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Watch trailer on Steam ↗Project Shadowglass
Starhelm Studios · Published by Starhelm Studios · Official site ↗
Last updated 28 Sept 2026
A stealth-focused immersive sim set within a dark fantasy kingdom. Plan daring heists, infiltrate forbidden locales, and escape with priceless artifacts. Features revolutionary 3D pixel art graphics and lasting consequences where every action could leave a trail back to you.
Adventure, Indie, RPG, Simulation · More free games
Embark on daring heists within a dark fantasy kingdom where every move counts. Craft your strategy to infiltrate forbidden locales and escape with priceless artifacts, all while navigating the consequences of your actions in this immersive sim from Starhelm Studios.
About this game
Project Shadowglass is a love letter to classic immersive FPS stealth sims such as Thief, Deus Ex, and System Shock, built with unique 3D pixel art technology.
You play a struggling thief, mysteriously tasked by an anonymous source to "acquire" ancient artifacts hidden across the realm. To succeed, you will need to rely on your wits and tools of the trade to pull off seemingly impossible heists.
By day, you will plan and prepare from your humble flat in the slums. Spend the gold you've acquired on new tools and items, upgrade your hidden workshop, acquire intel, and case your next target location.
By night, you must move and act unseen if you wish to succeed. You are no warrior. You're alone, vulnerable, outmatched, and outnumbered. Every person has a name, and a memory. One false misstep could mean fleeing for your life, hiding for days, or engaging in terrifying melee combat that leaves marks remembered by all.
Gameplay:
- Navigate using light and sound: hide in the darkness, study patrol routes, and choose quiet surfaces over loud ones
- Manipulate the environment: douse torches, create distractions, use surroundings to your advantage
- Infiltrate secure areas: pick locks, pickpocket keys, and climb to forbidden places to gain the upper hand
- Deal with threats: knock out guards, hide bodies and evidence, or risk deadly blade-to-blade combat
- Complete the heist: gain access, steal treasures, and escape
Features:
- Multiple approaches and solutions with a sandbox design philosophy
- Unique rendering technology creates nostalgic pixel art in full 3D space
- A reputation that follows you. Get caught and security heightens based on severity
- Become known as a murderer and citizens flee on sight
- Acquire your own research before a heist. YOU choose when to act, where, and how
- Get apprehended alive, and you'll need to break yourself out of jail
The Story:
In a lush, dark, and oppressive seaside kingdom, the richest nobles have fallen in line with a new king promising them more. The poor grow poorer, the rich grow richer. The claustrophobic city has been building more walls to keep them out from where they don't belong. Higher towers to not hear them, smell them, but always keep an eye on them. But they didn't account for you.
Progression:
Everything is earned. This is not a power fantasy. You are no hero with powers. Instead, you must rely solely on improving your own planning and skill. Leverage knowledge to your advantage. Your tools and mind are your ultimate weapons. You can sloppily wield a broadsword if it comes to that, but a master thief is as a ghost. Feel the reward of your own skills improving. As you acquire intel and lore, it assists you in seeing new methods and approaches, and secrets hidden in plain sight to use to your advantage. Learn recipes and components to prepare new effects and expand your workshop.
Challenges You'll Face:
- Guards armed to the teeth
- Magical security systems with complex codes to crack
- Imposing heights that mean instant death should you take the wrong step
- The front door is the quickest way in, but the loudest
- Traps set for unsuspecting thieves
- Enemies will make use of lights and torches if they suspect something (or someone) is hiding in the darkness
Development Status:
Currently in early development, this is the first game leveraging a new 3d technology approach to deliver nostalgic pixelated graphics in smooth, full 360 freedom. The graphics you see in all videos and screenshots are captured in-engine real-time.
Now in early development. Wishlist and follow for the latest updates!
*(System requirements and content subject to change during development)
System Requirements
Will my PC run this? →Minimum
- OS: Windows 10 64-bit
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 3 1200 / Intel i5-6400 (or Steam Deck equivalent)
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: AMD Radeon Vega 8 / NVIDIA GTX 1050 (2 GB VRAM)
- Storage: 4 GB available space
- Additional Notes: Designed with Steam Deck compatibility in mind.
Recommended
- OS: Windows 10/11 64-bit
- Processor: Intel i5-9600K / AMD Ryzen 5 3600
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Graphics: AMD RX 580 / NVIDIA GTX 1660
- Storage: 4 GB available space
Supported Languages
*languages with full audio support
Latest news
Press Coverage
Fantasy heist sim Project Shadowglass is even more inspired by Thief than I had realised, as a new trailer shows off water arrows, blackjack knockouts, and authentically sloppy swordfighting
I was already aware that Project Shadowglass was at least partly inspired by Looking Glass' stealth masterpiece Thief: The Dark Project. Fellow sneaky bastard Ted Litchfield picked some promising nuggets out of Shadowglass' purse in January, such as open-ended levels featuring guards and traps and simulated 3D audio inspired by Thief's pioneering propagation tech... Read more.Read full article on PC Gamer (Rick Lane)Press Coverage
Rooftops are jumped, skulls are thumped and a man falls on his wet bum in Thief-esque Project Shadowglass' latest trailer
Shhhhhhh. I'm trying to sneak into this poor bloke's castle. I'm doing it all stealthy, sneaky, and shadowy-like. I'm climbing in windows, jumping across rooftops, bamboozling guards. I'm taking the gold and gems while letting out a cackle deliberately stifled enough that no one can hear it but m-. Oh, bollocks. Hello, owner of these valuables. I hadn't counted on you walking in at this very second. That's the sort of thing pixel art immersive heist sim Project Shadowglass will have in store when it releases in demo form at some point this year. Until then, there's a fresh trailer which goes beyond the admirable dunking on GenAI that defined the game's initial teasers. Read moreRead full article on Rock, Paper, ShotgunPress Coverage
'Lasting consequences where every action could leave a trail back to you' is just what I want to hear from a medieval thievery simulator, so this first person sneaker is now one of my most anticipated games
I love rogues, bows, backstabs, silent takedowns, sneaking, and skulduggery in my games—if you do too, you should pay attention to the upcoming first person stealth game Project Shadowglass, which recently began showing off its first gameplay and development details... Read more.Read full article on PC Gamer (Ted Litchfield)Press Coverage
Project Shadowglass channels Thief, Deus Ex and System Shock while dunking on generative AI
It is time to once again desecrate the much-pillaged tomb of Looking Glass Studios and have it away with the materials for a new dark fantasy immersive sim. Starhelm Studios have announced Project Shadowglass, a purebred first-person Thief-like with a light-shadow system, lockpicking, pickpocketing, noisy or quieter walkable surfaces, magical traps, heist planning and jailbreaks. Lead developer Dominick John is one of the two people behind Youtube music parody outfit Space Bards, but it doesn't sound like you'll be singing much in Project Shadowglass. Not unless you really enjoy getting caught. Or are great at ventriloquy. Has an imsim allowed you to distract people using ventriloquy yet? Maybe next time. Read moreRead full article on Rock, Paper, Shotgun






