Well, it's official. After a year of getting over my cozy game obsession by expanding my Steam library like never before, 2026 has immediately sucked me back into the genre in full force. I've played 25 hours of the Early Access version of the new life-sim Starsand Island and struggle to focus on much else, to be honest.
After all, my real-life adult chores are a lot less cute and colorful than tending my thriving farm or skating around the cute coastal community with my handmade roller skates. And the good news is that it looks like the new game will offer me a comforting route to escapism for a long time to come. So far, I've played an entire month of the game, and despite a few bugs and having to restart my save file (I'm still slightly traumatized), I can confidently say that I'm hooked into the grind in a way I haven't been since playing My Time at Sandrock three years ago.
