Starsand Island

IF YOU ARE ANTI-AI DO NOT GET THIS GAME. I originally started playing this game because one of my fav youtubers recommended it, plus at the time there was a huge steam summer sale happening. Before knowing about the use of generative ai during the development of this game I would have probably recommended getting this game after the full release. Personally I love grindy games, and always working towards a goal (which this game has). The movement and actions are fluid, and the amount of things you can craft are endless. I especially liked the different modes of transpiration, and how easily you can track your progress and what you have/have not crafted. While the romanceable characters and story line were nothing to write home about I chalked this up to the fact that this was still early access. While I did enjoy the game in the time I played it, I currently cannot in good conciseness recommend this game to any interested buyer. I have multiple issues with how this game is being marketed. First of all, the use of ai. While some may not have any issues with the use of ai during the developing of a game, there are just as many who do. This is not new discourse however a big enough one that Steam itself implemented a box for publishers to be transparent to protentional buyers. The fact that this was not explicitly stated on its steam page that it was used in development seemed disingenuous and makes me believe the developers of the game did this so that unsuspecting anti-ai buyers would still possibly buy the game. Personally, I do have issue with the use of AI, especially if its being used in a product I am buying without my knowledge. If the developers were transparent shame on me for not reading the full steam page, however people should not have to go out of their way and do additional research outside of a games page to figure out if there is any ai usage. I do not think I will ever buy from this developer again and will not be listening to recommendations from anyone who promoted this game.

Had to leave a good review. The people complaining about AI genuinely have 0 clue what they are talking about. The only AI that was used was a third party tool the company added to generate furniture, put your pitchforks down I'm not done, it was only included to be used as a community tool not to design official assets in the game. That's all it was, an AI tool they tried to give the community to add in their own unofficial ai generated assets and this tool was the only AI related thing in the games files. Other than that the team admitted to using AI to brainstorm ideas but non of those AI generated items were ever placed into the game. Any other claims about AI are purely speculation and there is 0 evidence that AI was used to actually create a single asset. This goes to show how moronic some people are, they see AI and instead of reading a little bit further before opening their mouths they instantly swarm a game to bash it. To reiterate NO AI ASSETS ARE PRESENT IN THE GAME ONLY A THIRD PARTY TOOL INTENDED FOR COMMUNITY USE. If you believe AI was used to create assets then it's simply your opinion, there is no evidence of any scripts, character models, items, or anything being ai generated. Understanding how AI was actually used is vital and knowing it wasn't used to actually make anything currently in the game is also important, but a lot of recent steam reviews seem to be arguing in bad faith. Also once the team announced they were going to be giving this AI tool to the community for use and experienced a negative response they removed it altogether so there is actually nothing in the game related to AI, not even that third party tool. It is nice to see thought that we live in an age that even when the devs do what the community wants the community still whines. Now that I can talk about the actual game, Starsand Island can be hit or miss for some people. It all comes down to your preference in a cozy game, do you want a big story, overarching plots, incredibly deep characters with long backstories? Go somewhere else. Do you want a cozy game that is more of a sandbox where you can do what you want at your own pace with few restrictions, where you just kinda pick a goal and do it with no handholding, no roadblocks, just go out mine stone, chop wood, and build a massive villa? Then this is for you. I get that clashes hard with some of the cozy community but I genuinely despise when I have to befriend npcs to get required items and recipes that are needed to progress. I despise having to donate tons of resources just to progress the story. With starsand you don't really have to worry about all of that, you just kinda handle each and every thing at your own pace with no stress, no big deadlines, no sleeping all year just to be able to get one item that you missed (i'm looking at you stardew). If you do miss a seasonal item in Starsand then so what? There is no big catch every fish requirement, no ship every crop requirement, no donate items from specific seasons requirement. Instead your farm can run the way you want it to all year round. Let's get into the good and the bad. The best thing by far are immortal seeds, you don't need a greenhouse, you don't need a shed with tons of planters, you can just plop the immortal seed down and that crop is good to go all year round. There are multiple building spaces, you can dedicate one to being a farm, one to an amusement park, one to a large villa, or you can really use them for whatever you want tbh. The vehicles are great, particularly being able to get your own large houseboat. The animals are adorable, the breeding mechanics give you a reason to keep interacting and trying to get new variants, getting a horse with every good trait feels great once you get it as you can now zoom around the map on your pony. The building is frustrating at first but once you get into it, holy cow, you can build some amazing houses, gardens, barns, whatever you want! I could spend hours just building things, as I said this really is the just one big cozy sandbox even down to the building. The bad would have to be combat, it is by far the least thought out part of the game along with the woods (the combat area). You use only ranged weapons, and can just craft explosive ammo (which is ridiculously cheap) and finish the entire forest in an hour. THe combat doesn't really change or evolve in any meaningful way, you just get a better bow, better arrows, get bigger numbers, and that's it, there is no variation, the forest is incredibly short, and once you get mining and lumberjack robots you have very little reason to ever actually come back to explore the woods. The forest also has mechanics like growing and burning away roots that it introduces to you in order to progress, two issues though, 1. you can just kinda path around these 2. the mechanic is only used in two spots leaving me to wonder why it was ever added in the first place. Like all of the combat and forest mechanics are like this, they feel pointless and just when you think there will be even the slightest bit of complexity to them you realize it is only for one spot you will never come to again and the forest ends after a five minute walk. All in all it certainly isn't for everyone, if you require a deep story to play a cozy game (which I would argue ruins the cozy do it at your own pace charm) then play something else. If you want a sandbox where you set your own goals, get lost in building things, farming, fishing, growing your wealth, and just relaxing as you play then this is a phenomenal pickup. I'd give it a solid 8/10.

First 10 hours I was enjoying the game, is cute, I like the character customization, being able to skate and a generally addicting chill time for a farming game then I started getting crashes and also 1 bluescreen from a memory leak will also leave my list of nitpicks here: - forced toggle sprint is really annoying - is very easy to just walk outside of and fall out of the map - you can steal some things but not others? - the vehicle system is super disappointing. I just want a faster skateboard, the other options are meh especially the hoverboard that gets stuck and forces you off of it constantly - blocking off interacting with some things when it's late in the day - your screen getting an ugly dark filter around it at night - interacting with certain things, especially animals and animal related things, is clunky af i've also read from other reviews that this game uses AI in it and potentially has spyware so more reason for me to leave this review negative for now

A very solid farming game with an interesting cast of characters and easy aesthetic and varied gameplay. Issues I've had: There's no reward for breeding variants of the livestock. You don't get different wool or milk except for colour correspondence of the sheep (when a dye mechanic would suffice), no variety of eggs or noticeable change in productions or value. The only reason to have some products is to create feed for other animals, but there's no reason for suddenly occurring cheese to be needed for horse feed. After 40 hours, everything starts to feel like a perpetual tutorial. There's no passive income or variety in interactions with townsfolk. There are too few events with no real benefit to maintaining a social connection to any of the characters you don't really like. There are still npcs I haven't met outside of quests. Crops only take 4-6 in game days to grow, with no automated system to replant or upgrade sprinklers. While most can be processed for higher value, there's no real point to step away a few high value yields. There's no processing for animal products beyond cooking or feed for other animals, so there is no set up for cheeses or other genre staples. It's a fine game, but you run out of things to do after one season and the livestock variants are useless.

打折50多块钱买了个pc端垃圾手游可还行？人物动作僵硬，制作组从小网站下载的动作包吧？剧情完全照抄星露谷，劣质感满满，就这破游戏，刚玩一小会儿就遇到BUG，房子墙纸直接把我的门窗堵死。游戏整体给人的感觉就是一个小厂做的低端手游，甚至都不是完成品，唉。。。

It's alright. I played about 15 hours of it. But honestly.... It's kinda boring quick. mostly because it doesn't feel like it has any main plot story. Your not saving a town. Your not doing anything but working and making money for a nice yard. Sure the characters are interesting to a point. and I know it's not finished yet. But I think it benefit it here was something to drive players to complete. For example you have Sandrock. you help build up and save sandrock. In coral island you have several plots. help the merfolk and the goddess restore the island. I would wait until they've done more on this game if you are a plot driven type.

Do not purchase over 90% discount... It is completely empty. $40 then $20 for a dlc pack of clothing and furniture not actual content? You will get a better deal from EA and purchasing The Sims. Which is comparatively what they would charge for the total combined content of this game. Really, you can just skip this game all together and get the next thing on your Wishlist. It's not for you, and its not for your kids but it might be about them. For context I did beta test this game. While it remains in Early Access(EA) it shouldn't be at this price point on principle until it reaches full scale release. At this rate and choice of content it should simply be removed. The deadline for early access games, and time statute for refunds is grossly imbalanced. The choice to start with character creation however sparse, eats time, early cutscenes and long winded tutorials eat time. It eats time, until you realize there is no depth coming. That is all. This will continue on steam. This will continue in places other than steam. Beware. It's not bad business, its just bad.

<3 One of the best cozy games that I have ever played! Me and my wife (Max) love it!! Seriously underrated!!

Ce jeu propose ce que j'attends d'un cozy gaming, le monde est vaste, beau, la personnalisation est magnifique que ce soit notre personnage ou la maison. Ça change des farm sim répétitifs ou des jeux où tout est payant en mode achats in app. La prise en main est agréable et facile

I prefer this over Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing already. Fite me.