It’s been almost five years since Islanders gave cozy-game lovers a casually engaging city-building experience. Now, Coatsink has announced that a sequel, Islanders: New Shores, is coming to consoles and PC this summer. In the first-look video below, New Shores retains the appealing aspects of the first Islanders while teasing some of the new features that will be integrated into the gameplay.
As in the first game, New Shores allows players to develop cities and structures on a series of breathtakingly gorgeous islands and transform them as they see fit. Each level begins with a number of buildings at players’ disposal, but they also have consider where the structures should be placed in order to get the maximum amount of points during the stage. Earning those points allows additional buildings to be unlocked, which opens the door to even more options.
One of the new features introduced in New Shores is called boons. It’s a one-time power-up that’s unlocked on each stage as players collect points. Boons can allow players to perform some of the more difficult tasks in a single action, including the creation of duplicate buildings and the destruction of others to make way for something new. However, boons should be used sparingly, since some of the trickier levels may need them more than the earlier levels do.
New Shores is introducing an additional sandbox mode that has a save system that is separate from the high score mode. A photo mode has also been added to preserve players’ favorite creations or even just pictures of the beautiful islands themselves. To share the experience, Coatsink is adding Twitch integration to New Shores, as well as the option for viewers to vote on which buildings to pick.
Islanders: New Shores will be available on Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC. Beyond the Summer 2025 window, Coatsink hasn’t set a specific release date yet.