Family Island Overview

Family Island drops a Stone Age family on a deserted island and hands you the job of rebuilding. Nearly everything you do out there, chopping, digging, clearing a path, costs energy.

Empty the bar and the island stops. Melsoft gives energy back several ways, and our Family Island free energy page walks through the ones the studio actually documents.

Today’s Family Island free energy

Newest first. Below that, what the game is, how energy works, and where the two stores flatly disagree.

What the game is

You look after a family of four: Bruce, Eva and their two kids. Melsoft gives them a backstory most farm games wouldn't bother with, which is that a volcanic eruption destroyed their old city.

So you start with nothing much and build up. The Play listing puts it as trying yourself in different roles, and names farmer, cook, explorer and trader among them.

Day to day that means harvesting crops, cooking meals from what you find, crafting goods to trade, decorating the village, and pushing out to new islands. There's no fighting anywhere in it.

How a session goes

1. Spend what's in the bar. Clearing trees, rocks and brush is what energy is for, so the bar decides how much ground you cover.

2. Carry the materials back. What you clear turns into the stuff you build and cook with.

3. Cook before you stop. Meals are how you get energy back, so leave something on the hearth.

4. Come back and feed everyone. Then spend the energy that came from the food.

The loop is short on purpose. You aren't meant to play this for an hour straight, and the energy bar makes sure you don't.

The energy system

Energy is what sets the pace, and the part people miss is that food is the main way to get it back. Melsoft spells that out itself.

You cook at the hearth or the cooking table, then open the Dinner Table and drag the meals into the free slots. Clicking the plate icon calls the family over to eat, and that's what turns dinner into energy.

Two messages come up a lot and both mean something specific. Dinner table full means every slot already has a dish in it, so feed the family before adding more. Everyone is full means they don't need feeding yet, so go spend some energy and come back.

Can you play it offline?

Melsoft's own App Store description calls Family Island a thrilling offline adventure game. That's the studio's word, and it's worth taking with some care.

The same studio runs a support article about seeing a message that you are not connected to the internet, with fixes for iPhone and Android. It also tells you to save your progress by going to settings, then My accounts, then Connect to Facebook.

Read together, those say the same thing: plenty of the game runs without a good connection, but events, saving and support need one. Don't count on a flight's worth of play.

Two stores, two answers

The same game, the same week, and the stores are further apart here than for most games we cover. Both are official.

Everyone against 16+ is a wide gap for a farming game. Apple is counting the loot boxes and the mild scares; Google isn't flagging either.

If you're deciding for a child, Apple's listing is the more cautious read. Google's much bigger review count makes its score the steadier one.

The studio publishes its odds

This is rare enough to point out. Melsoft puts the actual drop rates for its chests and card packs in the help center, broken down by pack and by card rarity, along with the dates the current collection runs.

The tables change every season, so the live ones are the only ones worth reading. They are in the Family Island help center, and they are worth a look before you spend on a pack.

Not the same as Travel Town

Moon Active runs several games that gate play behind an energy bar, and the one people mix this up with is Travel Town. Different game, different account, different rewards. Our Travel Town page is where that one's energy goes.

What it costs

Free to download and free to play. Google's listing carries both a Contains ads badge and an in-app purchases one.

Melsoft also states plainly in its store text that the game contains in-game purchases including randomized items. That's the loot boxes Apple flags, said in the studio's own words, and it's why the odds article above matters.

Neither store publishes a price range on this game's own listing, so the in-game shop is the only place with real numbers.

Common questions

Company: Melsoft Games Ltd, part of Moon Active
Official page: Family Island on Facebook
Platform: Android, iPhone, iPad
Status: Active

The Game Reward Community operates independently of Family Island or Melsoft. We provide a platform for players to list Free Energy.

For official game-related inquiries or support, please get in touch with the Family Island team through their help center. All trademarks and copyrights are acknowledged as the property of their respective owners.