Do you find yourself regularly starting your Sims 4 legacies on sunny Sulani or in tiny Tartosa? Or, maybe you’re thrilled at the thought of meeting Cat Island’s local felines in InZOI? If that’s the case, then there’s a new life sim just around the corner that you’ll probably want to keep an eye on.
Starsand Island is set to be packed full of everything you might want from a farming sim. As an island resident, you’ll be able to rear animals, fight strange monsters, grow crops, and even ride around town on your pet… Ostriches? Well, maybe it goes a little beyond your regular farming game.
And, to boot, a recent interview with GameRant even revealed that The Sims is one of its major influences.
Get to know Starsand Island’s residents with a complex social system “inspired by the human brain” and The Sims
Starsand Island’s producer, Golton Gao, recently shared a little on what to expect from the simulator’s NPCs. The team has developed a framework for NPC responses and decision-making that enables continuous processing and analysis during interactions. This means that even in the moments where you aren’t interacting with them, they still continue reflecting on the interaction.
When you aren’t interacting with them, NPCs will also go about their days — presumably tending to their own plants or pets — dealing with their own needs, routines, and goals. They’re all off on their own journeys, much like your character is.
Sound familiar? Well, the developers used The Sims as a reference point for their NPCs. Gao shared that the team is a group of “longtime enthusiasts” of the series, and so they set out to integrate the best parts of its background characters into their upcoming title.
Gao also described The Sims as a “benchmark” for life sims, in part thanks to the franchise’s NPCs – specifically, their strong characterisation and emergent behaviours. Emergent behaviours aren’t only shaped by one single factor, but instead by loads of different things. For example, the environment and other interactions leading up to it could dictate how NPCs act.
The developers set out to reflect this idea in Starsand’s townsfolk, to create complex, realistic relationships. Interactions will be dynamic, adjusting and changing depending on how close you are to them, the environment, and time.
Spend a little too long farming the land and accidentally ignore your in-game partner? They’re going to notice and mope about it. But, on the flipside, they might also try and pursue you themselves.
Relationships and socialisation are a crucial part of farming sims
At face value, you’d probably expect farming sims to be pretty much solely, well, farming simulators. Get up at the crack of dawn, pick your potatoes, feed your chickens, and till the ground until sunset.
Community and relationships have always been a fundamental part of what breathes life into the genre, however, making Starsand Island’s carefully considered social system sound like it’ll be a fitting entry into the canon of socially-oriented farming sims.
Back in the mid-2000s, I picked up my first farming simulator, Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life. I was mostly enthralled by raising cute little cartoon cows, like the one on the cover, alongside some tiny chickens. I also figured I’d probably spend most of my time growing a garden full of fresh fruits and veggies.
Once I started settling into Forget-Me-Not Valley, though, I was quickly distracted. I wanted to get to know Forget-Me-Not Valley’s townspeople instead, pestering them with fresh eggs daily. At the time, friendship and romance mechanics felt fresh and complex – particularly as a kid who’d mostly been used to endless dialogue loops from NPCs repeating the same few barks over and over. While it might be dated now, it made me really appreciate how much the characters can ‘make’ a simulator game.
Of course, A Wonderful Life’s focus on social interactions was hardly an exception. Most titles, particularly these days, have some kind of feature that revolves around befriending your neighbours. Stardew Valley and Fields of Mistria both make it a core feature, to the point where NPC interaction is ingrained into their fabric.
Starsand Island’s Kickstarter smashed expectations
The island sim’s Kickstarter campaign kicked off back in April 2025 and has since more than tripled its initial $100k goal. Having made more than $300k in pledges, the campaign has worked its way well into the stretch goals.
A few of the additional stretch goals include houseboats, so you can sail around the star-shaped island without leaving your home, as well as a theme park and an improved vehicle system. They’re even going as far as adding a hoverboard, so you can float around Starsand’s golden beaches in style.
Starsand Island is due to come out in December 2025 on Steam, and is available to wishlist now. It’s also set to come to the Xbox One in spring 2026.
