Coral Island is coming to Switch 2 this winter alongside the 1.4 Kids Grow Up update

Switch 2 this winter, no exact date

The announcement came during The MIX Fall Showcase alongside a trailer. On Switch 2, Coral Island can be played solo or with up to four players, and Stairway Games says there will be cross-play with supported platforms. The exact date will be announced closer to launch.

The game, a farming and life sim set on an island with a town to build up, neighbors to befriend and underwater areas to explore, is already available on PC (Steam), PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

What Kids Grow Up adds

Update 1.4 is free and centers on family life. Players who choose to have children will see them go through four stages: baby, toddler, school-age and teenager. At the school-age stage they’ll be roughly the same age as the town’s current children, such as Zoe.

As they grow, your children develop hobbies such as music, sports, baking or gaming, which shape their personalities as teenagers. Your spouse also gets new dialogue, interactions and cutscenes as a parent. One of those cutscenes is inspired by Tedak Siten, a Javanese tradition that celebrates a child’s first steps and which, the studio says, many of its developers grew up with.

Your own children won’t be the only ones growing up: the other kids in Starlet Town, including Archie, will become teenagers too, with new stories and interactions.

More in Update 1.4

The update adds controller vibration across platforms: HD Rumble on Switch 2, DualSense haptic feedback on PS5, Xbox Wireless Controller vibration on console and PC, and haptic feedback on Steam Deck. It also improves the interface, for example with a cooking recipe filter by buffs or by each villager’s gift preferences, and adds decorative fishing bobbers that are unlocked through Fishing Mastery and bought at the Beach Shack. Stairway Games also promises lighting and quality-of-life improvements that it will detail on launch day.

No version for the original Switch

The announcement also brings bad news for people who backed the game’s crowdfunding campaign on Nintendo Switch: due to “strict platform and performance limitations”, Coral Island won’t come to the original Switch. Those backers can get a Switch 2 key at no extra cost or, if they prefer, a Steam, PS5 or Xbox Series X|S key instead.

Stairway Games sent out a BackerKit survey on October 16 to choose a platform. Anyone who doesn’t reply by November 5 will receive a Steam key. Backers who want different platforms for extra copies bought as add-ons need to email the studio by the same date.