Starsand Island Embraces the Quiet Life With a New Sim

Life simulation games aren't always my speed, though I can see the appeal many hold.

There's a compelling pull to escaping everything for the quiet island life that only grows while the real world continues getting worse. Animal Crossing: New Horizons famously benefitted from launching right when COVID-19 lockdowns took wider effect globally, and I've lost count of how many times my fiancée has started Stardew Valley. I've dabbled with some across the years, so I was curious when I received the invite to try Seed Lab's Starsand Island.

Going hands-on for roughly 40 minutes at Gamescom 2025, I found myself immediately drawn in by the anime-inspired visuals. Starsand Island is frankly gorgeous; everything looks vibrant from the grassy fields to the beautifully blue sea, while the characters I've met so far all seem well designed. It's a welcoming and warm introduction, and this preview build looks considerably polished.

As we often see in life sims, this story begins with our customizable protagonist - they have a good range of style options, and you can choose the gender - having grown weary of city life. Moving back to their former home, you're soon greeted by an old friend who walks you through the initial basics as you clear your grandfather's old home. Living in a small shack just outside the main town, the opening offers a good tutorial that eases you in well.

You'll soon unlock a crafting bench at your home, and the island is littered with natural resources you can collect. More straightforward items like tree branches and stones can be conveniently found in abundance outside your home, though more advanced items require a trip to other areas. Nothing too complicated here, and the crafting process is relatively frictionless thanks to some good UI design.

As a shorter demo, I didn't get a huge amount of time to explore the wider world, though I got a glimpse of other skills and occupations we can learn. Soon after completing the initial tasks, I had a choice of visiting five different mentors to teach me new skills to earn more money. I chose to hone my crafting, which led me into the forest for rarer materials.

This area isn't completely safe, and you must fend off several creatures along the way using a slingshot. No swords or powerful bombs to detonate here, at least not yet, but your choice of weapon feels fitting for a game aiming for something more “cozy.” Which is an odd description when you go fishing and, in the forest's case, need to attack a rabbit. In the latter's case, I didn't kill it, and my attack seems to have soothed whatever affliction plagued it, but all the same.

Still, I completed the mission and levelled up my bond with that mentor, and this also gave me a glimpse into the relationship system. Eventuall,y you can romance someone else if you raise the level high enough, though I can't yet confirm whether this extends to same-sex couples. Select conversation choices also seem to affect your relationship level over time, though I'll need to play more to understand this better.

Sadly, I didn't have an opportunity to try much else, but I got a brief look at what else I can expect. Starsand Island's got quite an expansive map, which offers a range of vehicles you can use to get around for convenience; there's also a market area, you can make your own farmland, and there's a small island just off the mainland where you can build more freely. You can also create a boathouse, even adding a little swimming pool to it if you're feeling extra bougie.

Starsand Island is out next year on PC, Xbox Series, and PS5.