Isle Goblin First Impressions: A Little Goblin With a Big To-Do List

If you’re a longtime survival sandbox devotee or just curious what it would be like to live as a cute little goblin, there’s a new contender digging its way onto PC. Fireshine Games, the publisher behind Core Keeper, is back in the dirt, this time partnering with Pocketpair Publishing (yes, the Palworld folks) to bring Kilowatt Games’ Isle Goblin to Steam. The open playtest went live during last week’s Triple-i Initiative showcase ahead of a planned 2027 launch, and I’ve spent somewhere between two and three hours with it so far, though Kilowatt notes play test material should last somewhere between 10-20 hours to really exhaust all it has to offer.

Isle Goblin is a top-down, pixel-art survival sandbox with a setup that flips the usual fantasy script. Humans have invaded your peaceful island, burned your village to the ground and carted off your goblin community, and it falls to you to take it all back. The marketed hooks will feel familiar to anyone who’s spent time in the genre, but with a particular focus on crafting and exploration. The terrain is fully destructible, the villagers you rescue come with their own routines and personalities, powerful human bosses stand between you and the rest of your scattered family, and the whole thing supports online co-op for up to eight players. There’s also a running gag about scavenging human “treasure,” since one man’s trash is apparently a goblin’s most prized possession.

The premise is what got me in the door. You play as a cute little goblin trying to help your town recover after being raided, and the raiders in question look like they wandered in from somebody’s Saturday night D&D session, a standard adventuring party lineup with all the usual suspects. It almost made me feel guilty for all the times my adventuring companions and I have ruthlessly cut down hordes of goblins.

Almost.

Mechanically, Isle Goblin follows the trail blazed by most sandbox RPGs and farming sims. You use your tools to gather components, then put them toward housing, better tools and weapons, and the gear you’ll need to venture into the dangerous lands beyond your hut, and below it. Along the way you rescue fellow goblins, build relationships with them as your home base comes back together, and steadily expand what you can craft. If you’ve played anything in this space, the rhythm will click within the first 10-15 minutes.

The playtest gives you plenty of material to work with, though it can feel a bit overwhelming right out of the gate. Critters and enemies stalk the perimeter of your little hut, and if you wander too far afield without outfitting yourself properly, you’ll get quashed like the little goblin you are. I’d welcome a gentler on-ramp, or at least clearer signposting about where it’s safe to roam early on.

Some of the oddities come with the territory of an early build. An early quest tasks you with fighting an enemy called the Huntress, who you summon with a horn. I blew the horn, the Huntress showed up, and things did not go my way. When I respawned, the horn was gone from my inventory, and I couldn’t find any clear way to get it back or trigger the encounter again. That’s exactly the sort of thing a playtest exists to catch, so I’m not holding it against the game, but heads up if you’re diving in.

Then I went into the mines, and Isle Goblin found its groove. You can dig straight through pillars of stone and dirt to carve your own path, setting torches as you go to light the way, and the lighting effects are stellar. The torchlight reacts to nearby obstacles like grass and stones, and it pulled me right into that part of the game - an immersive feeling that the next few tiles could be hiding just about anything.

Given the title’s scope and ambition, I feel there’s a lot to be excited about with this new entry, but it’s fair to say that Isle Goblin is fighting against some insane gaming currents, with a stacked slate of releases landing this month and next, and a free playtest can easily get lost in that shuffle. Still, if you’re able to come up for air from one of the half-dozen killer titles that have landed across platforms in recent weeks, or you’re just looking for a break from your regularly scheduled programming, definitely pay Isle Goblin a visit.

The playtest is free on Steam, and I’ll be keeping an eye on how Kilowatt smooths out the rough edges on the road to launch. Check it out!