I'm writing this for EA version of the game, so if dealing with unfinished product is not your thing - stay away for now and wait for a full-game release.
Getting this out of the way from the start - let's see what we have so far.
Another Stardew Valley / Harvest Moon clone?
Yes... an no.
Coral Island has enough uniqueness to stand on its own in farming sims genre, but enough similarities so not to feel lost going in blind.
3D is a nice twist for me, other people will feel more in their element with this. Anyway - looks good.
Visuals are awesome, music is very nice (I keep humming along the main theme through the day). Story - enough is there already to keep player interested in getting to know more, and there's a promise of fleshing it out in the future.
Gameplay - very, very familiar in its basic elements, but with some new things thrown in here and there. You get to clear the land, plant, tend, and harvest your crops, raise animals, fish, mine, also - catch bugs and critters, and clear trash. Yes, there's an environmental awareness message tied in, and some people will find the way it's done somewhat (or very) controversial - I don't mind bad guys painted dark as coal in games.
A lot of areas to explore, tons of activities to do - you will find that days in-game are going too fast, even when you put it in "slo-mo".
As for NPCs interactions and dating aspect of it - did I say already about amazing visuals? Same goes for this part. Everybody is absolutely lovely and dateable (and many non-dateable) characters are just plain gorgeous. And selection is just delectable. Who needs Sims when you have THAT?
Now to the negatives...
Bugs, tons of bugs. And glitches. Also typos and other minor and glaring linguistic errors that even I (as a not-native English speaker who makes a lot of mistakes myself) find off-putting at times. I encountered game-breaking bugs once or twice, had to start another save 1 time and just restart the day here and there. Some other people have different experience.
A lot of features are not fleshed out, some are just hinted at. So many areas are not done yet, some are there to walk in - but just empty. Often you have no idea (without asking community) if something is not there yet, or not working properly, or something else entirely. Some aspects of the game (like fishing and catching bugs) are just frustratingly difficult at times in current state for people who don't have lightning reflexes or have older computers (or both). Missing textures, memory leaks, loading issues, stuttering here and there... But a lot of it is expected when you dealing with Early Access, and from what I see - developers are working on the game diligently, so hopefully all that will be dealt with in time.
So - bottom line.
Would I recommend this game - yes, even in its current state.
I've got over a 100 hours of play time out of it already, and there's a promise of more fun to come. And the price is not too big for what we have now, with (again, hopefully) a bigger and better product in the future.
This game has a lot of potential, and I would like to see how it will turns out at full release.
But remember - Early Access is not a full game, and not polished game.
If you are ready to deal with current (and possible surfacing) issues - go ahead. If not - wait.
If you get in - you also can have a say in how Coral Island will look and work in the future. Developers do listen to the community, so it's a chance for you to participate and make your voice heard.
I will definitely play more with new updates (not saying that I'm putting it off a the moment!), and very eager to see Coral Island's full release.

P.S. I did get the game as a gift from one of my friends - so here's a BIG THANKS to this awesome person - you know who you are! <3

I'm writing this for EA version of the game, so if dealing with unfinished product is not your thing - stay away for now and wait for a full-game release. Getting this out of the way from the start - let's see what we have so far. Another Stardew Valley / Harvest Moon clone? Yes... an no. Coral Island has enough uniqueness to stand on its own in farming sims genre, but enough similarities so not to feel lost going in blind. 3D is a nice twist for me, other people will feel more in their element with this. Anyway - looks good. Visuals are awesome, music is very nice (I keep humming along the main theme through the day). Story - enough is there already to keep player interested in getting to know more, and there's a promise of fleshing it out in the future. Gameplay - very, very familiar in its basic elements, but with some new things thrown in here and there. You get to clear the land, plant, tend, and harvest your crops, raise animals, fish, mine, also - catch bugs and critters, and clear trash. Yes, there's an environmental awareness message tied in, and some people will find the way it's done somewhat (or very) controversial - I don't mind bad guys painted dark as coal in games. A lot of areas to explore, tons of activities to do - you will find that days in-game are going too fast, even when you put it in "slo-mo". As for NPCs interactions and dating aspect of it - did I say already about amazing visuals? Same goes for this part. Everybody is absolutely [i]lovely[/i] and dateable (and many non-dateable) characters are just plain [b]gorgeous[/b]. And selection is just delectable. Who needs Sims when you have THAT? Now to the negatives... Bugs, tons of bugs. And glitches. Also typos and other minor and glaring linguistic errors that even I (as a not-native English speaker who makes a lot of mistakes myself) find off-putting at times. I encountered game-breaking bugs once or twice, had to start another save 1 time and just restart the day here and there. Some other people have different experience. A lot of features are not fleshed out, some are just hinted at. So many areas are not done yet, some are there to walk in - but just empty. Often you have no idea (without asking community) if something is not there yet, or not working properly, or something else entirely. Some aspects of the game (like fishing and catching bugs) are just frustratingly difficult at times in current state for people who don't have lightning reflexes or have older computers (or both). Missing textures, memory leaks, loading issues, stuttering here and there... But a lot of it is expected when you dealing with Early Access, and from what I see - developers are working on the game diligently, so hopefully all that will be dealt with in time. So - bottom line. Would I recommend this game - yes, even in its current state. I've got over a 100 hours of play time out of it already, and there's a promise of more fun to come. And the price is not too big for what we have now, with (again, hopefully) a bigger and better product in the future. This game has a lot of potential, and I would like to see how it will turns out at full release. But remember - Early Access is not a full game, and not polished game. If you are ready to deal with current (and possible surfacing) issues - go ahead. If not - wait. If you get in - you also can have a say in how Coral Island will look and work in the future. Developers do listen to the community, so it's a chance for you to participate and make your voice heard. I will definitely play more with new updates (not saying that I'm putting it off a the moment!), and very eager to see Coral Island's full release. P.S. I did get the game as a gift from one of my friends - so here's a BIG THANKS to this awesome person - you know who you are! <3