Spirit of the Island

An adorable life simulator with farming, mining, gathering food, social interaction, and fishing, as well as pirates and a great mystery waiting to be solved!! Farming... Crafting... All you need from a management game! Fans of chilled games like Animal Crossing and Hokko Life will love exploring the islands and attracting tourists.

Welcome to game world whose scale is matched only by its cuteness! A cross between Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley and reminiscent of Hokko Life, Spirit of the Island combines exploration and management with RPG and crafting elements. Created by a solo developer, Alex Kikuchi, this life simulator is a real marvel, and it even boasts a real story that is more than worth discovering (not to mention the really cool co-op mode).

We liked the huge map packed with resources hidden throughout a dynamic environment that never gets boring.

After playing around with the basic character creation options, the adventure begins when you inherit a ruined farm overrun by brambles. And that's when you start growing crops, crafting tools, and learning the truth about your birth.

Once you've got your farm up and running, you can set off into town and meet Tala, the village elder, who will tell you about your past. You'll then unlock the ability to start working.

It won’t be too long before you'll have built a boat that you can use to explore neighbouring islands and collect materials. But that will come later.

Make sure you stop by the town every day to speak to each of its residents. It's a quick way to boost their opinion of you. If you're friendly enough, you can even get married!

Our advice? At the start of the game, take the time to craft a few bottles of water to take with you on your outings.

In Spirit of the Island, you'll also need to keep an eye on your hunger, thirst, and fatigue, as well as the wear on your tools. You'll need to keep a close eye on your stats to make sure they don't fall too low. You should also try to set a regular bedtime.

We loved the game's sandbox gameplay, and how you play is entirely up to you. To make money, for example, selling your harvests might help you get started. But you can also sell the crabs that roam the beach near your farm and even find precious gems in the mine. There's so much to discover!

Then there's the combat with the bad guys, but we won't spoil everything for you here.

The good news is that at the start of the game, the tougher enemies won't attack you as soon as you get out of your boat. You'll need to go looking for them in the high mountains or caves.

And always bear in mind that one of the aims of the game is to return the island to its status as a lively tourist resort.

Hundreds of hours of playtime await in this devastatingly cute world. It's not always easy to leave!