Pocketpair Publishing is expanding its reach beyond Palworld with a new indie partnership, teaming up with Polish developer Karrot Games to co-publish Clicky Islands, an upcoming incremental city-builder planned for PC release on Steam in 2026.
Clicky Islands blends the satisfying pace of a clicker game with the long-term strategy of town building, automation, and resource management. Players take on the role of a governor chosen by the king and are tasked with transforming a procedurally generated island into a productive, thriving settlement.
At the start, progress depends on hands-on resource gathering. Players click to collect materials, build early structures, and establish the foundations of their island economy. As the settlement grows, the focus gradually shifts from manual work to automation. Units can be recruited to handle tasks, buildings can be upgraded, and production chains begin to run on their own, creating the familiar “just one more upgrade” loop that fans of incremental games often love.
Pocketpair Publishing will support Karrot Games with marketing, quality assurance, and localization. The company will also help bring Clicky Islands to a wider audience across Asia, a key region that the small two-person studio said would be difficult to reach without outside support.
John Buckley, head of communications and publishing at Pocketpair, described Clicky Islands as an addictive mix of clicker gameplay, automation, incremental progression, and town-building strategy. The partnership highlights Pocketpair’s growing interest in supporting independent developers while continuing work on its own projects.
One of the key features in Clicky Islands is its meta-progression system. Progress carries over between runs through a permanent skill tree powered by reputation earned during gameplay. Players can unlock perks that improve resource income, reveal treasure markers, and make future island development more efficient.
The game also includes an artifact system tied to fossils found in island ruins. These artifacts are now organized by rarity, making it easier for players to browse and manage their discoveries. This gives exploration and long-term progression a stronger sense of reward, especially for players who enjoy collecting and optimizing.
Karrot Games has also updated the free Steam demo with several important improvements. The demo now includes Japanese, simplified Chinese, and traditional Chinese language support, making the game more accessible to players across multiple regions.
The update also refines building and road placement, helping players design cleaner and more efficient settlements. A new island comfort system has been added as well, tracking the average comfort level of the island and granting passive bonuses to worker units. The more comfortable the island becomes, the better the rewards players can earn.
Another new addition is the blessings system. This feature gives players a choice between randomly drawn boosts that can improve either the island itself or its units, adding more variety and strategic decision-making to each run.
Clicky Islands is currently scheduled for a full PC launch in 2026. While the final release date and price have not been announced, the free demo has already received a Very Positive user rating on Steam, suggesting early players are responding well to its mix of relaxing automation, incremental growth, and cozy city-building gameplay.
For fans of automation games, incremental clickers, and settlement builders, Clicky Islands looks like a promising indie title to watch. Its combination of hands-on progress, expanding production loops, permanent upgrades, and charming island management could make it one of the more interesting city-building games arriving in 2026.
