As enthralling as sprawling, photorealistic open-world RPGs can be, thereâs something so soothing about playing a pixel-art take on the genre that echoes back to the classics of yesteryear.
Itâs a delight to see that developers are still tapping into the formula popularised by early entries of The Legend of Zelda or Final Fantasy.
Thatâs precisely what Half Soup Labs has done with its upcoming 2027 release, Glintseeker Island, which has just dropped a free taster on PC storefront Steam.
This single-player RPG adventure sees you take on the role of a miner who ventures into a cave network in search of both ancient treasures and artefacts.
âBring your excavated loot safely back to the surface and sell them to the local merchant, or use them to upgrade and enhance your hammers with gemstones at the blacksmith,â reads the synopsis.
âRest assured, you will need all the help you can get to uncover the island’s long-buried secrets and overcome a mysterious threat from below!â
The game almost asks the question, âWhat if Stardew Valley was an RPG?â as devs note, âIf you loved the caves in Stardew Valley, Glintseeker Island takes you on a similar journey.â
Youâll have a variety of mining tools at your disposal, and you must pick the right tool for the job if you donât want to break or damage the treasures youâre unearthing.
The type of tool needed is typically determined by whatever rock type youâre digging through, as they have âvarying hardnessâ.
âBeware, with each hammer hit, the wall loses stability and gets closer to collapse,â devs note.
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You wonât immediately begin with every hammer you require. The further players progress, the more tools theyâll acquire, with many boasting unique special abilities.
Thereâs also a mining minigame to enjoy, varied biomes to explore and, of course, plenty of dangers.
These mines are by no means uninhabited, with players having to face off against challenging bosses, and some puzzles are also positioned to get in the way of your progression.
Such challenges are spaced 10 floors apart, so you wonât constantly be harassed by obstacles.
As for what type of enemies youâll face, your mining endeavours will disturb ancient guardians who are basically big olâ rock creatures that wouldnât look too out of place in a Studio Ghibli film.
Thereâs plenty of fun to be had above the surface, too. Glintseeker Island tasks you with restoring the village you call home, managing your storage, and upgrading your humble abode.
Perhaps most importantly, thereâs a sweet little dog called Shadow that, yes, you can pet.
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Thereâs an extensive demo available with 15 floors to explore
Glintseeker Island is currently only scheduled to land on Steam, and it hasnât set a release date beyond the vague promise of 2027.
It has, however, dropped a free demo that all Steam users can try and enjoy now.
The demo shows where the project is after three years in development, granting access to two of the gameâs biomes.
Youâll be able to explore 15 cave floors, fight âthe Golem in a clever boss battleâ, dig up rare artefacts, fossils, and gemstones, unlock and upgrade eight hammers, upgrade your backpack, smelt ingots, crack open geodes, complete eight village repair quests, unlock eight capes with unique effects, solve various puzzles, and hang out with Shadow.
Yes, thatâs all in the free demo. One of the fossils you can find is a demo-exclusive, the Soup Fossil, with a 0.2% drop chance.
Save files will not carry over to the full release, but thatâs okay, as Glintseeker Island is quite a way off, so itâll probably be nice to start afresh in 2027. This is not one to miss.
