Steam’s Nextfest kicks off with a few interesting titles, and cozy gamers get a sneak peek at the best upcoming cozy games, including Solarpunk, which raised over €300,000 on Kickstarter.
Solarpunk is a cozy survival game where you construct buildings, farm food, and make wonderful gadgets to progress, but its primary selling point is the ability to traverse floating planets and discover new things.
Solarpunk Mixes A Few of Its Cozy Inspiration Into One
The idea of Solarpunk came from a small team of two who were inspired by games like Minecraft, Dear Alice, Raft, Worlds Adrift, and Stardew Valley. The game blends features and borrows a few aspects from these games, such as Raft’s multiplayer and exploration and Stardew Valley’s cozy farming system.
After finishing Solarpunk’s demo during the Steam Nextfest, it does feel quite a bit like Raft, where you are constantly exploring islands and finding new things.
With hundreds or even thousands of games already in the genre, it is hard to separate yourself from the throng. However, Solarpunk aims to use the skies as its main setting for exploration, giving it a unique feel as a cozy game.
Do You Want to Be a Master Farmer or a Flying Nomad?
Solarpunk is set up as your typical survival-crafting game, where you scavenge for resources and build a base, but on a bunch of floating islands in the middle of nowhere. You can’t settle down and build a base, exactly, which is a good thing.
This apparent limitation allows the player to get more creative with the space available and promote sky exploration. Each floating island might bring something new, which is part of this cozy game’s excitement.
Once you get the hang of the game’s aeronautics, you’ll crave those explorations as discovering new tech or gadgets from other unique floating islands feels fresh and engaging.
Setting up your first solar panel may feel a bit confusing since you will be dealing with cables, but the quality of life they provide makes farming way more fun.
You can trySolarpunk’s demoin Steam’s Next Fest only until July 05, 2025, so go check it out.
Enzo Zalamea
Enzo is a staff writer at Prima Games. He began writing news, guides, and listicles related to games back in 2019. In 2024, he started writing at Prima Games covering the best new games and updates regardless of the genre. You can find him playing the latest World of Warcraft expansion, Path of Exile, Teamfight Tactics, and popular competitive shooters like Valorant, Apex Legends, and CS2. Enzo received his Bachelor’s degree in Marketing Management in De La Salle University and multiple SEO certifications from the University of California, Davis.
More Stories by Enzo Zalamea
