Starsand Island is the magical escape we all need right now
Life simulator games are nineteen to the dozen right now, and while plenty of them offer a nice little escape from real life, few stand out from the crowd. Starsand Island, out this week after a six-month stint in early access, bucks the trend, however. Giving you freedom to live your best life, I simply cannot get enough of it.
Set on the titular island of Starsand, the game wastes no time in introducing you to the basics. You’ll be crafting, farming, exploring, taking care of animals, making friends with the locals and a whole lot more – with you completely in control of how you spend your time. Choose to interact with Starsand Island’s mission system and you’ll find yourself levelling up in a number of career paths, becoming a crafter, a farmer or something else. Or you can float between the five available paths, becoming a jack of all trades.
Or you can spend your time exploring instead, upgrading tools to allow you to access more of Starsand Island’s world. Stay on the island and you’ll find lots of people and animals to befriend, where conversations and gift-giving over time will evolve into meaningful relationships. Or you can venture off the island into the mysterious forest, where you can engage in combat, find valuable resources, and a whole lot of mystery.
There’s so much to do here, in fact, that it can be rather overwhelming to start with. But the joy of Starsand Island is that you don’t need to figure everything out all at once. By taking things at your own pace, you can give yourself all the time you need to learn its intricacies.
Of course, there’s plenty to do without ever leaving your own homestead, too. You have a large plot of land that you can, over time, cultivate however you want. You can build your own structures on it or place impressive blueprints, or simply work on the land to grow your own crops or raise animals.
Doing nothing is also a valid option. There’s plenty to see and do by simply exploring the island. You can go visit the panda sanctuary up in the hills, find the wild capybaras that wander the town and rub their bellies, go play a cosy game in the local arcade, or simply watch the world go by from a bench by the side of the road.
I think my favourite part of Starsand Island, though, is just how cosy it all feels. It’s brought to life with a beautiful anime-inspired art style that really sets it apart from most other games of its ilk. It’s grounded in reality but still has plenty of magical elements to make it feel special: whether you’re viewing stars at night on the beach or exploring the mysterious woodlands, there’s so much more to this game than simply crafting and farming crops.
When everything in the real world is so depressing, this is exactly the sort of escape we all need. The freedom to play however you want means it’s so easy to lose hours at a time, simply just existing in this wonderful, whimsical world. I’ve got a lot more to discover, but taking it at my own pace, I can’t wait to spend more time with my character, befriending squirrels, tickling the tummies of capybaras, and basically living my best island life.
Anyway, if you need me, I’ll be on Starsand Island.
Starsand Island launches on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2 and PC on 18th August.
