Starsand Island Review – A Cosy Anime Life Sim Worth Your Time on PS5

Starsand Island has finally launched on PS5, and Push Square's review lands it firmly in cosy life sim territory — think Stardew Valley meets Studio Ghibli, with a few twists of its own.

The game revolves around five careers: crafting, farming, ranching, fishing, and exploration. While you can technically focus on one, their progression requirements overlap enough that you'll end up touching all of them. Crafting is the most involved from the start, demanding you juggle multiple workbenches — the reviewer found arranging them aesthetically frustrating early on. Farming and ranching follow genre conventions closely, with crossbreeding and animal care unlocking as you level up. Fishing is satisfying if simple, with a reel-in mechanic that feels good without being demanding. Exploration stands out as the most distinctive career, sending you into an alternate dimension called the Moonlit Forest for platforming, light puzzles, and combat that scales in difficulty the deeper you go — and you'll need to visit it regularly for crafting materials regardless of your chosen path. Outside the careers, house and grounds customisation is a highlight: you can place individual wall, floor, and roof pieces like building blocks, build off-grid, and shape your home into almost anything you want.

Starsand Island draws clear inspiration from Stardew Valley, Palia, and My Time at Portia, but carves out its own identity through the combination of deep building tools, the Moonlit Forest dimension, and its anime art direction. The genre has grown crowded in recent years, so having a distinct visual style and a more complex construction system gives it a genuine hook beyond the usual farm-and-fish loop.

The review recommends it as a strong cosy game pick on PS5, particularly for players who enjoy creative building alongside the standard life sim activities. Character creation offers solid customisation options at the start, with adjustable hair and eye colours helping you settle into the world from the beginning.