ISLANDERS: New Shores — Everything We Know

There’s something fulfilling about starting a city builder from scratch and watching your creations spread their wings and fly. Although many city builders require pouring hours into the game, you can track your progress not just currency-wise but visually, too. The ISLANDERS game lets you build cities in colorful islands to the tune of the most calming music that matches the minimalist world.

Now, The Station and Coatsink are returning with New Shores, a follow-up game that intends to add a host of new features. Safe to say, you’ll soon have a relaxing way to spend your evenings after a hard day’s work. But first, here’s a quick look at everything we know about ISLANDERS: New Shores so far.

What is ISLANDERS: New Shores?

ISLANDERS: New Shores is an upcoming follow-up to the acclaimed minimalist city builder of the same ISLANDERS name. The new game will be about building an island retreat in a minimalist world. From the trailer, the gameplay seems to be calm and relaxing, just like the original. However, the new game promises new, exciting gameplay, visuals, and more features that retain the original’s charm but also introduce fresh ideas. 

Story

ISLANDERS: New Shores is a tranquil adventure that tells the next chapter in the minimalist city-building franchise. From what I can tell, there doesn’t seem to be a story set in stone. Rather, you’ll be building an island retreat in a minimalist world, carving your own journey as you progress.

The main gameplay features will be exploration of the islands, building different structures, and strategizing your way to creating the most stunning and functional island retreat.

Gameplay

ISLANDERS: New Shores is a single-player city-builder where you build the island city of your dreams. You start the game with an inventory of buildings you can place on the map. Where you place, the buildings have to be strategic with a scoring system. The more points you earn, the more building structures you’ll unlock. So, even though the world is minimalistic, your city will soon grow bigger and more complex, requiring tactical play.

Your playthrough will evolve across 50 unique and dynamic island levels, providing endless variety. There’ll be more than 44 unique building structures you can unlock across six diverse biomes. The buildings and biomes will have four vibrant color variations. Thus allowing you to customize and build a city that stands out. 

Additionally, New Shores will have different game modes, including High Score and a new Sandbox mode. The former is more competitive, tracking your performance. However, Sandbox is more flexible, allowing you to stretch the confines of your imagination with no limits to how far your creativity can go.

New Features

So, what does New Shores do differently from the original game? Well, you’ll now have a photo mode, for starters. Here, you can take snapshots of your stunning cities, freely customize the filters, and even experiment from different angles. There’ll be more music set pieces, specifically 75 minutes of original music, parts of which you can listen to in the trailer video embedded below.

There’ll also be a new scoring system, which will be dynamic, adding new methods of assessment like line of sight, distance, and inter-island strategies. Meanwhile, you’ll unlock single-use power-ups called boons on each stage that can get you out of tricky spots and elevate your tactical play. Some boons can duplicate buildings, while others can swap outbuildings you’ve already set up. 

If you are a Twitch streamer, New Shores promises new ways to engage your viewers with built-in interactive game features. Besides the new features, The Station also overhauls the original’s visuals. According to Steam, ISLANDERS: New Shores has completely “reimagined the minimalist aesthetic.”

Development

Developer The Station, also known as Station Interactive and publisher Coatsink are working on ISLANDERS: New Shores. The Station hails from Sweden and is a subsidiary of Thunderful Games. They are most known for co-developing LittleBigPlanet. 

Coatsink, on the other hand, is  an indie games developer and publisher. They operate from England. Coatsink is also a subsidiary of Thunderful Group. According to Coatsink, ISLANDERS: New Shores intends to abide by the original’s relaxing M.O. It’ll employ a similar strategy, building on the mechanics, modes, and features of ISLANDERS. 

Trailer

The debut trailer for ISLANDERS: New Shores is out now on YouTube. It’s quick but detailed enough, showcasing how the new update intends to build on the original. The visuals immediately look super cute. Colors jump off the screen with ease and delight. You can already feel relaxed even as you listen to the soothing music playing in the background. 

The mechanics seem easy enough for newcomers to jump into. It’s definitely one of the more casual city-builders that doesn’t seem to demand too much from you. This is definitely a cozy game you can play to destress. Yet, at the same time, the scoring system can potentially keep you on your toes. 

In any case, ISLANDERS is a tried and tested game with mechanics that have elicited such deep, soothing effects. It’ll be unsurprising if you spend hours exploring the islands, adding one more building structure to your sprawling city as you go.

Release Date, Platforms, & Editions

ISLANDERS: New Shores has been revealed to launch sometime in the Summer of 2025. I know. Summer 2025 is nearly here. So, it’s a bit annoying that the developers couldn’t give an exact release date. In any case, they have confirmed the new game will launch on all major platforms, including PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PC. 

It’s unclear whether the launch includes last and current-gen consoles. Neither are the editions to expect, if any. However, we’ll keep an eye out for any updates for you. 

Alternatively, you can constantly check the respective store pages, which are already out. They are also a great way to keep track of the release when you add ISLANDERS: New Shores to your Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox wishlist. For more updates, feel free to follow the official social media handle.