Romance and Dairy: Coral Island Receives Cozy Updates

I've been playing Coral Island obsessively this year, having reviewed it here at SUPERJUMP in January. The farming simulation is very comforting; you can get to know all your neighbors and actually clean up the garbage left behind by giant corporations that don't care. No one has an ugly side or political opinion that leaves you betrayed and wondering just how well you know your neighbors or friends. The hidden depths you can unlock in cut-scenes or character hangouts refer to insightful backstories and interactions with NPC's family members, which provide understanding instead of pain.

In Coral Island, you leave the busy city life to renovate a farm near Starlight Town. Once brimming with tourists and sea life, oil pollution has left a small community of determined individuals. Even though the game has a straightforward narrative where you can complete quests and fend off corporate shills that want to take over the town, you don't have to stop with that main story. You can unlock magic spells, swim with mermaids, and joke with giants. Oh, and I learned why gesha coffee is so valuable though my player character wasn't pleased. 

The dev team at Stairway Games posted about this update in November 2024. Called the Quality of Life 1.1b update, the patches attempt to make farm life – and the quests beyond it – easier for the player. They also provided notifications about closed and open testing for a multiplayer mode; interested players can join the game's official Discord to learn more about open testing, which starts on December 15, 2024.

What do the new updates provide?

Previous updates have allowed us to change into mermaids, challenge a literal Karen with her political ambitions, and pet all the animals on the island. There are quite a few more surprises with this patch, along with a few formatting changes.

Romancing NPCs

Much like in Stardew Valley, you can flirt, fall in love, and marry some of the NPCs. I admit I'm not doing this one, as I like the solitude on my farm with only the livestock and my pixelated cat for company.

The relationship tracker will now give advice on what to do to trigger a heart event, which can potentially lead to a romance. If you just want to build a friendship, however, that can be useful for obtaining recipes or gifts in the mail. Additionally, you can mend bonds between estranged family members, help someone with a sick pet, or locate a mysterious treasure.

Lowered Difficulty for Town Ranking

In order to make the game more accessible, this update lowers the requirements for upgrading Starlight Town to the highest ranks. The game starts with the town's grade firmly at "F", due to an oil spill killing tourism, fishing, and other livelihoods. In fact, the low ranking is why Karen from Pufferfish Corporation wants to swoop in and take over, claiming that Pufferfish's capitalist approach will revive the town. Most locals call her out since Pufferfish caused the oil spill that ruined them in the first place, but she remains a threat.

To defeat Karen, you have to keep boosting the town rankings. With the update in place, the B rank requirements are lowered by 6%, and the A rank by 10%. Cleaning the ocean, donating items to the museum, and winning regional competitions will help with that. To clean the ocean and locate artifacts, you need to expend time and stamina. Regular food in your inventory will assist with necessary recharges, though you can't freeze time. 

Some of the competitions are not very straightforward. I struggled with the Harvest Festival for a while and had to spend a few months growing the crops and nurturing the livestock that would lead to the win. While I'm at B already, and I should hit A within a few more gaming sessions, the lowered difficulty will help.

Dairy Demands

One of your first game quests involves making high-quality produce. Sam, the local grocer, says that importing vegetables and fruits from the mainland is expensive, and you're the only farmer in town. Transport enough vegetables, and he can feed the locals properly.

Now Sam needs milk and eggs. By this point, I have a happy cow and goat, and an energetic poultry flock. Doing this quest and reminding everyone to get their protein should be a cinch. I also admit that I like having milk in my coffee.

The Goddess Blessing

Some items required for quests for the goddess altars are hard to find. I can attest to this because I spent many days in-game hunting for the titan arum, aka the corpse-flower. You need this flower to make the honey required for the rare items altar, but the game doesn't make it easy.

If you have the update's new Daily Blessing, after unlocking different shrines, you can increase your chances of finding these difficult objects. All you have to do is visit a shrine and select the appropriate option. I haven't tried it yet, but I am excited for when new insects and fish enter the fray.

Fishing Made Simple

While you can set insect traps for land and critter traps for the ocean, fishing remains random. It took saving up for the computer and the fish tracker chip for me to start catching the fish needed to complete quests and ones that the museum would accept.

Bamboo nets allow you to catch fish on a regular basis. Believe it or not, fish and insects are the best ways to earn income, more than selling produce or dairy. Having a reliable source that doesn't require expending stamina or fish bait, whose crafting recipes only unlock with town rankings, does help with that daily passive income. It also means that if you need or want to make huge expenditures, you don't have to fret about eating a fish taco to get that rare catch.

What You Can Find in the Mines and the Savannah

When playing the Early Access version of the game, I already had access to a fair amount of challenges, mini-games, and quests. What I hadn't unlocked, however, was the ability to travel to the Savannah, a surreal landscape where summer shallots can grow in the winter. If you are navigating the mines, the Cave of Memories in the Savannah is the next step.

The update adds new items called Mystery Rocks. Unlike geodes, which can contain ores or precious stones, the Mystery Rocks live up to their name. You can unlock fruit, insects, monsters, or ores; that feature reminds me of the jars in Spelunky. The rate of rocks spawning on mine or cave levels depends on the number of offerings that you make to the goddess. I may avoid these unless necessary since the Spelunky jars caused their fair share of damage when I was playing that game.

Happy farming, and fishing, and cleaning, and...

I appreciate that Coral Island gives so much flexibility for your socializing and activities. Stardew Valley involves a bit too much people-pleasing, while in Coral Island you can spend all your time with the cats and dogs, and not just your pets; Bonbon and Taco are amazing when you run into these dogs around town.

Each update provides more to the story. I don't know what's going on with the Savannah or what magic activates it, but I am curious. We have to free one more giant, and those levels don't have save points. Plus, Karen really needs to put in her two weeks' notice, since no one likes corporate hostile takeovers. I'm looking forward to enjoying more of what Stairway Games plans to bring to Coral Island.