Songs of Glimmerwick is an upcoming story-driven witch academy RPG, which is developed by the indie studio "Eastshade Studios," set for PC release in 2026, with console versions to follow. The game places the players inside a woodland fantasy world called "Glimmerwick," which is a home to a famous university of magic, where the entire magic system is built around music — casting a spell means playing a song. Players take on the role of newly enrolled student at the "Etchery School of Magic and Melody," which is armed with a flute and a songbook.
The days are filled with attending magical classes, tending to a university botanical garden, forming friendships with richly written classmates and island townsfolk, and slowly uncovering a central mystery. The mystery is that the island's magical source is dying, the ancient forest is fading, and someone is responsible. The question of who is to blame drives the main narrative forward while dozens of smaller personal stories, festivals, curses, and seasonal events fill out an entire in-game year.
Songs of Glimmerwick doesn't confine spellcasting to a separate "action" system. Music is integrated into every layer of gameplay; players can use songs to till soil in the garden, summon rain clouds, speak with trees, enchant tools to work independently, and overcome environmental obstacles as they explore the island. On April 2, 2026, IGN shared new gameplay footage of Songs of Glimmerwick, describing it as "like Stardew Valley set in a Harry Potter-esque world."
A full "Practice Mode" also exists in this game, functioning like a rhythm game where players must hit inputs at the correct moment to cast the spell at full power, adding an optional layer of skill to an otherwise relaxing experience. The game's art style is a hand-drawn and hand-painted, giving every scene the warmth of an illustrated storybook. Its dialogue is fully voiced, with every character, major or minor, receiving a complete vocal performance.
A playable demo of this game will arrive on Steam on April 7, 2026. This gives players their first hands-on experience with the Etchery and its surrounding island before the full PC release later in 2026.
Everything You Need to Know:
Eastshade Studios officially announced "Songs of Glimmerwick" on January 19, 2022, through a reveal trailer and a press release. At the time, the studio described it as coming "next year," but the development extended well beyond the initial window. Over five years of active development, the team documented their process through a detailed series of Steam devlogs covering NPC AI design, world-first philosophy, time-management systems, and top-down art direction.
On April 2, 2026, Eastshade Studios released a new 90-second gameplay trailer and confirmed the game is launching on PC in 2026. Eastshade Studios has confirmed that the game is planned for consoles, with these versions expected to follow shortly after the PC release. However, they have not named any consoles yet.
No official development budget has been publicly disclosed by Eastshade Studios. However, the studio has operated as a team of three full-time developers across a multi-year development cycle, without any publicly announced publisher funding or major crowdfunding campaign. Thus, it is widely understood to be a self-funded indie production.
Anyways, what are your thoughts on this new upcoming game, "Songs of Glimmerwick"? Let me know in the comments, where you can also provide the latest news so I can make a breakdown of it.