DISCLOSURE: This game was reviewed on the following platform: PC – Check out our Review Policy page for more information.
If you are a lover or enthusiast of farming sim games, well you have probably heard about Coral Island review. There are some that really enjoy it, while there are others that simply aren’t too satisfied with it.
That is why in this review we will give it a brief overview and give it an overall rating and score at the end. Let’s find out if it is really worth the hype.
Is it Worth the Hype? – Coral Island Review
Farm simulation games get a fresh new look and feel in the form of Coral Island’s laid-back and colorful take on the genre. You are free to be whatever you want to be, and you may enjoy the enchantment of island life at your own speed.
It is a very interesting farm simulation with a fun take on it. We will separate it in Pros and Cons section so you can better understand how we give the rating in the end.
Pros
Let’s start with the good things which are plenty.
Lost of activities
Coral Island is just like any other typical farm sim. But in this game, you will have activities that will really shock you. You can even go diving and walk on the bottom of the sea at times!
The farming feels very rewarding and fun, crafting is not over the top and you will need tons of resources and gathering beforehand, you can do fishing with a fishing rod which can be upgraded, mine in deep dark caves, go diving, and so on.
If you like these types of games you will be familiar with this formula and system, but Coral Island has tons of activities that you can do. A big plus indeed!
Visuals
The way how it looks is simply fascinating. There is a certain type of art on it that just makes it feel very different than other farm sims. The whole art style feels very good for this type of game and you will feel relaxed as you play it.
The character designs are all very well done. You can see details when you zoom in and you will never feel as though something feels out of place. The animators and the designers really did an amazing job.
The NPCs even have different outfits depending on the season in-game! How cool is that?!
Environment
You will be on an Coral Island. This doesn’t sound all that interesting. But once you go inside and actually progress the story and start exploring, you will be left speechless at times.
Usually, a farming simulator has basic and generic types of map biomes and nothing more to it. Well, Coral Island feels as though the maps that you go inside have so much depth and things that you can explore.
The visuals of these maps and environment are made fantastic. Both in the outside world and in the interior is beautiful. You won’t be seeing the same type of building twice at all. The devs have carefully designed every tree and every desk. You will be blown away by the level of detail in the environment.
Alive World & Lots of Things to Explore
The thing that caught my eye a lot when playing this game, is that wherever you will go, you will actually have a lot of things to explore. Players will feel as though it is a farming sim and some areas won’t have anything other than resources in them.
But the maps are filled with tons of new creatures, and monsters, there are even creatures in underwater that you can interact with(although not yet added in the game). It gives the game a certain element of making you feel that you are in a really alive and breathing world.
Even the town events where you will see lots of characters protesting against something. It just feels truly different than all the other farming simulations out there. You will see people going around and doing their daily life chores.
You will see them going to Yoga classes, working whatever it is that they are working, physically moving to their home and work… Also, wherever they are going they will have different clothing that will match that place. They even stop for coffee sometimes!
Characters
There are a lot of characters that you can meet in the game. They are all surprisingly different from each other. Yes, you do see all the generic types of character personalities that you would expect, but they feel much more realistic.
You will get your typical macho, your heartbreaker, the shy girl, the cool chill guy, and so on. But they aren’t just like that on the surface.
You are able to actually raise your relationship levels with them and this way find out much more than what you had already known from them. It feels really amazing and they are interesting to interact with.
Marrying and Having Kids
For those asking, yes, you are able to marry and even have children! Not only that, supposedly the kids that you might have are going to physically grow up in-game. And plus, depending on how you made your character or the partner that you have, they will have their own character personality once they grow up. Very cool indeed!
Although this is said to be coming in a future update and not yet in the game.
Cons
Let’s see the bad things.
Feels Rushed
Although what it has right now is all fun and very interesting things, it doesn’t have all the things that we have been promised. There were promises that could shock you that got a lot of players inside the game.
But as it is right now, it feels as rushed or a pre–alpha build of it. You will be left out waiting and exploring for some things that you thought are in the game, and then only discover that they are scheduled for a future update.
The biggest disappointment people had are the creative people that are in the ocean. Also, it feels as though the performance and the bugs that are in the game could have been prevented.
Bugs
Even though it is an early access game and you would expect some issues, there are a lot of buggy things in Coral Island.
A hotfix recently fixed a bug that caused everyone’s inventory to be lost. This even went for chests! If you logged in and saved your game, you would lose everything forever.
The developers did a rollback and gave most people back their stuff, but some people lost important things like tools that can’t be bought anywhere else, so they had to start over. Also, recent patches have made the game very slow for some players, even when the graphics are set to a lower level than normal.
Coops also cause crashes when they interact with others so we do not recommend it.
Skill System
This is probably the system with the least point in the game. A lot of the perks you can get are either completely useless by the time you get them or make your life harder. One perk, for example, gives your crops a 10% chance of growing faster. Except that it is used for each crop. So a lot of your crops will grow at different rates, which is very annoying.
Then there’s the benefit that you can sometimes keep tiles that you’ve watered wet until the next day. This sounds great, but sprinklers make it a lot less useful quickly. It also doesn’t trigger nearly enough to make a difference, since I usually watered over that tile anyway after I upgraded my watering can.
Economy
It’s HARD to make money in this game. Crops don’t sell for much, mining feels like a waste of time most of the time, and fishing is very slow. There are beehives and pickling jars, but it’s almost not worth the cost to make them.
Recently, low-level honey was nerfed so much that it’s almost useless, and pickling jars process goods so quickly that you can just stand there and keep putting things in them. Which is almost not worth it. You can get 80g per item if you are lucky.
Since seeds cost almost as much as what you get for your crops, your profits are very small. You will do better when I tried to sell items I found in the wild and extra artifacts that you can find while diving.
Overall & Rating
The priorities of developers also seem a little… off? They have multiple TV shows with a lot of dialogue and full-on references to other games, as well as a crab rave on the beach, but we don’t have controller support, basic tutorials, or a working calendar. Kinda frustrating.
Coral Island Review
Summary
So is the Hype real? Yes, it certainly is. But is the hype for the future or for what the game is right now? – Future, definitely. It is a very good Early Acess farm sim that could become a classic. But as it is right now, it’s not quite there yet. The rating for it right now is 4 out of 5.
Thank you very much for checking out our guide! We hope that it gave you a real overview of how this game functions as it is right now. Do you agree with our score, and what is the favorite thing about Coral Island for you so far? Happy farming!
