Sugardew Island is a cozy game that claims to tick every box: Farming? Check. Business management? Check. Adorable animals everywhere you go? Double check. For fans of cozy games, Sugardew Island seems like the perfect choice.
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As a self-proclaimed love letter to games likeHarvest MoonandStardew Valley,Sugardew Island attempts to balance themes of old-school nostalgia with all the cozy staples we know and love. From shopkeeping to magical talking animals, there are few cozy trademarks that this game doesn’t dig into.
As charming as it is, however, all games come with drawbacks, and Sugardew Island is no exception. Whether due to repetitiveness, game-breaking bugs, or just a lack of variety in gameplay, Sugardew Island has had its fair share of less-than-stellar points.
This review will go over all of the game’s best features and biggest obstacles, so settle in, grab a blanket, and get ready to find out whether this cozy farm shop is worth getting into.
A Familiar Cozy Beginning
If you’ve got more than one cozy game under your belt, then you probably already know what you’re getting into with Sugardew Island. Its story, though cute, definitely feels like you’ve already heard it somewhere before.
This game opens up with a tale about how long ago, humans, animals, and forest spirits used to thrive on Sugardew Island in perfect harmony. That is, until human greed disrupted the balance, causing them to become banished and leaving the island in disrepair.
Now,after a well-timed shipwreck on your part, you find yourself stranded on the island, conveniently tasked with fixing the mess your predecessors left behind. You must collect “Harmony” to restore balance to the land, which can apparently only be done by farming and selling your wares to the island’s native “Forest Folk”.
Forest Folk aren’t exactly nature spirits or guardians but rather a blend of elves and gnomes whose job is to take care of certain parts of the island. Their role is never really fully explained, but it’s them that you must sell your goods to if you want to collect the island’s much-needed Harmony.
There are other minor intricacies to the game’s story, but none really make it stand out amongother games in the genre. I understand that the game was meant to be “intentionally uncomplicated”, but I’ll admit that I wasn’t on the edge of my seat for most of the game’s narrative.
Tending Crops, Tending Shop
Like many farming sims, Sugardew Island is exceptionally grind-y, so keep that in mind if you’re more of a fast-paced-gameplay kind of person.
Sugardew Island follows a familiar, repetitive gameplay loop: plant crops, raise animals, gather resources, and sell your goods to earn money. In this case, that money is Sugardew, which is a form of currency separate from Harmony.
The only real changes in this routine are when you go to buy goods from the only other human on the island (whose presence is never really explained) and to complete missions for the Harmony Tree.
The Harmony Tree is a magical tree meant to regulate the balance of Harmony on the island. By collecting Harmony to complete its “missions”, you can help restore the tree back to its former glory. It’s also guarded by a magical, talking animal spirit that resentfully guides you through the whole experience.
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Each day, you’ll participate in the same cycle of planting, harvesting, and selling, all while the island slowly comes to life around you. The better your store does, the more Harmony and Sugardew you can collect, allowing you to unlock more upgrades and explore more of the island.
While the farming did get a bit repetitive, I had a lot of fun with the shopkeeping portion of the game. Maybe it’s just the hidden capitalist in me, buthaggling with the Forest Folk was unexpectedly entertaining, and I found myself looking forward to each time I flipped that shop’s sign to “Open”.
A Pixel-Perfect Paradise
One of the biggest aspects of any cozy game is its visuals, and that area is where Sugardew Island really shines. The game’schibi-fied style is as charming as it is nostalgic, reminiscent of games likeAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsor Sun Haven.
Being that Sugardew Island is an indie game made by such a tiny team of developers, I found myself pleasantly surprised at the level of detail that went into its design and animation.
Every single character, animal, and landscape was designed with coziness in mind, drawing you into the game’s world from the moment you load in. Whether it’s the plump, rounded animals or the gnome-like Forest Folk, this game really knows exactly how to tick all of those “aww” boxes.
Its cuteness factor is frankly off the charts, and I found myself falling in love with the game’s visuals long before I even got into its gameplay.
The island itself is full of vibrant colors that make everything feel alive and welcoming, and the rounded, softened art style just adds an extra, comfortable layer to the whole thing.
From the expertly animated animals to the sparkling waves along the shore, it’s clear a lot of care went into this game’s aesthetic, and it paid off big time.No matter how many flaws you might find in its gameplay, it’s hard to stay mad at a game this cute.
A Garden Full of Glitches
Like many indie projects, Sugardew Island faced some pretty harsh reviews regarding its game-breaking bugs and glitches at the time of its release. While I was lucky enough to dodge most of these, many other players weren’t so fortunate and ended up being stuck with a game they couldn’t even play.
Consistent crashes, save file corruption, and issues with story progression were just a few of the problems that left many frustrated players strandedin the game’s story, without any way to move forward. Many had to restart the game multiple times, losing all of their previous progress, just to be able to keep playing.
Most of the complaints from players were in regards to the console versions of the game, which apparently had many more game-breaking bugs than their PC counterparts. Specifically,its Nintendo Switch version seemed to get the most backlash, with some even going so far as to demand refunds due to its “unplayable” state.
I stuck with the PC version, and I’m immensely glad that I did because there was next to nothing in terms of bug fixing that these players could do to restore their lost progress on other platforms. This game is so full of grinding that I can’t even imagine how frustrating it would be to lose hours or even days' worth of progress all at once.
Now, usually I don’t let a game’s bugs or glitches put me off too much, especially at the time of its release. These kinds of things can always be fixed with a little bit of time and some updating, though I understand if some people would rather not take the risk.
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Thankfully, the developers have already acknowledged these problems and are working hard on fixing them all as soon as possible.
Gameplay Drawbacks and Misses
While Sugardew Island has its fair share of charm, it falls short in some of the key areas of its gameplay, making it feel more shallow and tedious than other games in the genre.
My first gripe with the game is that you don’t ever get to really customize anything about your farm; instead, it’s all preset. In a game where you’re supposed to be able to run your own farm, barn, and shop, it’s surprising to find out that you can’t even design your own farm, barn, and shop.
There are a few fences and other minute things that you can build and throw around, but honestly, I didn’t bother with them.If a chunk of plain, wooden fence is the full extent of this game’s decorating mechanics, then I’d rather just not get into it at all.
Another thing that I found frustrating about Sugardew Island’s gameplay is that it feels so incredibly one-dimensional. For a game that leans heavily intothe farming genre, you’d expect to find a wider variety of activities, like fishing, cooking, or even foraging, but no; it’s just farming and selling. That’s it.
Don’t get me wrong,the gameplay elements that it does have are pretty entertaining, but after so many hours, you begin to feel like you’re stuckin some sort of Groundhog Day-style time loop.
The biggest issue that I had with the game, however, comes in the form of its in-game targeting system. Whether you’re trying to open a chest, talk to an NPC, or even just select a weed to pull, the process is often a tedious, back-and-forth struggle of trying and failing to find your mark.
It can take multiple attempts of turning around, walking back and forth, and full-on standing on your target to get your character to finally hover over the right thing long enough to interact with it. This made embarrassingly simple tasks feel almost excruciating to complete, which really contrasted with the whole “cozy, relaxing farm sim” thing it had going on.
Where Sugardew Island Shines (and Stumbles)
At its best, Sugardew Island offers and delivers exactly what you’d expect from a cozy farming sim: a charming, relaxing atmosphere, straightforward and simple gameplay, and an art style that would put any cozy cartoon to shame.
Its art style is delightfully chibi and undeniably appealing, drawing you in before you even add the game to your cart. Its consistent loop of back-and-forth farm and shop management is as comfortingly predictable as it is relaxing, letting you turn your brain off for however long you’re glued to your screen.
But despite all of its pros, Sugardew Island also has its fair share of cons, and it stumbles in ways that make it difficult to fully recommend, especially to seasoned fans of the genre. I can forgive the unimaginative storyline, butthe numerous bugs, one-dimensional gameplay, complete lack of customization options, and buggy targeting system are all pretty hard to overlook.
Furthermore, after only a few hours of playing, the endlessly repetitive gameplay quickly rears its ugly head, and while some may take comfort in a straightforward and predictable gameplay loop, it does leave much to be desired in terms of variety.
Sugardew Island has all the right ingredients for a cozy farming sim, but unfortunately, it’s bogged down by a series of gameplay limitations and technical hiccups that prevent it from truly standing out in the already overcrowded genre.
Closing Comments
The developers made it clear that the game was meant to be intentionally uncomplicated, but I expected more from a game that aimed to be a spiritual successor to the Sun Haven games. Despite all of its shortcomings, however, it is still a reasonably enjoyable experience, and there’s still a lot of potential in the game. If the developers decide to address its major issues, then Sugardew Island could easily evolve into a much more enjoyable experience for a wider audience. For now, though, it remains a quaint, if relatively flawed, addition to the cozy farming game landscape, offering a taste of island life that doesn’t quite live up to its full potential.
