?[/h2]

This playtest covers the first few hours of the game: the very start (including character creation), a little section of the open-world, and some introductions to many of the game's features like farming, crafting, exploration and tourism!

We’ve added the tourism mechanic and introduction, and this time the game will be fully playable on a controller AND in Simplified Chinese. We’ve also made some significant performance increases and Steamdeck-friendly updates!

The second playtest takes place in the same part of the game as our playtest from last year. It’s actually a little shorter and tighter than the original as we refine those opening hours, but we’d still love for you to play and tell us what you think about all the changes!


Don't forget this a playtest build of the game -- there might be a few bugs!

[h2]Win $50 and a Copy of Critter Cove in the Feedback Prize Draw[/h2]

We’re doing a little prize draw for people willing to tell us what they think about the playtest! We’ll be giving away $50 in Steam Credit and a copy of Critter Cove to five lucky winners.

To be entered, you’ll need to fill in our feedback form during the playtest, and join our Discord. We’ll provide more information when we launch the playtest on March 28th.

[h2]What’s Next?[/h2]

Our demo is the next step towards launch! It’ll be a slightly more polished version of the playtest and will be available on Steam for everyone to play.

This will be arriving at some point before we take part in the Steam Next Fest in June. After that, it will finally be time to release the game into Early Access. We’re currently planning to launch in July, but our official release date will be announced in early June with a brand new trailer!

The Critter Cove Team

Ahoy Critters! It’s time to talk about something that pops up in many life-sim games: Farming.

We don’t want to add anything to the game “just because,” it also has to make sense in our world, be FUN, and fit into one of our most important design principles: player freedom.

Improving the town for residents and tourists is important; but we don’t want you to be tied to the home island. After all, what’s the point of making a handcrafted open-world for you to explore if you only ever see it on the horizon, poking out from behind a field of potatoes!


So we’ve made the decision not to have a static farm – sorry root vegetable fans – but instead focus on “farming style” mechanics that can be enjoyed wherever you happen to roam.

In Critter Cove, any plant you can pick, you can grow – just throw the plant into the recycler back in town and you'll be on your way to start your career as a nomadic farmer.

We think we’ve got a few soil-utions (sorry) that keep farming fun and dynamic:

[h2]Planters[/h2]


You can place and grow plants within planters anywhere in the world. All the land-based plants can be grown using these, and we’re doing our best to make placement as unrestrictive as possible…

That means you can always plant loads in one area if you want to establish your own little “farm,” but it also means farming isn’t just about growing crops, but also flowers and other “decorative” style plants.

The right planters in the right place can give you access to convenient plants for your adventures, and can be used to decorate the town, increasing happiness for townsfolk and tourists alike.

[h2]Underwater Farming[/h2]


We’ve spent a lot of time making the world under the waves interesting to explore, so of course you’ll be able to take advantage by taking part in some aquatic agriculture.

Specific types of plants can only be grown underwater. Just like above-ground planters, underwater farming allows you to pick anywhere in the ocean to set up. Later in the game, you’ll be able to automate some of the gathering, too.

And let’s not forget the true benefit of farming in the sea: you’re not going to have to water anything!

[h2]Post-Apocalyptic Gardening[/h2]


We’ve been giving potatoes a hard time so far, but it’s only because we want our idea of “plants” to fit in with the colorful and vibrant post-apocalypse we’ve created. From naturally occurring drumstick bushes, to flowers that keep an eye on your activities, horticulture in Critter Cove is as mysterious as the world itself.

In fact, here are some previews of some of the weird and wonderful plants you can grow in the game when we launch into Early Access:



We’re busy cultivating (sorry again) plenty more ideas for farming and plants during Early Access, including creating healing items and even farming-specific plants for pigments in clothing.

But you’ll be able to check out Farming before we launch! We’ve added a proper introduction to farming into the new playtest, so sign up before March for the opportunity to jump back into our little piece of paradise. See you there, farmer!

The Critter Cove Team

Hey Critters... and Happy 2024!

This year is the big one! We’ll be launching Critter Cove into Early Access after many years of hard work! Look how far we’ve come:



It’s been a wild ride, and we’ve made huge progress since the playtest last year in adding new features, fixing bugs and expanding the world. We’ve also been working on everything from the way swimming feels to how farming works, and can’t wait to show you guys for free soon (more on that below).

We’re busy working on a full Chinese translation of the game too, and we’re happy to announce that both the public demo and the early access build will be fully playable in simplified Chinese. Currently it’s unlikely the playtest will be translated in time, but if that changes, we’ll make sure it’s clear on the store page!

We’ve also returned to self-publishing this year after parting ways very amicably with our previous publisher. We’re still the same core team and more active than ever, plus we have some new dates to share with you all.

[h2]New Release Date, Playtest & Demo[/h2]

Returning to self-publishing is exciting and allows us more freedom to grow in terms of our vision for Critter Cove, but it also means we’ve had to take back over the tasks that were previously handled by the publisher. We’ve moved around some resources and adjusted timelines over the last few months; so while we had planned to launch by early March, we’re now moving the release date of Critter Cove back a few months from “Q1” to “Q2” -- which is fancy marketing talk for “sometime around the middle of the year.”

We want to launch a big, chunky adventure with a huge amount of content from our very first day in Early Access, and we need a little bit of extra time to get there after this brief distraction.



If that seems like a long time to wait, we’re happy to announce TWO free ways to check out the game before we launch: A public demo and a closed beta playtest.

We’ll be making the public demo available a few months before we launch, but if you want to play even earlier, you can apply to join the beta playtest. If you signed up for last year's playtest, we’ve automatically approved you for this one as a thank you for taking part, so you don’t need to do anything at all.

If you didn’t play last year, you can register your interest via the sign up button on the store page. Keep an eye on Discord and X for more information as well, and we hope to have the beta in your paws by early March!



While both the demo and playtest will contain the opening part of the game that was included from last year, we’ll have a whole new range of features including our tourism update and farming improvements available right at the start. That’s alongside hundreds of tweaks, bug fixes, performance improvements, full controller support and many changes based on your feedback from the last test -- so it’s absolutely worth joining us in our post-apocalyptic paradise once again.

[h2]What’s Next?[/h2]

As we get ready for the playtest, we’ll be taking some “deep dives” (get it?) into the world of Critter Cove right here on Steam, starting with a look at how farming and cooking work in the game later this month.

We also post videos and updates regularly on X/Twitter, but as always the best place to hang out is our Discord, where we are happy to answer any questions and take feedback! See you there!



- The Critter Cove Team