Of the many agriculture-focused life sims that have followed Stardew Valley, Coral Island It’s something that’s attracting my attention. Formula’s fantasy spin offers underwater agriculture and merfolk romance along with all the everyday island life activities you’d expect, and its stunning character art perfectly complements the picturesque world. If you’ve ever wanted to try it, now is the time. The much-anticipated multiplayer and romance update is here, with Coral Island surges to a year-long steam level. Better yet, steam sales means you and your friends can experience magic at a discount.
Away from the hustle and bustle of urban life, your time on Coral Island is to connect with nature. There are all the basics you can expect from one of our best farming games. Grow the crops you want, build your dream home, become friends with locals, marry Woo, and even one of up to 25 romantic characters. But then you have the ability to jump under the waves, create an underwater farm, recover local coral reefs, visit the magical merfolk kingdom, and make Coral Island one of the best fantasy games you can see on Steam.
The Coral Island 1.2 update brings multiplayer to the table. The long-declared feature is the main reason why I haven’t spent any more time as I want to put together the farm with some like-minded friends. You can start a cooperative game (or join someone else) from the main menu, with the ability to build a farm together with up to four players. Cross-play support is also available.
The table has many customization options. You can freely adjust your profit margins to level up your challenges and determine whether your money will enter the shared pool or whether everyone wants to have their own funds. Similarly, quests can be processed together or separately. When it comes to buildings, you can set up an open-open architect mode for everyone or limit it to hosts only, but home decoration is free to handle by the homeowner, host, or the entire group.
Everyone in the game is tracked by player, allowing you to freely create friends and romance NPCs in your own leisure. You can only marry one NPC, but you have the ability to tie the knot with one of your fellow players, which even supports having children. The UI is given an overhaul to help track farming peers, with journal statistics and map information available to see how everyone is doing.
Speaking of romance, it has also been given a major upgrade with the new Coral Island update. Stairway has introduced “deep and meaning” with a new hangout event that serves as a landmark for your relationship. You will discover these as your relationship grows, and this will continue beyond marriage with an extension of the heart counter up to level 15, with the final 5 ranks for your special person.
The patch is packed with other smaller improvements and fixes, and Coral Island has already spiked to its highest number of players in over a year. Over the past 24 hours, simultaneous steam players have peaked at over 9,000 people, suggesting that many enthusiasts have brought friends for their new journeys. If you want to do the same, steam sales to celebrate the overhaul will allow you to get solid savings.
Coral Island is 33% off on Steam until Thursday, August 21st. This means you’ll pay just $20.09/£16.74 for a copy. When you’re ready for a relaxed vacation, grab it here.
Or we rounded up the best relaxed game for more relaxed adventures. Just the look of Coral Island may fantasize about upgrading to the best gaming monitor in 2025.
Who is your Coral Island Crash? You can chat about it and your best farming tips and show off your hard-earned Homestead with over 10,000 like-minded PC gamers in our community Discord Server.
