Coral Island is a farming and lifestyle sim that has had genre fans excited for a while. Releasing in full after being in Early Access for just over a year, it promises tonnes of content such as farming, ranching, mining, foraging, town improvement, and small-town romance. Coral Island wants to stand out with its deep-sea diving gameplay, but after spending a whole in-game year with it, I’ve been far more engaged with its good -old-fashioned above-sea farming.

Coral Island combines the farming and lifestyle sims of recent years like Stardew Valley and adds an extra avenue for content with its ocean exploration. The farm you inherit is overgrowth with trees, rock, and debris, which you will gradually clear to make way for crops and barns. There’s a cavern where you can mine for resources and slay monsters, and many bodies of water to fish in for some extra cash.

I initially worried that the game was riding on the coattails of Stardew Valley a bit too much. Of course, Stardew Valley did not exactly re-invent the wheel, and many of these similarities are simply genre staples. But there are ways Coral Island could have easily avoided feeling like a Stardew Valley clone that it doesn’t bother to take. Certain things like the layout of the farm, the UI, as well as some of the combat and mining mechanics, seem copied exactly. Happily, as the game progresses and grants access to a better variety of seeds, livestock, and machines, the similarities become less and less noticeable. The day-to-day gameplay loop of farming, foraging, or whatever you want to do that day is addicting, fostering that “just one more day!” mentality that’ll keep you up until midnight. I love that levelling up the town’s rank will grant you access to more kinds of crops and livestock, so it gives you a reason to look forward to the next year’s seasons — what new crops will be available?

The town of Coral Island is quite lively and full of different characters to meet. There are a whopping 25 eligible singles in your area, each with events that occur gradually as you become friends. It doesn’t have to lead to romance, though, and can also befriend non-single villagers. There might even be too many townfolk for my taste; it’s hard to memorise everyone’s names and faces with so many to keep track of. The characters are more grounded in real life than in some farming sims; there’s no dramatic edge lords or secret witches in town.

The game is played using 3D models, with 2D character illustrations during dialogue. The art style is perfectly serviceable, although I have to admit it’s not my favourite. There’s something a little generic about it that reminds me of Disney or Pixar movies, but not any particular movie; just the general look of the 3D character design since Tangled. It’s especially noticeable when it comes to the 2D character illustrations. This is subjective though, and the quality of the artwork itself is quite high.