One of the most popular parts of any farm or life simulation game is the romance and the interaction with the other villagers in their new home. Friendship and love are usually obtained by interacting with NPCs and giving them gifts, and this is also true on Coral Island. But in order to give the best presents to everyone, players will first need to learn everyone’s preferences.

How Friendship and Love Work On Coral Island

Friendship and love are both driven by the same scale, which is called the Heart Gauge in Coral Island. The more an NPC’s hidden gauge is filled up, the closer friends they will become with the player. Also, the Heart Gauge will occasionally unlock unique friendship-only events while players are wandering around town. These are things like a simple stretch with one of Coral Island’s romanceable characters Noah and his mother to being able to marry and have children with an NPC.

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In order to give someone a gift, players need to walk up to them with the item in their hot bar. Select the item to hold it, then right-click on the character. If a weapon, tool, or other non-giftable item is selected, players will talk to the NPC, but if an item is selected, that item will be given as a gift. This means that players cannot gift an item in their Coral Island inventory without moving it to the hotbar first.

Giving the Worst Gifts

While chatting with the neighbors and attending events during the year will get players closer to all the NPCs in this Stardew Valley-inspired game, the fastest way to get someone to be better friends is to give gifts. There are some rules to gift giving, however, and one of the most important is universal dislikes. Players should avoid giving these as gifts to anyone at anytime.

Artifacts Anything found on the beach that is not a shell Bait Bugs Building materials Canola oil Cotton Crafting materials Explosives Failed dishes Farm decor and equipment Fertilizer and compost Fish Fishing gear, bait, and rods Fossils Geodes Grass Hay Kelp Kelp essence Metal bars and ore (with some exceptions for the blacksmiths) Seeds Trash Wheat flour

Giving the Best Gifts on Coral Island

There are a handful of items in the Kickstarter success called Coral Island that are almost universally loved by everyone in town with minimal exceptions. These items can be given to anyone at any time and earn the player a good section of the heart meter without having to worry too much if the NPC will love it or not.

Black rose. Everyone except Noah love this color of rose. Pink Diamond. Everyone except Jim loves this color of diamond. Rainbow wool.

Best Gifts for Coral Island’s Dateable Characters

The best way to figure out what kind of gifts an NPC might love is to chat with them every day. The characters of the Animal Crossing-like Coral Island have no problems stating their likes and dislikes out loud. Players just need to listen; for example, Mark often talks about his love of tomato soup when he’s not talking about the shelter animals he cares for. Here are a couple of items, on top of the universal likes, that players can get for each romanceable character in Coral Island.

Aaliyah - Chocolate Chip Muffin, Eggplant, Eggplant Lasagna, Hummus, Lasagna, Luwak Coffee, Strawberry, White Hibiscus Alice - Almond Oil, Dye, Green Smoothie, Minced Jackfruit Pie, Olive Oil Ben - Banana, Green Tea, Mushrooms Chaem - Basil Pesto Pasta, Gnocchi, Pizza, Seafood Ramen, Veggie Ramen Charles - Blueberry, Burrito, Cookies, Diamond, Falafel, Ginger, Strawberry Eva - Cookies, Diamonds, Orchids, Peony, Red Velvet Cake Kenny - Green Tea, Hash browns, Lychee, Kombucha, Roasted Almonds, Soybean, Vegan Taco Leah - Hot Chocolate, Pearls Luke - Butter Croissant, Eggplant Lasagna, Ratatouille, Tomato Soup, Stew, Wine Macy - Blue Quartz, Fruit Tart, Guacamole, Pizza, Rose Quartz, Wine Mark - Egg Custard, Hot Chocolate, Shiitake Mushrooms, Tomato Soup Millie - Assorted Grilled Platter, Melon, Olives, Sugarcane, Seafood Ramen, Vegetable Ramen Nina - Banana Fritter, Flower Bouquets, Fruit Juice, Yogurt Noah - Clam Chowder, Durian, Gnocchi, Roasted Mushroom, Sunny-side up Eggs, Sushi Pablo - Cauliflower Casserole, Fried Rice, Pizza, Pumpkin Pie, Sweet Potato Poutine Rafael - Fruit Juice, Onyx, Sashimi Raj - Apple Pie, Coffee, Coffee Bean, Donut, Green Tea, Luwak Coffee, Luwak Coffee Beans, Tea Leaf Scott - Egg Custard, Falafel, Geode, Giant Stingray, King Red Arowana, Mayonnaise, Yellow Moray Eel Suki - Diamond, Green Smoothie, Minced Jackfruit Pie, Pearl Surya - Herbed Tempeh, Lodeh, Melon, Pufferfish, Wild Mushroom Polenta Theo - Bamboo Shoot, Coconut Drink, Fish Taco, Fruit Juice, King Red Arowana, Whole Coconut Drink, Whole Coconut Milk, Yellow Moray Eel Wakuu - Cenil, Chocolate Chip Muffin, Mango, Salmon, Vegan Taco Yuri - Chocolate Chip Muffin, Fish Sandwich, Frogfish, Green Curry, Lobster, Red Curry, Spicy Sauerkraut Zarah - Azurite, Grilled Fish, Hummus, Rambutan, Serpentine

Best Gifts for Coral Island’s Friendship-Only Characters

While players cannot romance these characters, they may still want to get close to them in order to witness their events and have some great friends around the island. Thankfully, many of these giftable items are either inexpensive, easy to make at home, or one of the many crops Coral Island players should be growing anyway.

Anne - Carrot, Fruit Juice, Fried Tempeh, Green Tea, Hummus, Kimchi, Sunflower Antonio - Coffee, Serabi Archie - Basil Pesto Pasta, Burrito, Fish Taco, Gems (all), Ice Cream, Pumpkin, Rock Betty - Cauliflower, Daffodil, Green Tea, Red Velvet Cake Bree - Fish Taco, Jackfruit, Vegan Taco Connor - Bok Choy, Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, Sake, White Truffle Oil Dinda - Fresh Salad, Flower Bouquet, Melon, Pearl Dippa - Beet, Hash browns, Hawaiian Pizza, Morel, Radish Eleanor - Birdwing Butterfly, Firefly, Green Tea, Lychee, Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly, Puss Moth, Spicebush Swallowtail Butterfly Emily - Almond Oil, Assorted Grilled Platter, Olive Oil, Sautéed Chard Emma - Coffee, Cotton Cloth, Fish Taco, Green Tea, Hot Cocoa, Pineapple, Pumpkin, Shells (all), Upside-Down Cake, Vegan Taco Erika - Cane Nectar, Jam, Iris, Pepper and Mushroom Flatbread, Red Curry Frank - Avocado, Bell Pepper, Fruit Juice, Hot Pepper, Pancakes, Roasted Almond, Sunny-Side Up Eggs Jack - Artichoke, Fruit Tart, Kimchi, Lettuce Jim - Sashimi, Seafood Ramen, Shiitake Mushroom, Sushi, Wasabi Joko - Banana Fritter, Coffee, Edamame, Fried Rice, Pineapple, Sautéed Chard, Yogurt Kira - Flower Bouquets, Orchid, Osmium Bar Lily - Bonsai, Cheese, Kimchi, Omurice, Onigiri, Spring Frittata, Sunflower, Taro Root, Wine Ling - Silver Kelp, Spring Frittata Oliver - Basil Pesto Pasta, Ice Cream, Seafood, Ramen, Smoked Salmon Paul - Chestnuts, Hummus, Strawberry Randy - Apple, Coffee, Lobster, Wine Sam - Black Truffle, Blueberry, Cactus, Fruit Juice, Fruit Tart, Jackfruit, White Truffle Sunny - Roasted Mushroom Takeba - Bambo Shoot, Green Tea Valentina - Basil Pesto Pasta, Fish Taco, Green Curry, Hot Chocolate, Pumpkin Pie, Red Curry, Starfruit Walter - Carrot, Sake, Sweet Potato Wataru - Angelfish, Black Phantom Ghost Fish, Catfish, Mandarin, Pufferfish, Rainbow Fish Zoe - Cookies, Fruit Juice, Ice Cream

Sadly, Coral Island players cannot yet give any of the animals on the island any presents. There are four friendly critters that hang out around town, including the cats Butter and Peanut, as well as two dogs named Taco and Bon Bon.

Coral Island is available for PC, PC Game Pass, and coming soon to Nintendo Switch.

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Source: Kickstarter, Coral Island Official, Wiki, Official Art Tumbler