Sunkissed City release date estimate, gameplay, and more

When is the Sunkissed City release date? Fans of life sims, particularly Stardew Valley, rejoice! A new life sim is on the way, created by a former member of the Stardew Valley team and set in a sunny city. Arthur Lee, who left Concerned Ape in June 2022, has been working on Sunkissed City ever since, and has revealed roughly when we can expect to move into our new home.

We love life games and farming sims here at PCGamesN, and given the popularity of the likes of games like Stardew Valley, so does the rest of the world. We're sure you're as excited as we are at the prospect of another pixelated world in which to settle down, work, life, and love. There's a lot to discover in Sunkissed City, so join us as we dive into details like the Sunkissed City release date, gameplay, and more.

Sunkissed City is scheduled to launch sometime in 2025 on PC, though a specific release window hasn't been given just yet. 

Posting on the Steam forums, Lee, the sole developer of the game, revealed that he is actively working on the game, but he doesn't feel confident to "cite a specific quarter just yet". You can find monthly updates on the game's progress on Lee's Bluesky profile.

Sunkissed City was officially revealed on January 25, 2024, on Lee's X profile (formerly known as Twitter). According to a post shared just a few days earlier, it seems the main things holding Lee back from the announcement were the name and logo for the game.

Sunkissed City gameplay

SSunkissed City offers the usual mechanics and gameplay we have come to expect from life sims like Stardew Valley. There's a story to uncover in Apollo City, the game's 'sunkissed' setting. As part of your new job, you're packed off to live in Apollo, but the bustling streets are rife with monsters, the wildlife is turning feral, and the residents are falling ill. While you explore, and live your life, you're also going to uncover the secrets held in this city.

Lee has revealed lots of footage over the development period so far, long before the game's reveal in January 2024. Many of the mechanics, characters, and seasonal systems can be found on Lee's X profile, dating back as far as July 2022, shortly after Lee left the Stardew Valley team.

While we couldn't possibly go through it all here, here are some of our favorite and most anticipated Sunkissed City features, starting with character customization. In one of Lee's earliest Sunkissed City posts, we can see just how many choices there are in the vast character customization screen.

Lee is incredibly vocal about his various inspirations in making Sunkissed City, with the Persona series among the first referenced. In a pivot from Stardew Valley-like character dialogue portraits, Lee decided to create large, animated sprites in an homage to the Persona games. The developer showed off the first of these in NPC Camille, albeit with placeholder dialogue.

While Sunkissed City takes place in a city, you can still farm using 'DIY gardens', utilizing planters to allow you to farm crops anywhere you want. The mechanic was first shown off in this post, but can be seen in other game clips, with planters casually placed around the city's buildings.

That's all there is to know about the Sunkissed City release date. This isn't the only game we're looking forward to, so check out our upcoming games list to discover more promising games. We can't write about Stardew Valley without acknowledging ConcernedApe's next project, as we're just as excited about the Haunted Chocolatier release date as we are to set foot on the shores of Apollo City.