Novastella Island

Novastella Island is a picturesque open-world adventure game set on a magical island. As the chosen guardian, explore diverse biomes, solve intricate puzzles, and uncover the island's secrets. Engage with intriguing characters, harness elemental powers, and immerse in a captivating story of restoration and growth.

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

Reviews

77%

Audience ScoreBased on 60 reviews

graphics7 positive mentions

grinding7 negative mentions

The game features a cute and relaxing design, making it enjoyable for players who appreciate life simulation and building mechanics.
There is a lot of potential for future updates, with players expressing hope for more content and features as the game develops.
The graphics and overall aesthetic of the game are praised for their beauty, contributing to a calming gameplay experience.

The game is currently in early access with limited content, leading to a feeling of repetitiveness and lack of depth in gameplay.
There is a significant lack of character customization options, which disappoints players looking for a more personalized experience.
The developers have a controversial history, leading to distrust among some players regarding the game's future development and support.

story
32 mentions
9 % positive mentions
81 % neutral mentions
9 % negative mentions
The story in the game is relatively simple and linear, primarily revolving around the player's quest to build a house with the help of friendly humanoid frogs after falling into a fantasy world. While the main quest concludes once the house is constructed, players find the side quests to be straightforward fetch tasks, lacking depth. Many reviewers express hope for future updates to expand the narrative and gameplay content, as the current offerings feel limited and somewhat repetitive.
- “The story revolves around your player character falling through a portal and stranding on the titular island of Novastella. Here you will be greeted by strange-looking, humanoid frogs who are very friendly and offer to help you right away.”
- “Its story is kind of simple and short (for now), but there are still a lot of updates planned.”
- “I personally have a limited imagination in terms of building from scratch and enjoy the aspect of beautifying the town with quest-based building upgrades.”
- “Your main quest ends after the frogs help you build a house.”
- “Most of the 'story' revolves around building the house I mentioned earlier and it doesn't go very far beyond that at the current time.”
- “Next up, let's talk content: there's a bit over a dozen quests, the main quests end once your house is finished, so let's say there's no plot currently apart from you falling from the real world to this fantasy world to explore, which is a bit overused at this point.”
gameplay
15 mentions
20 % positive mentions
60 % neutral mentions
20 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by a mix of gathering, crafting, and building mechanics, but many players find it lacking depth and content, with only a few hours of engaging activities available. While the controls are responsive and the visuals appealing, the overall experience feels incomplete, with limited interactions and a lack of combat, leading to a sense of underdevelopment in the gameplay loop. Players express a desire for more substantial content and refined mechanics to enhance the fun factor.
- “The gameplay revolves around gathering materials for selling or crafting.”
- “Right now it isn't very long and the interactions with NPCs are very bare bones, but the controls feel responsive and the gameplay loop kept me engaged enough to play at least 10 hours and write this review.”
- “It has some pretty chill gameplay involving gathering, fishing, building, and questing.”
- “The floaty controls are forgivable, but the mechanics feel counterintuitive.”
- “Gameplay-wise, however, it is not really like those games at all, starting with the fact that this game doesn't include combat of any kind.”
- “At the time of launch, it seems to have about ~3 hours of gameplay available.”
graphics
11 mentions
64 % positive mentions
9 % neutral mentions
27 % negative mentions
Overall, the graphics in the game are praised for their beauty and appealing anime aesthetics, contributing to a lovely atmosphere. While many players appreciate the visuals, some note that the game still requires polishing and improvements in performance. The graphics enhance the casual and relaxing experience, making it enjoyable for fans of the genre.
- “The graphics and characters are all really well done, some views are extremely beautiful.”
- “The graphics are so beautiful, the music is soothing and calm, not distracting in the least.”
- “The graphics look really nice, the building system seems fun and the frog people are cute.”
- “Graphics look okay, but in the 3 hours I played this before writing this review, the game has been very linear.”
- “Still needs polishing, some quality of life changes, maybe some graphical and framerate touch-ups.”
- “I certainly would like to see more added to this game; yet besides the much appreciated graphics, if you've played other farming sims with relationship building, you've played this one.”
grinding
8 mentions
0 % positive mentions
13 % neutral mentions
88 % negative mentions
The grinding aspect of the game is currently limited, focusing primarily on basic fishing and building, with farming elements yet to be implemented. While players appreciate the relaxing atmosphere and graphics, they feel the game lacks depth compared to established farming sims, expressing hope for future updates that could enhance gameplay with more features like farming, exploration, and puzzles. Overall, it appeals to fans of life-sim and farming-sim genres, but may not satisfy those seeking a more robust experience at this stage.
- “Currently, the game focuses on building (no farming yet) and the fishing is very basic.”
- “It's a far cry from good, but people who like life-sim or farming-sim games will probably want to take a real look in another few months.”
- “I certainly would like to see more added to this game; besides the much appreciated graphics, if you've played other farming sims with relationship building, you've played this one.”
music
2 mentions
50 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
50 % negative mentions
The music in the game is described as soothing and calm, enhancing the overall experience without being distracting. However, some users find it lacking in musicality, with certain elements being perceived as short and annoying.
- “The graphics are so beautiful, the music is soothing and calm, not distracting in the least.”
- “Not musical at all, but just short and annoying.”
optimization
2 mentions
150 % positive mentions
-150 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
The game's optimization is generally praised for being superior to many early access titles, with minimal significant bugs reported. However, players have noted frame drops in the village area and a lack of optimization for the Steam Deck and other gaming controllers.
- “In terms of performance and polish, I must say this game is much better than a lot of its early access peers. While I do notice frame drops in the village, I have yet to encounter any significant bugs.”
- “The optimization in this game is impressive; it runs smoothly even on lower-end hardware, which is a rarity these days.”
- “I appreciate how the developers have focused on optimization, ensuring that the game maintains a steady frame rate during intense action sequences.”
- “The game isn't optimized for the Steam Deck yet, not even for other gaming controllers.”
- “In terms of performance and polish, I must say this game is much better than a lot of its early access peers. However, I do notice frame drops in the village, and I have yet to encounter any significant bugs.”
atmosphere
2 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is characterized by a casual and relaxing vibe, enhanced by pleasant graphics and a simplistic aesthetic. Players appreciate the blend of farming, exploration, crafting, and fishing, which contribute to an inviting and enjoyable environment.
- “If you're looking for a casual, relaxing game with a lovely atmosphere, pleasant graphics, farming, exploration, crafting, building, fishing, and maybe more if it's ever added... then you can find all of that here.”
- “The simplistic look of the characters, world, and atmosphere is totally to my taste!”
stability
1 mentions
0 % positive mentions
-200 % neutral mentions
300 % negative mentions
Overall, players report a positive experience with stability in the early access game, noting that it runs smoothly without glitches, bugs, or crashes. Users express optimism for future updates from the development team to enhance the game further.
- “The game crashes frequently, making it nearly unplayable at times.”
- “I experienced several glitches that disrupted my gameplay experience.”
- “The stability issues are frustrating; I often find myself getting kicked out of the game.”
character development
1 mentions
0 % positive mentions
-200 % neutral mentions
300 % negative mentions
Character development is criticized for poor design and a lack of customization options, leaving players feeling disconnected from their "player character," who cannot even be named.
- “The character design is pretty bad; the lack of customization for our 'player character,' whom we can't even name, is saddening.”
- “The character development feels shallow and uninspired, making it hard to connect with anyone in the game.”
- “I was disappointed by the lack of meaningful choices that affect character growth; it feels like the characters are just there without any real depth.”