Sunshine Island: A Serene Farming Life Awaits
Sunshine Island is a free-to-play island-building tycoon game where you can harvest crops and craft products. There is co-op where you can join Guilds to team up with friends and other islanders around the world.
Sunshine Island is available on all platforms and what I like the most about it is there is no pressure to purchase to get ahead. Everything is available essentially for free, but if you need boosts you can watch ads and the bigger boosts are monetary (but getting through tasks isn’t too difficult to achieve).
There are 4 main islands that you can visit.
The Main Island is the starting island you have access to. It will feature your chosen name throughout this island and also where a lot of your crops will be sold / traded. A lot goes on in this island so it’s important to make sure to keep an eye on your materials!
As everyone knows, to expand your island-building empire, you need money! In order to obtain money, you’ll need to sell something and that’s where your crop business comes into play. You’ll need to sell it for cash (and materials), and you’ll eventually gain enough experience to grow.
There are three ways (for now) to do it in the early stages of the game.
- Market Orders – will open up early in the game and have small orders for you to fulfill for coin and, XP, and materials (used for expansions and upgrades)
- Ship Orders – This one appears at timed intervals (roughly 5 hours between ship fulfillments). And it stays at the dock for a timed amount (about 12-14 hours). The random orders range from easy to difficult, but the XP obtained corresponds to that along with the materials and coins.
- Plane Orders – Three planes will appear on your island with random orders for you to fulfill. The coin, XP, and materials obtained are generally higher than Market Orders.
The Library eventually shows up and quickly becomes one of the most important buildings in your island. It’s a wonderful asset that brings many benefits, but it does require a lot of cash and materials to make it happen. Two tabs will appear – Production & Delivery – both are useful as research put into these areas grant permanent bonus to various locations on your island(s).
A separate location associated to the main island is the Fishing section for those who like the soothing aspect of the game. You get a mini boat, starting off with 5 lures to use for fishing. Eventually you can expand the fishing ground and increase to 6 lures and space in your inventory. You are able to trade the fish at the Fishing Shop for various items like seeds, mysterious rewards, or even runes.
Achievements is what it exactly sounds like. There is a lighthouse tower at the edge of the Main Island where you can obtain Gems for achieving tasks like fulfilling a certain number of market orders or earning a certain number of coins and even collection of crops.
Tropical Island is focused on plantation-type crops like Coffee beans, Cotton and Silk Cocoons. It’s also where you can start producing yarn. It’s definitely an expansion from the main island. One of the other features is the “Lucky Treat” that appears in the form of an adorable dog named Lucky. You feed Lucky a dog treat and it will find a reward in exchange.
Jade Island has mines for you, eventually mining for ores and crafting ingots. Interesting enough, this is also where you make bolts of silk and have a goat farm for cashmere. Another feature is the “Rune” aspect of the game. There is a shrine located here where you can place runes and it will provide temporary boosts. As example, there is a rune for market materials that will provide a set time to increase 10% of material rewards for each market order you complete.
Guild Island is what keeps this game alive to be honest. Chill, no-pressure games where you farm and fulfill market orders is fun but only for a brief period of time. But the Guild aspect of the game allows for communication with other people playing the same game. It’s a great way to request for help with your market, ship, or plane orders. It’s also a way to ask for opinions when it comes to decisions on what to upgrade and focus on.
What’s also nice is the events that are associated with Guild Island. There are player tournaments, guild tournaments, and cruise tournaments that rotate within the month outside of seasonal events.
- Player Tournaments are the solo aspect of the game outside of the guild. The top 3 players will advance to the next round of the tournament. Depending on your ranking, you can get greater rewards and if you advance, you have the chance for even better ones (like more gems, tickets to help fulfill orders, better materials).
- Cruise Tournaments are a group effort within the guild. So finding an active guild is crucial it’s best if everyone pitches in. Each member will select a task to fulfill an order for the “Cruise” and completing them within a set time will obtain points and increase the guild’s ranking in the tournament. The top 3 (like in player tournaments) will advance to the next rank. The better the rank, the better rewards!
- Guild Tournament is where guilds compete against each other to earn points. Completing guild-related projects will score these points to increase its ranking.
Outside of the Guild Island are seasonal events. Some are fairly easy to complete like the Ocean Guardians that has you fishing for junk to recycle. And others not so easy, for example there was a Food Truck quest that requires quick reflexes to cook up food and serve.
Closing Remarks for Sunshine Island
The game is playable in multiple formats. In the Guild chats, I noticed a majority play on the tablet or on their phone when they’re not busy with life. It’s a very low-key game that I enjoy because there’s no pressure to always be on. Though I did notice that top guilds tend to be more strict on their requirements.
If you want a cozy game with co-op opportunities, check out the free-to-play game!
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