The Best Stardew Valley-Like You Haven't Played Is Getting A Major Update

Summary The new Coral Island 1.1 patch expands underwater content, introducing quests, characters, locations, and a seabed farm.

Get ready to romance Merfolk and meet new characters in Coral Island's 1.1 update. Mix land seeds for unique ocean crops and underwater animals!

Coral Island's 1.1 update not only focuses on underwater expansion but also enhances land gameplay with spouse dialogue, decorating system changes, and more content patches planned for the future.

Coral Island may have just released out of early access and impressed the community with its take on the farming RPG, but developer Stairway Games isn't slowing down as it announces the game's first major post-launch content update. Hailed was one of the better games in an over-saturated market, Coral Island tasks players with setting up a flourishing farm on the titular island while also making connections with the many townspeople who have already built lives for themselves. Despite a buggy period in early access, the game's 1.0 release was a massive success and players can't get enough.

Announced on X (formerly Twitter), Stairway Games unveiled what fans can expect from the upcoming 1.1 Patch which aims to significantly expand upon the game's underwater segments with new quests, characters, locations, and even a seabed farm.

The developer confirmed that the update will grant players the ability to romance Merfolk, something the community has long demanded, and spotlighted for new undersea characters: Rysy, Slamet, Jannu, and Tahat. Land seeds can now be mixed to create unique ocean crops that should pair well with a host of new underwater farm animals.

Related Does Coral Island's Underwater Puzzle Have A Solution? Coral Island players have struggled to solve the Underwater Puzzle since Early Access. It has no clear solution, but may hint at a future update.

Big Changes Also Apply To The Land

Coral Island Isn't Just For The Merfolk

Coral Island's 1.1 Update is generally focused on expanding the amount of content available underwater, but that doesn't mean those who prefer dry land have nothing to look forward to. Spouses will soon have unique dialogue to make the relationship feel a little more genuine, the decorating system has been overhauled to be more intuitive, and the library now expands with more books as players rank up the town. Finally, Stairway Games notes that it's making great strides in the game's multiplayer mode, confirming that it plans to show more about this system in mid-2024.

Coral Island's 1.1 Update is no doubt excellent news for fans of the game given that it's earned a reputation as being one of the best farming RPGs on the market. No doubt influenced by genre behemoth Stardew Valley, it's encouraging to see Stairway Games expanding upon the already excellent experience with a wealth of new content to flesh out some aspects of the game that certainly felt lacking in places. The studio has confirmed that it plans on releasing even more content patches in the future, suggesting Coral Island still has plenty of life in it.

Coral Island's massive 1.1 Update is currently slated to hit beta on May 20 whereafter Stairway Games will monitor its implementation and make certain tweaks where necessary. While the game is available on most modern consoles, Switch owners will need to wait a while longer to experience the life of an ocean farmer. While progress is steady, the studio has no new updates on the port's development.

Source: Stairway Games/X