Thank you Seed Sparkle Lab for providing us with a preview code!

Starsand Island was successfully Kickstarted in May of 2025. According to the Kickstarter page the game exceeded the funding goal three times over! Starsand Island is inspired by farm simulation games like Stardew Valley and My Time at Sandrock. I love how there’s a collaboration between Starsand Island and the My Time at Sandrock game. Unfortunately, one of the characters carried over is a bit of a jerk in Starsand Island.

There’s not much of a backstory in this game. You begin your journey by selecting your character from male or female models. Afterwards, you can customize their appearance and outfits accordingly. Once your character is designed, they’re whisked away to a cabin in the woods that they haven’t been to in a while. The town gives you a warm welcome and at least one of the islanders is a childhood friend. You’ll be given a quick tutorial on how to do basic tasks and operate the various apps to get you acclimated to life on Starsand Island.

I like how this game gives you multiple career paths. You can be a rancher, farmer, explorer, angler, and a tinkerer. Mastering multiple skillsets is encouraged and oftentimes beneficial. Like most farming simulation games, there are multiple seasons and they change every thirty days. Some crops can only be planted during specific seasons. Later in the game you’ll start to acquire immortal seeds which will grow crops with unlimited yields and they’ll thrive year-round.

To advance your ranching career, you’ll have to breed various animals to get desired traits and looks. For example, you can start the game with white and black sheep, but their offspring may yield sheep of other colors to produce a rainbow of yarn colors. You’ll need to build a loom in order to make various fabric types.

It’s good to talk to the townsfolk and you’ll raise your relationship level that way. You can become friends (or more!) faster with gifts and completing requests posted on the bulletin board in town. You’ll also gain affection points by pursuing the various career paths. Throughout the year, there are festivals and big projects to complete. Your character will get letters in the mail inviting them to contribute and help make these events a success. Helping out will improve relationships with the villagers too.

Unlike other popular farming sim franchises, the dating is pretty lackluster in this game. The conversations don’t change much, there are no events or dates until after your characters move in together. There’s no talk of marriage but after moving in, my partner asked to meet in a flower field where they pledged their love and devotion.

Most of the named characters (non-tourists) have voice acting. They don’t say a whole lot though. Since this is an Early Access title, that may change as the development progresses. It’s a shame that this title was removed from the Steam store due to copyright claims on some assets used in a mini game. I haven’t played the arcade mini game, but there’s a rhythm music game to play at the music store.

Starsand Island is pretty sizable and there are many ways to travel across it. You can make rollerblades and hoverboards as part of the builder career path. As a rancher you can ride various animals like cows, sheep, horses, llamas, and ostriches. If you prefer rides with an engine, you can rent a scooter, car, or a jet ski.

When I first started playing this game I ran into a couple of glitches. I like how the game has a menu option to get your character unstuck. I have used this multiple times. Most of my desktop crashes were rectified after updating my video drivers. Linux users will need to have the Glorious Eggroll version of Proton installed to play this game, but it runs perfectly on the Steam Deck.

For a moral standpoint, there’s little to worry about here. There’s a Buddhist temple and the monk there offers to read your fortune. He’s dateable too. Sadly, like many games these days, you can date anyone regardless of their gender. There’s a forest area that you can explore and there are some enemies and bosses available to fight. They don’t bleed when injured. Be sure to pack enough ammo (pellets or arrows) before attacking them.

There’s plenty to do in Starsand Island and I look forward to seeing how it progresses during its development. I'm glad that this game is back on Steam so people can embark on their adventure on this cozy island.