Solarpunk Review: A Cozy Concept Held Back by Fiddly Systems

Solarpunk enters the crowded cozy game market with a clear, picturesque vision: a world of floating islands where renewable energy powers your homestead. Released in June 2026, it promises a relaxing experience defined by glass, wood, and brick architecture. While the aesthetic is undeniably top-tier, Solarpunk struggles to move past its own clunky mechanics, landing as a game that looks much better than it plays.

A Foundation Built on Tedium

The core loop of Solarpunk revolves around gathering basic resources—rocks, trees, and eventually cloth—to expand your island home. Progression is tied to a research table that unlocks new tiers of furniture and tools. When it works, it is charming; you feel like you are curating a small, sustainable paradise. However, the early game is marred by a hard cap on resource production. Because you cannot craft seeds early on, you are forced into a slow, repetitive grind just to gather the materials required for basic structures.

This frustration is compounded by a UI that feels like it belongs in an early access title. Navigating the stacked radial build menus is an exercise in patience. Even basic tasks like placing a foundation are unintuitive; you have to hold up on the D-pad and manipulate the analog stick just to adjust height, as the game lacks auto-snapping. Discovering shortcuts—like the RT + A combination for moving stacks—is rarely explained, leaving players to fumble through menus in silence.

The Airship Experience

The game’s namesake, the airship, is intended to be the gateway to further exploration, but it feels largely unnecessary. The first upgrade merely grants access to a tiny, secondary island that functions solely as a copper farm, which can be fully explored in under a minute. It takes significant resource investment to upgrade your airship's travel range to reach more substantial content, and until that point, the ship feels like a glorified, slow-moving fetch-quest tool rather than a sense of grand adventure.

Verdict

If you are the type of player who finds joy in the granular act of decorating a space, you might find something to love in the game’s furniture variety and cozy atmosphere. However, the restrictive progression, coupled with a lack of guidance and awkward controls, suggests that Solarpunk currently lacks the polish required for a broader audience.