Treasure chests in Starsand Island are not one list. Regular wooden chests sit in the open across the island — piers, shops, house corners, Flower Corridor, Bastrom Heights, Cloudrest Lake, and the small islands — and a second, larger set is hidden through the Moonlit Forest behind camps, bubbles, Gravestar puzzles, and bosses. NPC bedrooms add two more chests each after affection level 3: one unique furniture chest and one that returns every Monday. Extra chests come from gold-light parkour, treasure maps you hold to follow a golden arrow, random dig and tilling spots, and fishing. No official page publishes a live 1.0 total, and early-access counts disagree — so sweep by type and area with a map tracker, and check house interiors weekly, instead of chasing a single number.
On this page
The Moonlit Forest walkthrough is the route context for the forest chest sweep.
Chest Types
| Type | Where | How it appears | Repeatable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regular overworld chest | Island town, roads, piers, shops, islands | Sitting in the open, often beside houses or in corners | Treated as one-time |
| Moonlit Forest placed chest | Camps, ledges, waterfalls, bubbles, alcoves | Walk up, shoot the bubble, or solve a local puzzle | Mostly one-time; GameRant says boss and map chests repeat |
| Boss chest | Crystalith, Glintortle, Ruin Guard | Drops after the fight | Yes, each defeat (TheGamer / GameRant / TechRaptor) |
| Gravestar / puzzle chest | Forest gates, crystals, flower patches | Free Gravestars or solve the puzzle | One-time per puzzle |
| NPC bedroom pair | Resident houses after 3 hearts | Unique furniture chest + Monday respawn chest | Unique: once; weekly: every Monday |
| Gold-light parkour chest | Island rails, fences, playground, AquaBlue Outpost | Follow the moving gold/yellow light without touching the ground | One-time per spot in the guides that list them |
| Treasure-map buried chest | Mostly Moonlit Forest | Hold the map, follow the golden arrow, dig | Maps are random; GameRant says these chests can be farmed again |
| Random dig / till chest | Island and forest mounds; tilled farm soil | RNG; Farmer Workpedia Earth's Bounty raises the chance | Repeatable RNG |
| Fishing chest | Any fishing spot with Fisher's Gain / Braised Fish | Chance while reeling | Repeatable RNG |
| Flawed / Destroyed chest | Inventory item from maps, fishing, lakes | Bag → Use; storage box or coins | Item, not a world pin |
| Exploration Club quest chest | Staff Only yard beside Soluna Cafe | Copy the club's Mysterious Treasure Map, then tailgate staff or jump the fence | One quest chest |
Main Island Sweep
Regular overworld chests hold crafting blueprints, materials, seeds, and Coins (IGN). The spots below appear in both TheGamer's and Screen Hype's lists — the most cross-checked set available:
| Area | Location |
|---|---|
| Blue Beach | End of the pier |
| Windflute Island | Pier; swim from Blue Beach by the farm |
| Hopeland | Behind the farmhouse, by the broken Moonlit Forest door; also left of the bridge and at the bottom of the stairs |
| Flower Corridor | Pavilion / wooden structure; behind the projection screen |
| Green Meadow | Road north of the Exploration Club; across from the archery targets |
| Green Pasture Ranch | Back of the main ranch building |
| Town | Across from the General Store, other side of the wall |
| Soluna Cafe | Behind the upstairs cash register |
| Happiness Seed Shop | Kitchen, right of the cabinets |
| Ethereal Styles | Under the wood near the stairs |
| Sagewood | Grey outbuilding on the property |
| Cloudrest Lake | Southern pier; behind the north wall; hill to the north; pavilion east of the lake |
| Bastrom Heights | Right of the main temple; left of the pond; behind the stone tablet in the centre pavilion; outside Youfang's temple door; back of the highest temple; secret pavilion reached by jumping from the high temple |
| Panda House | By the large tree behind the house |
| Aureleaf Kitchen | Garden corner under the kitchen; right side behind the kitchen |
| Hot springs | Behind the building near Serena |
| Crane Cape | End of the pier; unmapped island by the lighthouse (swim or boat) |
| Half-Moon Bay | Pier by Marston; circular beach stall; behind the vending machines above the bay |
Screen Hype-only extras include the ranch entrance, a short pier west of Cloudrest Lake, the Panda House pods (the upper pod needs an ostrich with the Bouncy trait), stairs down onto Blue Beach sand, and behind the vending machines at Marlo's Morning Delights.
Moonlit Forest Sweep
Sources agree on the rules, not the total:
- Early path: a chest at the first camp, two under the giant purple mushrooms, and one on each side of the repaired waterfall bridge (Eurogamer, TheGamer, GameRant, Screen Hype).
- Gravestar gates: freeing three Gravestars opens a gate chest and often a second chest just beyond.
- Bosses: Crystalith drops a loot chest, and TechRaptor notes bosses block the path and drop a chest; GameRant treats the Crystalith, Glintortle, and Ruin Guard drops — plus treasure-map chests — as collectible again, unlike most one-time pins.
- Azure Bay: a chest on the higher rock by the wooden elevator (the Ruins Key chest — see below), and at least one floating bubble chest over the river that you shoot down with the slingshot.
- Later camps: Harvest Yard, Grain Haven (including an upstairs room with two chests), Darkwater Shore, Homeward Trail, Serenity's Rest, and Moonlight Meadow.
- Finale: the Ruin Guard chest at / after Moonlight Meadow.
NPC Room Chests
At 3 affection hearts you can enter a resident's bedroom and find two chests: one unique one-time furniture chest and one that respawns every in-game Monday. wiki.gg documents the rule on the Exploration Club and Aureleaf Kitchen pages; Screen Hype describes the weekly chest as blue-grey and refreshing with items you have already collected.
Screen Hype's confirmed roster covers 17 households — including Alex (above Lex's Woodworks), Aurelis (above Aureleaf Kitchen), Graminova (above the Happiness Seed Shop), Lunelle (above Ethereal Styles), Zephyria (above the Exploration Club), Zerine (stairs left of the General Store), and Youfang (main Bastrom Temple) — with Gust and Ginger only guessed. Doctor Fang and Nia arrive Autumn 1, year 1.
The Exploration Club side quest adds one more: copy the Mysterious Treasure Map on the left sideboard, then reach the chest in the Staff Only yard beside Soluna Cafe by tailgating staff or jumping the fence. A May 2026 comment on that guide says the Waverider hover skip was later patched — do not assume it still works.
Gold-light Parkour
Gold or yellow lights on rails, fences, bollards, and walls start a follow-the-light sequence: stay off the ground or the light resets, and a chest appears at the end. IGN, TheGamer, Screen Hype, and GameRant all describe this type. Screen Hype's published (work-in-progress) spots:
- Playground near the Community Centre — jump the slide through the light above it.
- Across from the Cafe — follow the light on the low wall at the top of the stairs, along the railing, past two concrete spheres.
- Railing above the beach / basketball court — start at the beach-stairs end and walk the railing to the court end.
- Pillars outside AquaBlue Outpost — pillar to pillar; empty hands recommended.
How many of these exist is unknown — Screen Hype marks its hidden-chest guide incomplete.
Treasure Maps, Digging, Fishing and Boss Chests
- Treasure maps: equip or hold the map and a golden arrow points to a dig spot, usually in the Moonlit Forest — the arrow can send you back to an earlier zone. Maps spawn randomly, often inside other chests, so dig spots are not a fixed pin list. GameRant says these chests can be farmed again.
- Digging and tilling: random mounds on the island and in the forest can hide chests. The Farmer Workpedia perk Earth's Bounty raises the chance of digging up a Common, then Uncommon, then Rare chest while tilling; a Steam guide reports tilled chests holding coins and sometimes Immortal Seeds.
- Fishing: the Angler Workpedia perk Fisher's Gain adds a chance to reel in a chest, and Braised Fish (Intermediate Angler Trial) applies the Underwater Treasure buff (30s, stacks to 5) for a chance at an extra fishing chest. Explorer's Victory Siphon adds a chance of double chests when digging treasure.
- Boss chests: Crystalith, Glintortle, and Ruin Guard each drop a chest, repeatable per defeat according to TheGamer, GameRant, and TechRaptor.
- Flawed / Destroyed chests from maps, fishing, or lakes must be opened with Use in the bag before they can be placed; results are either placeable storage or coins.
Bronze Gate Key Chest
One Moonlit Forest chest is progression-critical: the chest by the wooden elevator in the Azure Bay / Mural Valley river valley, near coal nodes and a glowing blue plant, holds one of the two Ruins Key halves needed for the Bronze Gate (the other comes from Zephyria's Intermediate Explorer quest). IGN labels it Ruins Key (R), but the Left/Right labels conflict across guides — the Bronze Gate guide explains the label dispute and the full route to the chest.
Why Counts Differ
No official page — store, official site, or wiki.gg — publishes a 1.0 chest total, and nearly every pin list is February 2026 early-access material.
This page is a static, scannable checklist by type and area. It does not save progress, does not promise 100% completion, and no interactive map is bundled here — community trackers such as Raider King, Hidden Gaming Lair, and the Wand maps are the practical way to mark what you have already looted.
FAQ
How many treasure chests are in Starsand Island?
How do NPC bedroom chests work?
What are the gold lights on rails and walls?
How do treasure maps work?
Do gathering robots collect treasure chests?
What are Flawed and Destroyed chests?
Sources
- PressEssential Beginner Tips and Tricks — IGN (Opens in a new window)
- PressAll treasure chest locations — TheGamer (Opens in a new window)
- PressAll treasure chest locations — Screen Hype (Opens in a new window)
- PressMoonlit Forest treasure chests — GameRant (Opens in a new window)
- Community WikiExploration Club — Starsand Island Wiki (wiki.gg) (Opens in a new window)
- Community WikiWorkpedia — Starsand Island Wiki (wiki.gg) (Opens in a new window)
- Player ReportRaider King interactive chest maps (community) (Opens in a new window)