Alongside the recent release date announcement, developer Seed Lab also unveiled a bit about what we can expect from the Starsand Island Early Access build. From a fully functioning weather and season system to companions to home construction and customization, there’s a lot to play around with on the island. Let’s dive in and explore the game’s upcoming launch in more detail!
Starsand Island Early Access Content Overview
World & Seasonal System
As is common with most farming and life sim titles, Starsand Island will feature a full season system to ensure the world feels vibrant and alive. Each season brings a distinct scenery, a range of seasonal activities, and a unique weather pattern. Expect:
- Spring
- Summer
- Autumn
- Winter
Core Gameplay
During development, the team expanded upon the core gameplay mechanics, specifically the profession paths, including:
- Farming: Over 100 types of crops to grow and tend, with a hybridization feature to breed unique blossoms. You may also unlock greenhouses for year-round farming.
- Crafting: Various crafting machines and advanced tools help streamline your farming work, allowing you to automate mining, logging, and farming.
- Ranching: You may raise more than 10 new species of animals, including cows and alpacas, and discover 40 subspecies and color variants. To help, there are 10+ professional ranching tools and facilities to expand your farm with.
- Fishing: A Fish Trap system allows for passive angling alongside traditional fishing and aquaculture features. There are currently more than 100+ aquatic creatures, along with rare variants and species.
- Exploration: The entire island is ripe for exploration, but some locales are more dangerous than others. To keep you alive, there are bows with multiple arrow types and unique effects for combat.
Characters & Bonds
It wouldn’t be a farming/life sim without a cast of vibrant characters, some of which you can romance, to flesh out the island. In all, there are 15 interactable NPCs, with four companions. Each character has a unique personality, profession, and schedule. Oh, and they feature full voice-overs!
- Solara
- Graminova
- Zerine
- Francis
- Pastelle
- Zephyria
- Serena
- Youfang
- Lunelle
- Sylvain
- Alex
- Aurelis
Homestead Expansion
Starsand Island features an impressive depth of construction and customization for your homestead. With nine subplots to unlock, plus three home environments to choose from—Blue Beach, Cloudrest Lake, and Windflute Island—you can fill your home with more than 300+ unique furniture pieces, hundreds of decorative items, and exterior pieces to make your dream paradise.
Additional Gameplay Features
- Mounts & Vehicles: More than 40 rideable vehicles, including 10+ craftable vehicles, plus 20+ rideable animal companions. Most vehicles support additional modifications and upgrades.
- Customization: You can fully customize your character‘s attire, with mix-and-match outfits, hats, hairstyles, and accessories, plus an infinite color wheel for hair, eyes, and skin tones.
- Cooking: More than 50+ dishes to cook, offering unique buffs to gameplay.
- Music: Pick up an instrument and follow along with in-game sheet music to play songs in your downtime.
- Festivals: Celebrate multiple seasonal festivals, including Chinese New Year and the Summer Beach Festival, to enjoy downtime from farming and ranching.