Alexia Unplugged

Solarpunk is finally set to release this year! I’ve been keeping an eye on this game from one of my favorite publishers, Rokaplay, and developed by the same studio that gave us the new viral sensation, A Game About Digging a Hole: Cyberwave. Solarpunk is your typical survival crafting game, except you live in an archipelago of floating islands, where you can create a cozy home for yourself.

I had a lot of fun playing the Solarpunk demo. It feels very true to the survival crafting experience: being dropped in the middle of a deserted island and needing to make shelter, find food, and even make sure you stay hydrated!

Like many survival crafting sims, Solarpunk leans heavily into foraging and building a small shelter in the beginning. By the end of the first day though, I had built a super cute loft cottage, made a makeshift garden in my front yard, and became a bee employer! For my next few days of chopping (and replanting!) trees and gathering natural resources like coal, I used those resources to advance along the tech tree, which you do via a Research Table.

Soon, I explored the highest point of the sky island I had been dropped on and discovered that someone’s device had reached an untimely demise. Not one to waste, I did some Science and quickly researched how to build an airship. I took to the skies, only to find that that beautiful island I’d been scoping out was locked in the demo. It was kind of anticlimactic, but made me more intrigued to explore when the full game releases.

Undeterred, I still got to explore the merchant island, which was, admittedly, tiny — just one small building. But I got some free stuff: a sneak-peek at the mechanics that put the solar in Solarpunk. It wasn’t much, but it was a great demonstration of how the energy efficiency and eco-friendly aspects of this game will work alongside the core pastoral elements of cozy games, like farming and baking bread.

The demo served its purpose to make me even more excited about Solarpunk’s release. I’m excited to see if the devs expand on the cooking mechanic, since I always love to make cozy food. I’d also really like to see some kind of PvE (and lighthearted PvP) combat to introduce some low-stakes conflict!

I’m loving this trend of cute online multiplayer games that has emerged in the last few years. I can’t wait to play all these games and experience the stories that the developers want to tell us!

Are you ready to turn your little cabin into a futuristic community of energy-efficient homes? You can wishlist Solarpunk on Steam to make sure you don’t forget about this online multiplayer survival crafting game!