Game: Songs of Glimmerwick
Developer/Publisher: Eastshade Studios
Genre: Witch Academy RPG / Life Sim
Released: September 30, 2026
Platform: PC (Steam)
Price: $24.99 · 10% off to $22.49 until Oct 14
Reviews: Positive (early)
Steam Deck: Playable
🎶 Two Things to Know Before You Buy
1. It’s more RPG than life sim. As one player put it, there are companion quests rather than relationship meters — no daily chats and gift-giving loops — and time is part of the story rather than scaffolding for your days. If you want Stardew-style routines, adjust your expectations.
2. It’s built on music minigames. Spells, gardening, potions and even fishing run on songs. Players describe the rhythm challenge as tough but fair — but if you dislike rhythm games, try the free demo first. Your demo save carries into the full game.
$22.49Launch Price
30+ hrsReported Length
1 YearOf Seasons
34Achievements
FreeDemo
🧙 Know this first: it’s from the makers of Eastshade, and it shows. Songs of Glimmerwick is a hand-crafted, fully voiced witch-academy RPG where every spell is a song — and players are calling it one of the most beautiful, peaceful games they’ve played in years.
⚖️ A Cosy Game That Actually Respects Your Time
Here’s a quiet design decision that players keep bringing up — and it might be the most important thing in the game.
In most cosy life sims, the clock is the enemy. You’re always racing to get somewhere before a shop closes, a festival starts or a character goes to bed — and missing a one-off event because you lost track of in-game time is a genre tradition nobody enjoys.
Songs of Glimmerwick simply won’t let that happen. The world keeps moving — weather changes, students and townsfolk follow their schedules — but when the clock reaches a key event, it stops. You finish what you were doing, spend the rest of your mana, and head over when you’re ready. Time freezes in the evenings, too, and you can save whenever you like, not just at the start of a day.
The same philosophy runs through the music. You can practise songs and potions without wasting time or ingredients, and once you’ve mastered a garden song or a potion, the game remembers your best score so you don’t have to replay it every time. It rewards practice without ever enforcing grind.
One player said the time-stopping alone would have earned their recommendation. For a genre built on relaxing, taking the anxiety out of the clock is a genuinely radical idea.
Every song a spell
Wake up. Grab your free pretzel — you’re a student, you’re broke. Go to class. Meet friends in the common room. Water the garden by summoning a rain cloud with your flute.
Songs of Glimmerwick is the new game from Eastshade Studios, the small team behind the much-loved Eastshade. You’ve just enrolled at the island of Glimmerwick’s university of magic, where playing music is how you cast spells — and over a full year of seasons, festivals and curses, you’ll attend classes, join clubs, tend the university garden, and unravel the island’s many oddities and mysteries.
It launched today with a Positive rating from early players. Our verdict: This charming witch academy RPG transforms spellcasting into music-playing while wrapping you in a cozy story of friendships, mysteries, and garden tending.
Every Song a Spell
With a trusty flute and songbook, music does everything. Songs let you speak with trees, enchant tools so they work by themselves, raise the earth to cross natural obstacles, and summon clouds to water your garden. Even fishing has a musical twist — players say you can tell which fish you’ve hooked by the song that plays.
🎓 Student Life
Attend classes, join after-school clubs, and make friends with classmates and townsfolk.
🌱 The University Garden
Plant the mundane, grow the arcane, and summon rain with a song.
🐸 Skills
Level up in gardening, trading or special abilities — like speaking to frogs.
🎸 Extracurriculars
Join a band, go fishing, dive for seashells, or head out on forest expeditions with the Green Sprites.
A School That Feels Alive
🏫 The Magic-School Fantasy, Done Properly
The setting has a darker backdrop than its cosy surface suggests: song magic was outlawed forty years ago, and Glimmerwick’s university is one of the schools that survived that era. It gives the whole place a sense of history.
But the real achievement is the people. Every character, major and minor, is fully voiced — with, players note, some lovely accents — and they all keep their own schedules and lives. You’ll bump into students all over the island, overhear a new arrival reassuring his overbearing parents over a crystal-ball call, and watch others spread their wings or chase personal goals. When a bigger story topic unlocks, people will share their own opinions on it.
Several players who normally min-max farming games found themselves invested in the characters instead. One described it perfectly: the magic-school fantasy with a single house and a lot less drama. Another said they couldn’t be convinced they weren’t an actual student there.
Beautiful, in Every Sense
Eastshade Studios went in a completely different visual direction this time, and players are delighted with it. The hand-drawn art gives Glimmerwick a storybook, pop-up-book quality, and the weather is especially lovely — mornings that start in rain before the sun breaks through, wind that makes you feel the seasons turning.
The sound design, music and voice acting are praised just as highly. One player admitted to stopping simply to listen to the water and wind chimes. Another, in a stressful career, said it gave them the first real peace they’d had in weeks.
A Few Wrong Notes
🎵 What Could Be Better
1. The controls take some learning. Players found them less intuitive than they’d like — once you realise Space handles most interactions and right-clicking works items in the quickbar, it gets much smoother. One player admitted to accidentally shipping items they meant to keep.
2. Gardening is the weakest part. Opinions are split — some find it well balanced and never overbearing, with a handy watering shortcut. But at least one player felt it wasn’t as polished as the rest of the game and hadn’t clicked after several hours.
3. A few launch bugs. One player couldn’t plant certain seeds without first moving them around their inventory. Minor, but worth knowing.
4. Music minigames aren’t for everyone. Most players enjoy the challenge, and the practice system is generous — but if rhythm games frustrate you, the demo is the place to find out.
Things to Know Going In
📋 Setting Expectations
• $24.99, currently $22.49 — the 10% introductory offer ends October 14
• A Deluxe edition adds the Supporter Pack and soundtrack, and there’s a bundle with Eastshade
• Free demo available, and demo progress carries into the full game
• 30+ hours reported by one player who beta-tested it
• Fully voiced in English, with text in eight languages
• Full controller support and six accessibility features
• Steam Deck: Playable — players report it running smoothly on Deck and on SteamOS-based systems
• Remarkably light system requirements — the minimum spec is a dual-core CPU and a GeForce 9600 GS
• Save anywhere, and key events pause the clock so you never miss them
• Character appearance can be changed again later
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
| The Good |
The Bad |
The Ugly |
| It Respects Your TimeKey events pause the clock, evenings freeze, you can save anywhere, and mastered songs remember your best score. It removes the anxiety most cosy games are quietly built on. |
Unintuitive ControlsIt takes a while to learn that Space does most things. Until you do, expect some fumbling — and possibly some accidental item shipping. |
Rhythm Games Are the CoreSpells, potions, gardening and fishing all run on music minigames. Most players love it, but if you don’t, there’s no getting around it. |
| Gorgeous Art and SoundA storybook visual style, beautiful weather, lovely music and full voice acting for every character. Players keep stopping just to take it in. |
Gardening Is Hit or MissSome find it well balanced; others found it less polished than everything around it. It’s a small part of the day, which helps. |
A Few Launch BugsIncluding a seed-planting issue fixed by shuffling your inventory. Nothing reported as serious, but worth watching. |
| A School Full of Real PeopleScheduled lives, personal stories and opinions on the world’s big events. Even min-maxers found themselves caring about their classmates. |
Not a Traditional Life SimCompanion quests instead of relationship meters. Fans of daily gifting routines should know that going in. |
—Nothing else. Early reviews are glowing. |
| Practice Without GrindRehearse songs and potions without spending time or ingredients. It rewards getting better without forcing repetition. |
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The Verdict
Songs of Glimmerwick has the thing that made Eastshade special — a world built with obvious care, where every character has something to say — and pairs it with a lovely central idea: magic is music. Watering your garden by conjuring a rain cloud with a flute never really gets old.
But what might set it apart most is its respect for the player. By stopping the clock for events that matter, letting you save whenever you like, and remembering your best performances, it strips away the background anxiety that most cosy games quietly run on. It’s the rare relaxing game that genuinely lets you relax.
It isn’t flawless. The controls take learning, the gardening won’t win everyone over, and the music minigames are non-negotiable. And it’s worth being clear that this is an RPG first and a life sim second.
The honest read: if you’ve ever wanted to actually attend a magic school, this is the game. Play the demo to check the rhythm side suits you — your save carries over — and then settle in for a year at Glimmerwick. You’ll probably want a second one.
For more game reviews, check out our full reviews section.
Score Breakdown
Voice Acting & Audio9.5/10
Respect for Your Time9.5/10
Writing & Characters9.0/10
Music-as-Magic Concept9.0/10
Performance & Accessibility8.5/10
Rhythm Minigame Accessibility7.0/10
Final Score
8.5/10
Songs of Glimmerwick — Eastshade Studios
The magic school you always wanted to attend — and the clock waits for you
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