Author’s Note: A Game Key for Starsand Island was kindly provided by Renaissance PR/Seed Sparkle Lab
Are you ready to step into the vibrant world of Starsand Island?
As many of you know, Starsand Island has been my most anticipated cosy life and farming simulation game for 2026. Having adored both the initial Steam Next Fest demo followed by an exclusive ten-day demo, the time is finally here for the game to launch into it’s Early Access/Preview Stage!
I’m incredibly excited to be diving back into the gorgeous world of Starsand Island properly this time around, but also alongside everyone else who has been waiting to jump in and explore what the game has to offer.
What is Starsand Island all about?
Here’s a quick run down of Starsand Island and what you can expect to find in the game’s Early Access.
Starsand Island is the recently released Early Access game from Seed Sparkle Lab. This cosy life simulation game comes with various skills and experiences including farming, fishing, animal care, exploration, romance, various professions to master and so much more. With fun ways to traverse the island on the likes of a skateboard to making friends with the locals and capybara’s Starsand Island is a place where you’ll find a heartwarming journey ahead of you.
There’s plenty to explore, discover and learn as you spend your time on the island. No two days are ever the same. With the freedom to go and do about the island as you become closer with nature, uncover the island mysteries and truly feel like you are at home.
Starsand Island has currently launched as an Early Access game, which is still in active development. There’s plenty more on the horizon for the game, including a full release and additional releases on more platforms. This current period of Early Access aims to help shape and grow the game, with the community alongside it.
Starsand Island is currently available on Steam via Early Access and Xbox via Xbox Preview.
From Gloomy Days to Sunny Horizons
Having recalled what I had previously played during the demos, I was excited to jump straight back in. Initially, I was unsure whether previous save data would carry over or if I’d be starting over fresh. In fact, I’d prefer starting a fresh and brand new save, which is precisely what happened.
With a blank slate to start with, it was time to jump into the Early Access version of Starsand Island for the first time. Upon doing so, we see an opening sequence, similar to that seen in the recent Release Date Announcement video from Seed Sparkle Lab.
While it might seem like day to day life is full of doom and gloom, there’s no need to worry because Starsand Island will be a breath of fresh air upon arrival. Reminiscent, nostalgic and feeling just like home, well, it is technically home.
As I made my way through the opening moments of Starsand Island, I was thinking of ways that I could share my experience in game to the words you are currently reading. A more traditional review style post didn’t seem right to me and after some time thinking about it in more depth, I wanted it to be almost like a journal entry. A collection of thoughts from what I have played so far and what I’m hoping to discover as I continue to progress.
So without further ado, let’s jump into Starsand Island’s Early Access for the very first time!
New Beginnings on Levelling Up
Going into a brand new save, I had to remind myself that my previous experiences with the demo aren’t likely to be the same as what I’m about to experience. With this in mind, I created my character and then spent the first few hours in game reacquainting myself with the basics in game. Getting to know my way around Starsand Island, gathering resources and getting to know more of the locals. The important things to help my cosy farming and life simulation experience on its way.
Already I began to see the overall improvements and differences from the demos. The game was already running smoother on my PC, and I was picking up on smaller details I hadn’t noticed before.
However, that being said, I was already fully immersed in Starsand Island. It was certainly reminding me why I was so excited about this game and why it was one of my most anticipated for this year.
With a total of five different professions to learn and develop skills in, I found myself chipping away at the various tasks needed to progress. The five professions are Crafter, Farmer, Rancher, Archer and Explorer with the first of the three being the core professions. All of these appealed to me from the get go that it was difficult to know where to focus first. I wanted to really focus on just one of the five professions, but I wasn’t sure how easy that would be, so I decided to choose a cosy yet chaotic route of going all in on all five at once. After all, it was still early days in my time with Starsand Island.
After spending more time reacquainting myself with the old and new, it was time to really get to business. I was pleasantly surprised to see some of the improvements made to some of the earlier quests. From quality of life improvements to fleshing out quests to have more detail and the overall experience with them.
I’ll be honest, I’ve spent a lot of time gathering resources across the island, crafting and building as much as I can as well as exploring the Moonlit Forest among other locations!
Now, while I don’t want to spoil all the details from the early days of Starsand Island, I do want to quickly touch on a few other features in the game that I really like.
Time to Build
Starsand Island’s build mode might seem a little daunting at first. However, it really is far from that. As someone who has spent far too many hours in another popular life simulation game’s build mode, this was easy to navigate and learn the different tools you have to create your home.
It isn’t as simple as just dragging and dropping things into place, and it just clicks. You can really fine tune the placement, look and feel of your home in Starsand Island. Think of it like always having the move objects cheat from The Sims switched on. That’s not to mention further customizing your homes and adding to them or even selecting from one of the preset layouts, including a houseboat, from the building menus.
Speaking of preset layouts, there are several you can choose from, such as the houseboat but also a more classic and contemporary home, a modern and a cosy countryside home. However, there’s also the option to place an Amusement Park and a Celestial Craft home too.
It does make you curious that, alongside the official presets seen below and the option for player made presets too, whether we will be able to use other player’s presets they’ve created in our on games in the future.
The Starsand Phone
I have to say this. I think for a mobile phone feature in a cosy life simulation game, this is by far my favourite.
Not only is it easy to navigate around each individual phone app, it’s also a cute and simple design, however powerful all at the same time. While some of the applications on the phone are simple such as being able to change your character’s outfit as well as hair and makeup on the go, others such as Journey, Star Note, Workpedia and Island Life play an important part on your journey. Your inventory, camera, calendar, social relationships with other characters and more are all packed into the phone and more!
Even as you dive into each of these apps, they are packed full of detail but not in an overwhelming way, more just the right balance. Colourful but easy to navigate and know what you are looking for. Easy to keep track on what you are doing in game as well as your overall progress as you continue to master professions, build relationships and more.
Character Customization
From playing the original demo for Starsand Island, I’ve always enjoyed the character customization. Knowing that the previous early iterations would be improved upon, you can certainly see that in this Early Access version of the game.
While we have a selection of good starting options, the possibility to grow those options through unlocking additional cosmetics and outfits through game progression and purchasing using in game currency means you can really craft your own defining look.
A new addition I like is the colour picker that’s been added. It’s utilized across multiple categories including eyes, hair and skin colour. While you have a number of pre-selected colours to choose from, players can truly fine tune it to the exact colour/shade they want.
Steam vs Steam Deck
I wanted to add this in as I’m sure there will be players curious about how the game runs on Steam Deck. While at the time of writing this, the game isn’t fully verified for Steam Deck yet, but it is classed as playable. This mainly meaning that some text may be more difficult to read due to the size, and occasionally a keyboard and mouse/non-Steam controller layouts instead.
Based on my overall experience playing between Steam and Steam Deck, these minor identified concerns don’t impact the overall experience on the handheld device. It runs smoothly with no noticeable frame drops or performance issues.
Steam Cloud saves between the two works well, and you can switch easily between playing on your PC or on Steam Deck easily. In fact, I was very impressed with just how smooth and easy it was switching between the two when wanting to play.
Starsand Island Thoughts So Far
It’s incredibly difficult to truly put together how I feel about Starsand Island as a whole, as there is still so much to explore in game. Yes, I love it. It’s been one game I’ve been excited for since it was first revealed, and seeing the progress from the first demo to now has been incredible. Already I’ve seen plenty of improvements, new features added, more attention to detail and the overall quality of life of the game.
I’ve really enjoyed rediscovering some of the experiences I’d had from the demos, but also discovering the improvements. Creating my character and starting a new cosy island live on Starsand Island. While a lot of what I’ve done so far is merely the fundamentals to my long-term journey in game, I’m excited to see just how my own journey develops. What kind of friends ships and relationships will I have in game, what kind of animals will I become friends with and raise, even what kind of crops will I be able to grow as my skills develop?
In games like these, I tend to spend a lot of time going on what I like to describe as unplanned side quests also known as wandering around. In a way, I find this good for building up my resources but see the island from a new perspective. It also helps me discover various places and just familiarize myself with the numerous locations in game. I do this a lot in games, and it’s also a nice change of pace to just sometimes go for a walk and take in the sights and sounds which you might not normally notice.
As for moving forward in Starsand Island, in my own game, I’ll be continuing to progress through the storyline, and mastering each progression and taking in everything that the game has to offer during the early access period.
Regarding what else I’d like to see added to the game moving forward, truthfully, I’d like it to be a surprise, really. Currently, there’s nothing desperate I’d like to see added. I’d like to see maybe more collabs similar to the launch one with the My Time At franchise, but personally, I have nothing specific I’d like to see myself, but this may change over time.
Thank you again to Seed Sparkle Lab and Renaissance PR for kindly providing me with a code for Starsand Island, and thank you all for taking the time to read my initial thoughts on my own experiences so far. I will have more content to come from Starsand Island as I continue to play the game during Early Access and Beyond.
Let me know what your thoughts are on Starsand Island below in the comments or on Social Media!
Starsand Island is out now in Early Access on Steam and Xbox Game Pass. For all the latest news from Starsand Island itself, be sure to follow the Seed Sparkle Lab on X/Twitter.
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