Cupid Island Impressions – Love is in the Air

One of the many demos featured at Steam’s Next Fest that I had the chance to play was Supernova Game’s upcoming title, Cupid Island, where you assume the role of an anxious Cupid who has recently started residing on the titular island.

At the start of Cupid Island, you can customize both your Cupid and the island’s name and appearance to your liking. However, your primary goal is to collect love from blossoming human relationships to sustain the world of Angels. You achieve this with your trusty Cupid’s arrow and the assistance of your new angelic friend, Graciel, who lends a hand whenever possible.

The game was easy for me to get the hang of, and it boasts a laid-back, dreamlike atmosphere on Cupid Island itself. Although I only explored a small section of the island in the demo, with the only other accessible area being a park in the human world where you can use your arrows to foster relationships once it’s unlocked. The game promises more locations to visit in the future, and within the two small areas I explored, I quickly accumulated a handful of quests with the encouragement of Graciel and my Cupid’s boss, Aria.

“Cupid Island’s” primary focus is venturing into the Human World to forge new relationships. Once you manage to bring two people together, you have the opportunity to use your arrow to collect a “relationseed.” You can then take this back to your island to have the couple move in. This often entails solving a small puzzle to unite the couple, like using a signpost to bring them closer.

After the couple has moved to the island, you must nurture their relationship by giving them gifts, suggesting date spots on Cupid Island, or helping them fulfill various requests, such as finding them employment or entertainment venues. This also gives your Cupid the chance to collect the couple’s love as well as various other emotions, like joy or care. The more a couple’s relationship flourishes, the more emotions you can collect, allowing you to purchase various items to customize your island, such as tiles and decorations.

During your free time, you can clear out branches or bushes to make room for additional buildings on Cupid Island, like houses for new couples to move into or new stores where you can purchase tools or food to replenish your Cupid’s energy.

You can also go fishing at the nearby lake and create gardens for various couples. Fishing, as I found when I tried it after unlocking the fishing rod, isn’t particularly challenging; it was a simple click for me, and I ended up catching a randomly selected fish from the small lake. Hopefully, the full release will offer more fishing-related activities.

One of the aspects I really enjoyed in “Cupid Island” was the extensive customization options. Not only could I personalize my own Cupid by selecting different dresses and clothes, but I also had the opportunity to customize each couple that moved to the island. It was refreshing to provide them with unique appearances, especially since they typically wore nearly identical clothing when they arrived on the island.

The customization process took me a few minutes to complete due to the multitude of ways to design your Cupid and each couple. However, it’s worth noting that clothing didn’t always appear correctly and sometimes seemed poorly placed. Nevertheless, I’m excited to see if there will be additional customization options in the full release, as it could potentially extend my playtime from a few minutes to a few hours.

Cupid Island shows promise as a charming village simulation game where you facilitate various couples. While character animations can appear somewhat rigid at times, and there are a few spelling errors in the dialogue, it’s easy to quickly become accustomed to the game’s cozy and heavenly atmosphere. If you’re seeking a respite from horror-related titles or demos during the month of October, “Cupid Island” offers a pleasant escape from intense scares. This demo swaps frights for the goal of collecting love from various couples.

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Cupid Island is coming to PC via Steam in January 2024.