Why Early Access?

“Strange Island is a project by a small independent team, now in its third year of development. We want to continue developing it with players involved, gathering feedback on the existing gameplay systems and island exploration.

The current version lets players freely explore the island, interact with their surroundings, find items, and learn about the story through the protagonist’s thoughts. However, the story and some of the planned features are still in development.

Early Access will help us better understand whether the hints in the journal are clear, whether interacting with objects feels intuitive, where players encounter difficulties, and how they experience the pace of exploration and storytelling. Bug reports will also help us identify technical issues.

We plan to use this feedback to refine existing systems, develop the story, and set priorities for updates. We want to take players’ experiences into account during development, while there is still room to make meaningful changes to the game.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“Our current estimate is that the Early Access phase could last between one and two years.

This is an approximate timeframe. The duration will depend on the pace of development, the scope of future updates, and the changes made in response to player feedback. We plan to revise this estimate as the project develops.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“The main goal of further development is to expand and complete the nonlinear story of Strange Island. We plan to gradually add new story events, different ways for them to unfold, and multiple endings.

We also plan to expand the world by adding new locations, including underground areas, new interactive objects, and more ways to interact with existing ones. Planned gameplay mechanics include interactions involving blinking and closing your eyes.

Strange Island is primarily built around exploration and story. The narrative unfolds through exploring the island, interacting with the environment, making choices, observing details, and trying to understand what is happening. We do not plan to make combat a core part of the gameplay.

For the full version, our goal is to present a complete nonlinear story, expand the opportunities for exploration, and make interaction with the game world more varied.

This is our current development plan. The selection of individual features and the order in which they are added may be adjusted based on implementation results and player feedback.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The current version of Strange Island already includes an open world of about 9 km², including the surrounding waters. The main explorable area of the island and nearby waters covers around 3 km². Players can freely explore the island, swim, and dive.

The island features several natural environments: beaches, tropical forest, temperate European forest, pine-covered areas, and highlands. There is also a lake, along with lagoons, coastal cliffs, various buildings, and unusual structures. Players can find and collect items in the environment, including fruit, mushrooms, and coconuts, and encounter birds, spiders, butterflies, and flies.

One of the most detailed locations is a large multi-story house with a basement and attic. Players can interact with doors, cabinets, drawers, curtains, lights, and other objects inside. More complex interactive systems are also functional, including a computer, televisions, a video player, and a telephone. Some of these systems are currently only partially integrated into the story.

Instead of a traditional quest system, Strange Island uses the protagonist’s thoughts. As the player explores the world, finds items, and encounters different events, the character records his thoughts in a journal, sometimes accompanying the entries with illustrations. These thoughts may contain hints about what to do next, but usually do not give direct instructions. The game also includes small side events and tasks that unfold through the environment and the protagonist’s own comments.

The protagonist comments on events and some of his actions. The current version uses temporary voice-over based on a recording by one of the developers and processed with AI. We plan to replace it with performances by voice actors in the future.

The game also already includes a full inventory system, manual saving and loading, an object interaction system, and several first-person cutscenes, including waking up on the beach, entering the house, and other story scenes.

The story is not yet complete. Character death is not currently part of the game. The main focus is on exploration, interaction with the environment, and gradually uncovering what is happening.”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“We plan to gradually increase the price of Strange Island as the project develops and new content, storylines, and gameplay features are added.

The final price of the full version has not yet been determined, but we expect it to be higher than the Early Access price.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“We plan to gather feedback through Steam reviews and discussions, including bug reports and suggestions in the Strange Island community.

We are particularly interested in players’ impressions of exploring the island, the clarity of journal hints, interacting with objects, the usability of the controls, and the way the story comes across.

Player feedback will help us identify issues, better understand which parts of the game work well and which need improvement, and set priorities for updates.

The main direction of the story and the overall concept of Strange Island are already defined. However, feedback may influence how hints are presented, the pace of the narrative, the usability of gameplay systems, and the ways players interact with the environment.”