Sugardew Island

“Sugardew Island delivers on its promise of 15–20 hours of relaxing farming gameplay, offering a charming visual style and a laid-back experience with no time pressure or rigid rules. While some mechanics lack depth—particularly the shop system, which feels more like an idle game—the overall flow is pleasant, though the game quickly runs out of steam and suffers from slow updates on the tested PS5 version.”

“Sugardew Island offers a cozy farming experience for those new to the genre or who aren't interested in the adventuring or romantic options available in similar games. Most genre fans, however, will quickly be looking for a rescue.”

“While it’s cutesy and pleasant, there are simply far better and deeper cozy sims out there”

“Sugardew Island fails to not only live up to the Nintendo DS Story of Seasons/Harvest Moon games, but be memorable in any fashion. Outside of the shop system that I enjoyed for a time, all of the progression and farming mechanics are mediocre.”

“Sugardew Island is a colorful and cozy game with some interesting ideas like the storefront. However, despite a stress-free experience, the gameplay lacks enough depth to keep players on the island for a long period.”

“There is a lot to like about Sugardew Island. The Forest Folk are so cute as they run into the shop to purchase the items you’ve worked hard to produce. The colourful graphics, delightful animals, and straightforward gameplay are appealing, and although the island locals aren’t the most chatty, it’s fun to learn about their stories. However, with the issues around upgrading tools and the numerous software crashes, I can’t recommend Sugardew Island at this time. Hopefully, the developers will hack away these thorny problems very quickly because there is an adorable farm shop simulation game waiting for us on Sugardew Island.”

“An “intentionally uncomplicated” farm shop simulator. is how Rokaplay developers describe Sugardew Island and I can concur, its exactly the heart of the game. Sugardew Island fosters a place to relax and unwind without the pressure of complication and chaos. Whether you’re farming crops, making friends, or tending to your store, there’s always something satisfying to do at your own pace.”

“This sweet little comfort game is an adorably cozy little farming simulation. Difficult to learn at first, but easy to play as you continue on. Grow crops, sell them to the townspeople, make money, restore harmony to the island. And best of all, adopt cows and chickens! But unfortunate technical issues that cause the game to randomly lock, resulting in a repeated loss of progress, eventually took their toll. I'm hoping the game's issues are resolved so players can actually enjoy the charming experience at the core of Sugardew Island.”

“Sugardew Island does a lot of things right: it offers some clever convenience features, charming graphics and a relaxed atmosphere. But despite these strengths, the game lacks long-term motivation. The sales system drags on unnecessarily, there are hardly any side activities, and the technical quirks disrupt the flow of the game in some places. The basic idea is nice, but the gameplay simply doesn't offer enough in the long run. Those looking for a purely farming-focused experience may be happy here - everyone else will long for more variety after a short time.”

“Sugardew Island has solid farming and shop simulation mechanics, but its lack of side activities and depth in the gameplay feels like a missed opportunity to do more.”

“Overall, there is little that Sugardew Island does to make itself stand out. The initial premise is interesting and the art style quite cute, but it fails to create a real identity for itself and the gameplay, while perfectly serviceable, just isn't interesting.”

“Sugardew Island is another entry into the ever-popular farming simulator genre that aims to deliver a cozy, no pressure gameplay experience. However, the experience quickly turns from cozy to frustrating given the game's bugs and glitches, unintuitive control scheme, and limiting energy bar.”

“Sugardew Island has the potential to be a cozy farming sim, but its simplistic approach works against it. While the game looks beautiful and plays smoothly, repetitive gameplay and flat NPCs prevent the island from truly coming to life. It’s a relaxing experience for casual players, but seasoned farming sim fans may find it is a missed opportunity.”