My favorite cozy Xbox exclusive is getting a major update with improvements to co-op

Lightyear Frontier is an exomech farming simulator set in space.
Lightyear Frontier is an exomech farming simulator set in space. (Image credit: FRAME BREAK)

What you need to know

  • Lightyear Frontier is the debut title from Swedish game studio, FRAME BREAK, published by Amplifier Studios.
  • The game launched in Early Access in March 2024 as an Xbox console exclusive, as well as on Steam. It was a day-one addition to Xbox Game Pass.
  • The first update to Lightyear Frontier, titled Making It Home, is scheduled to add quality-of-life improvements and fan-requested features, on June 26.

Lightyear Frontier, a game about setting up a farming homestead on a foreign planet with the help of your buddies and some mech suits, is getting a fresh update next week. The update, dubbed "Making it Home", will add some fan-requested features to the open-world farming simulator along with some quality-of-life adjustments when it lands on Xbox and Steam on June 26. 

Lightyear Frontier Launch Trailer - YouTube Lightyear Frontier Launch Trailer - YouTube
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Lightyear Frontier was developed and published by Frame Break and Amplifier Games. The team has heard player feedback and is using that as a guide for the game's quality-of-life updates. Making It Home will add fan-requested features to Lightyear Frontier, such as new ways to customize and interact with farmsteads. New banners, posters, stickers, benches, lights, and more will be available to purchase from the merchant and craft. Players can also look forward to the addition of wall decorations, giving them the freedom to hang decorative items on solid surfaces. 

Co-op players who have struggled with the game's map can look forward to an all-new map marker system, making it easier than ever to explore. More than 1,000 stamps will be available between players on a single server, so you can feel free to mark all of your favorite resource spots, watering holes, and ruins. This is sure to come in handy when it comes to finding new foliage sprouts. You can also enjoy the extended daytime and shortened nighttime cycles so you can explore longer without fumbling around in the dark as you try to find your way back to the farm.

Lightyear Frontier's "Making It Home" update brings fan-requested features to the space farming adventure. (Image credit: FRAME BREAK)

Multiplayer fans can also look forward to a new emote system, usable both as an exofarmer or while in the mech suit. Wave, point, or make a heart emoji to show your pals how you really feel about their new homestead decor. Emotes can also be captured in photo mode, and paired with new stamps and frames. Additional quality-of-life improvements include auto collection for storage boxes and holograms, as well as the option to relocate existing structures without needing to demolish and rebuild them from scratch.

Frame Break has shared that more than 1 million unique players have taken to the homestead. Lightyear Frontier is available exclusively on Xbox consoles, the Microsoft Store for Windows PCs, and Steam. It currently sits with a "Mostly Positive" rating on Steam, despite still being in Early Access. You can read the Windows Central review of Lightyear Frontier to find out why I dubbed it "my dream co-op scenario." Lightyear Frontier is available to play now as part of an Xbox Game Pass subscription on console and PC.

Lightyear Frontier | $24.99

Lightyear Frontier | was $24.99 now $19.99 on Xbox

Suit up and hit the farmstead with your besties as exofarmers piloting giant mech suits looking for a new planet to call home. The Making It Home update lands June 26 with a host of quality-of-life adjustments and new features.

Buy now: $19.29 (CDKeys) | $24.99 (Steam)

Cole Martin
Writer

Cole is the resident Call of Duty know-it-all and indie game enthusiast for Windows Central. She's a lifelong artist with two decades of experience in digital painting, and she will happily talk your ear off about budget pen displays.