Solarpunk (Xbox Series X/S) - Review

Solarpunk arrives on Xbox as a handcrafted, two‑dev passion project that leans hard into the cosy, sustainable future its name promises. Floating islands, solar panels, wind turbines, pigs that dig up truffles if you treat them nicely… it’s the kind of game that wants you to breathe out, slow down, and build something beautiful in the sky. But while the vibe is immaculate, the experience isn’t always as breezy as the windmills suggest.

The core loop is simple and soothing: You start on a tiny island, gather resources, plant crops, craft gadgets, and gradually turn your little patch of sky into a self‑sustaining eco‑paradise. Building is the star of the show, the tools are flexible, the decorations plentiful, and the freedom to create cosy spaces is genuinely delightful. If you’re the kind of player who loses hours to base‑building, Solarpunk gives you a canvas that feels endless.

The Xbox version runs smoothly at 60fps+, and visually it’s bright, clean, and inviting. It’s not pushing the hardware, but it doesn’t need to. The aesthetic is all about warmth and optimism, and it nails that.

Solarpunk’s big hook is its renewable‑energy‑driven automation. You generate power using sunlight and wind, store it in batteries, and wirelessly distribute it to drones, pumps, and crafting stations. When it works, it’s satisfying with a little eco‑factory humming away while you decorate your rooftop greenhouse.

But I will say that the early game is slow. You’re often waiting for cotton to grow so you can unlock the next research tier, and progress can feel bottlenecked in ways that don’t match the game’s otherwise relaxed tone. The automation is lovely once it’s rolling, but getting there can feel like you’re stuck in a queue at a solar‑powered DMV.

Solarpunk’s approach to animals is sweet: no exploitation, only symbiosis. Pigs dig truffles, birds help with seeds, and everything feels gentle and intentional. Farming is straightforward, leaning more cosy than complex, and it fits the game’s ethos perfectly.

If you’re coming from Stardew, My Time at Portia, or even Lightyear Frontier, this is a simpler, slower take, but it's still charming.

Taking to the skies in Solarpunk is one of its most ambitious ideas: you build your own airship, patch it together piece by piece, and use it to hop between floating islands in search of new materials and biomes. It’s a lovely concept, a kind of gentle sky‑sailing that fits perfectly with the game’s optimistic world.

In practice, the early hours of airship travel can feel a little wobbly. Steering takes some getting used to, and the ship doesn’t initially handle with the smooth, breezy confidence its aesthetic suggests. Once you upgrade the engines and stabilisers, the whole thing becomes far more enjoyable, turning exploration into a relaxed glide rather than a clumsy drift. When it clicks, it’s genuinely satisfying: drifting between islands, spotting new resources from above, and expanding your little eco‑empire one sky‑stop at a time.

Solarpunk works whether you’re pottering around alone or sharing the sky with friends, but the feel of the game shifts depending on how many hands are on deck. Solo play is quiet, methodical, and almost meditative, you set your own pace, build your own routines, and let the world unfold without interruption. Co‑op, meanwhile, turns the same systems into a relaxed communal project. With two or more players, the island fills with little moments of shared problem‑solving: someone tending crops while another tweaks the power grid, someone decorating while another experiments with drones.

It’s not chaotic in the Overcooked sense; it’s more like a cosy workshop where everyone contributes to the same floating home. Both modes are fully supported, and both feel good, it just depends whether you want a peaceful solo retreat or a gentle, collaborative sky‑sandbox.

Pros

• Gorgeous, optimistic floating‑island aesthetic

• Relaxed, cosy survival loop

• Flexible, expressive building tools

• Renewable‑energy systems are fun once established

• Great co‑op experience

• Smooth performance on Xbox

Cons

• Early game progression is very slow

• Airship controls feel clunky

• Some systems lack depth

• Occasional progress bottlenecks

• Not much narrative or long‑term structure

Solarpunk is a gentle, hopeful survival sandbox that’s easy to love but occasionally hard to stick with. When you’re decorating your sky home, watching drones zip around, and seeing your solar grid hum to life, it’s genuinely magical. But the slow early progression and clunky exploration hold it back from greatness.

If you want a cosy, creative space to unwind, especially with friends then Solarpunk is a warm, sustainable hug of a game. If you’re looking for deeper survival mechanics or a more dynamic world, you may find yourself wishing this had launched in Early Access instead.

XPN Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (SILVER)

Solarpunk is available now!