New life-sim RPG tops Steam charts after 1.0 release with 20% launch discount in tow

Seed Sparkle Lab's island life sim, Starsand Island, has officially left early access on 18 August 2026 — it is currently sitting at the top of Steam's popular new releases with a 20% launch discount against its $39.99 price. It landed the same day on PlayStation 5 and Switch 2 alongside the full Steam and Xbox releases. That marks a four-platform simultaneous rollout for a game that partly funded itself on Kickstarter, where it tripled its goal and closed above $300,000 in May 2025.

Version 1.0 delivers what the roadmap initially promised. Online multiplayer supports up to four players. The island host decides who visits, and there is a dedicated currency and shop attached to co-op. Official mod tools come with a ModKit and Steam Workshop support as well. Relationships get the deepest pass — new three-heart story arcs and an expanded dating system is now available across the island's cast. Plus, there's a seasonal Autumn Pumpkin Carnival, and the new console builds now support mouse controls, especially for building.

Days after February's early access launch, the game was hit with a wave of fake positive reviews; the studio denied any involvement and publicly asked whoever was responsible to stop. In April, the game disappeared from Steam altogether. Seed Sparkle Lab said "certain core visual elements from a classic title were used without proper authorization" in a minigame, but they never named the title — though players on the game's subreddit were confident it was Tetris. A new, corrected build went to Valve, the game returned, and every owner received a free outfit set as an apology. It's still there on the store page — listed as the Shining Star DLC at $0.00.

Reception is pretty solid, all in all. The lifetime English score is "Very Positive," 88% of 2,532 reviews, with over 6,510 across all languages. Recent reviews are somewhat softer at 63% of the last 147. Requirements are also quite forgiving: a GTX 650 minimum, RTX 2060 recommended, and 20 GB of storage. Physical PS5 and Switch 2 editions will come on 12 November.

Check out Starsand Island on Steam here.