Starsand Island Early Access Preview—Building Your Future

Starsand Island came across my desk the same way most of these games do—with CGM’s Dayna Eileen presenting it to me with an interested inquiry, due in large part to general cuteness. But I’ve played quite a few of these “Life Sims, but with Farming” these past couple of months, and in some ways they’re all starting to blur together a bit, so I was really anticipating this game to WOW me.

Maybe it’s too soon to tell, since Starsand Island is still in Early Access, but it didn’t exactly ignite the fire, but it certainly sparked a couple of embers. The game has many good ideas and a solid foundation to build on, but it lacks a distinctive edge. I was never hating my time with it, but the more I played it, the more I wondered why I wasn’t just playing Story of Seasons. 

Following the formula, Starsand Island begins when the protagonist decides to leave the hustle and bustle of big-city life behind and return to the idyllic island of their youth. Once there, they’ll take... Read more