Glintseeker Island is an upcoming Steam game being developed by new studio Half Soup Labs. Based on its initial gameplay trailers and its Steam page, Glintseeker Island looks to be an intriguing blend of the relaxed exploration gameplay of Minecraft and the charming pixelated presentation of Stardew Valley.
Released just a little over a decade ago, Stardew Valley has quickly become one of the most influential video games of all time. Along with earning critical acclaim for its relaxing and accessible farming/social simulator gameplay, Stardew Valley‘s pixelated art style has gone on to be borrowed by countless indie games, especially those aiming to be given the title of ‘cozy.’ Glintseeker Island is the latest indie project to be inspired by Stardew Valley, but the beloved farming sim isn’t the upcoming Steam game’s only inspiration.
Glintseeker Island Merges Minecraft and Stardew Valley
First announced towards the end of 2024, Glintseeker Island is a top-down action-adventure game being developed by Half Soup Labs and published by Assemble Entertainment. On the game’s official Steam page, Glintseeker Island is described as a “singleplayer mining exploration adventure” in which players explore procedurally generated underground caves to uncover precious artifacts and treasures that they can then sell to earn cash or use to upgrade their tools.
What’s That Weapon?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)
Glintseeker Island‘s Steam page directly states that the game will take players “on a similar journey” to exploring the caves in Stardew Valley. On top of (presumably) using Stardew Valley‘s cave gameplay as its basis, Glintseeker Island seems to be taking quite a bit of inspiration from Stardew Valley‘s iconic art style, with the upcoming action-adventure game featuring deliberately-pixelated character models and environments.
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Image via Assemble Entertainment -
Image via Assemble Entertainment -
Image via Assemble Entertainment
Though it doesn’t state it as overtly, Glintseeker Island may also be drawing from games like Minecraft, with its core gameplay loop revolving around underground exploration and the mining of valuable resources. That said, Glintseeker Island has some distinct mechanics of its own. Perhaps its most unique feature is its mining minigame, which sees players clicking on a cave wall to unearth treasures and carefully excavate them. These treasures are then stored in the player’s backpack, which takes on the form of a Resident Evil-like inventory system where each item takes up specific space in the backpack based on its size.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
Easy (5)Medium (7)Hard (10)
While mining and exploration appear to take up the bulk of Glintseeker Island‘s gameplay loop, the game does feature top-down combat. Players can find new hammers strewn throughout the game that can be used for mining and during combat. A risk/reward system is also at the heart of Glintseeker Island, with players needing to decide if they’re going to leave a cave with their loot or risk facing off against the boss that awaits on the 10th floor. A demo for Glintseeker Island is available right now on Steam, with a full release currently planned for 2027.
- Released
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February 26, 2016
- ESRB
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Everyone 10+ / Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood, Mild Language, Simulated Gambling, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco
- Developer(s)
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ConcernedApe
- Publisher(s)
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ConcernedApe