This guest post is written by Katya Ryabova.

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“Young Suns” by the Montréal-based studio KO_OP released into the Xbox Game Preview on November 25, 2025, quietly and with nary a peep in advance. The reveal was a lovely surprise for cozy games freaks like me who got a new shiny toy dropped on their lap with no warning right before the holidays.

Positioned as a life sim that will be developed and grow with the players, “Young Suns” is vibrant, warm, and sets an optimistic tone right off the bat. There is already an extensive character creator, dozens of NPCs with unique backstories and dialogue, decoration options for your spaceship, cute graphics, and…

Hold on a second, did I really say “spaceship”?

Sure did! “Young Suns” takes place on Jupiter, “in an optimistic alternative future,” where your character is on a mission to help build the burgeoning community, make a home of their own, find friendship, and maybe, eventually, even love. The current game mechanics include piloting the ship around the planetary system, collecting resources, engaging NPCs in dialogue, and completing quick-time events to do small tasks.

Space stations are bustling with colorful characters, planetoids have all the resources you need, and tons of loot and junk piles are all over for you to rummage in. And rummage you shall. The first time my thick-booty character jumped into a junk pile was the moment I fell in love with “Young Suns”.

“We wanted to create a subverted space environment that was welcoming rather than cold and engineering-focused,” says Saleem Dabbous, a producer on “Young Suns”. “We want players to feel a sense of hope and optimism, especially when our story and quest content releases. So much of fiction shows collapse and upheaval, but very little of it focuses on what comes after.”

“Young Suns” was conceived as a narrative-driven experience. One of the clearest influences on the developers was “Animal Crossing,” but Dabbous admits that the lack of an actual story in the popular Nintendo cozy title was a barrier. The team set out to combine the magic of “Animal Crossing” with their own “narrative flavor” and make “Young Suns” into something to stand on its own.

Being in early access, the game does not have story quests implemented yet, but they’re an important milestone on the roadmap that will be coming very soon. Dabbous teases mediation quests, community quests, eight in-universe factions, and lots of world-building, a taste of which you can already get from the NPC dialogue that’s lovingly written and varies day to day.

“The story of “Young Suns” isn’t one overarching story but rather a series of [stories] that center around groups of characters in the world and their interpersonal dynamics. There’s an outward design that starts with the individual and expands outwards from there.”

In its current early-access state, the game has a mandatory tutorial, whose completion opens up the game world and lets the player explore the Jovian system, collect resources to craft tools, make various repairs on inhabited bases, and meet and interact with NPCs. Completing the tutorial also unlocks the co-op mode, where up to 4 players can play together online. (Single-player adepts shouldn’t worry, though, as “Young Suns” is just as fun to play on your own.)

Overall, “Young Suns” is a welcome chill, unhurried experience based on exploration and interaction, with a touch of cozy grinding (if you’re into that sort of thing). It’s the perfect game to escape into for a few hours and get a taste of what life in space could be like, if it were reimagined as peaceful and cooperative. Focusing on portraying a better world built on mutual aid and community collaboration is certainly the big end goal for the developers.

“Young Suns” is currently only available on Xbox Game Preview, but a PC release is planned.

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Image credit: “Young Suns,” KO_OP