The Best Indie Games To Play In 2026

Cult of the Lamb

• Developer: Massive Monster
• Release Date: June 10, 2022
• Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PC
• Genre: Roguelike/Action

Cult of the Lamb is another spin on the roguelike, where you still face waves of enemies as you progress through the game. However, where Cult of the Lamb differentiates itself is in the metagame, as it essentially has two halves: the more standard action-based roguelike section and the base-building side where you manage and grow a cult. You start off as a possessed lamb with a mission of gaining followers in a land that has others vying for control. As you gain more followers through traveling across different regions, you’ll unlock new abilities as well as resources, which can be used to build defenses and attacks.

Cult of the Lamb features a randomly generated world with plenty of enemies and bosses to fight that will keep you busy for hours on end. You may end up spending more time managing your cult and its home as you do in the action game-style levels.

Rime

• Developer: Tequila Works
• Release Date: May 26, 2017
• Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC
• Genre: Puzzle/Adventure

Rime is a puzzle game at heart that features beautiful graphics and a wonderfully crafted world. Your end goal in Rime is to reach the top of a tower that’s visible in the background from the start of the game. The puzzles in Rime get more difficult as the game goes on, but none are so challenging that they’ll stump you for too long. In addition to the puzzles, you can discover secrets spread throughout the different levels, and there’s even a magic fox that comes to help you from time to time.

Disco Elysium

• Developer: ZA/UM
• Release Date: October 15, 2019
• Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PC
• Genre: RPG

Disco Elysium is widely considered one of the best RPGs ever created. The RPG takes everything to the next level when it comes to role-playing. You take full control of a detective who can either be the hero a city needs or a bumbling fool who wastes their supreme talent. All of the choices in the game are up to you and you can choose from several dialogue options when engaging with other characters. You have dozens of quests and investigations to complete, characters to romance, and a dense map to uncover. Nothing is off-limits when it comes to Disco Elysium.

Balatro

• Developer: LocalThunk
• Release Date: February 20, 2024
• Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PC, iOS, Android
• Genre: Roguelike/Card Game

There’s sometimes an indie game that comes out of nowhere to take the gaming community by storm. It happens more often than you might think, and in 2024, that game was Balatro. The roguelike deck-building game was among our picks for the 10 best games of 2024, and it was also featured during The Game Awards.

Balatro is yet another take on the roguelike genre, but instead of fighting enemies, you battle against a target score using a decks of cards. At its core, Balatro can be compared to traditional poker, but there are twists and turns that make every hand of cards unique from the last. You’ll modify your deck and utilize special Joker cards to mess with the rules of poker, which can be extremely satisfying. Balatro features an endless array of challenges to overcome with numerous difficulties and decks to try winning with, so you’ll be hard-pressed to run out of content anytime soon.

Katana Zero

• Developer: Justin Stander
• Release Date: April 18, 2019
• Platforms: Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, iOS, Android
• Genre: Platformer/Adventure

Katana Zero is a side-scrolling platformer that features some of the most brutally difficult combat of any game on this list. You’ll deal with those challenge thanks to the main character, Subject Zero, possessing some incredible abilities. You’re able to slow down time as well as see into the future, giving you a slight advantage if you know how to properly wield your powers.

While the gameplay is at the forefront of Katana Zero, the graphics and soundtrack are what make it one of the best indie titles on the market. Every level is hand-crafted and looks gorgeous, featuring a neo-noir art style while the music keeps you engaged throughout the entire campaign.

Pacific Drive

• Developer: Ironwood Studios
• Release Date: February 22, 2024
• Platforms: PlayStation 5, PC
• Genre: Survival/Driving

Survival games have a long history in the indie genre, and it’s not often when a survival game comes along that completely changes up the formula. Pacific Drive did just that in early 2024, featuring slick driving mechanics and gameplay in a survival setting. It made our list of the 25 best survival games to play, and for good reason.

You spend a majority of Pacific Drive in your car through a first-person perspective. Your main goal is to survive the elements by scavenging for resources across the Pacific Northwest region, which has been ravaged by supernatural forces. There are some thrilling moments to be had in Pacific Drive, as hopping out of your car to find supplies is quite dangerous with what lurks in the shadows.

Valheim

• Developer: Iron Gate Studios
• Release Date: February 2, 2021
• Platforms: Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC
• Genre: Survival/RPG

Valheim is another one of those indie titles that came out of nowhere to top the Steam charts. What drew players in initially was the art style of Valheim, which is beautiful and clunky at the same time. The game is set in a land where Viking culture is present all around and your character is banished there by Odin. To escape the land, you need to defeat a series of bosses, all of whom are located in different regions spread around the map. Each subsequent boss is more difficult than the last but, fortunately, the regions where the bosses are located offer new resources that help defeat them.

You have to travel all around the randomly generated map to gather the resources you need to become stronger. Along the way, you can construct a structurally sound base that’s only limited by your imagination and supplies. Valheim is certainly a more challenging survival game, featuring harsh elements and tough enemies, but it’s one of the very best you can play right now.

Spiritfarer

• Developer: Thunder Lotus Games
• Release Date: August 18, 2020
• Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, iOS, Android
• Genre: Simulation/Management

Spiritfarer is the first management simulator game on this list and arguably flew under the radar in the heat of the 2020 pandemic. Players who managed to catch wind of it got to experience a remarkable game that you can easily spend over 100 hours playing.

The premise of the game is your character, the ferrymaster, needs to construct a boat to travel the world and pick up deceased souls along the way. As you pick them up, you need to care for them until they can step into the afterlife and leave their spiritual form behind. The boat you construct can be expanded upon with new buildings, rooms, and other structures to house your spirits. You’ll gather resources through fishing, harvesting, and other means to keep your boat and the souls on board afloat. Spiritfarer can be played solo, but if you want to add a co-op partner, they’ll enter the game as a cat companion. It can also be quite the emotional experience given the subject matter.

Dave the Diver

• Developer: Mintrocket
• Release Date: October 27, 2022
• Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, PC
• Genre: RPG/Simulator

If you enjoyed Subnautica but are looking for something with fewer horror elements, Dave the Diver might be the perfect game for you. While it doesn’t feature the vast ocean exploration of Subnautica, you still get to dive underwater to gather fish and other resources for your night job. At night, you run a sushi restaurant, taking and fulfilling orders from customers and ensuring their satisfaction while at the restaurant. Underneath this simulator is a secret at the bottom of the ocean that you’ll also work to uncover while you gain new skills as Dave the Diver.

Minishoot Adventures

• Developer: SoulGame Studio
• Release Date: February 21, 2022
• Platforms: PC
• Genre: RPG/Adventure

Minishoot Adventures is a less well-known game than others on this list, but it’s a seriously underrated indie that becomes difficult to put down once you sink your teeth into it. It’s an action-adventure style game in the mold of a classic Zelda, but one that you play from the perspective of a top-down shooter. In your ship, you can fight enemies, explore open-ended locations, and upgrade your ship through the Primordial Powers. These powers improve your ship’s capabilities and also open up new areas to explore. If the twin-stick controls are too much for you to handle, there are aim-assist options as well as three different difficulty modes.

Inscryption

• Developer: Daniel Mullins Games
• Release Date: October 19, 2021
• Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PC
• Genre: Roguelike/Card Game

Inscryption is another roguelike deck-building game, but it’s decidedly different from something like Balatro. Instead of playing poker, you do battle using cards in a horror setting that gets creepier as the game goes on. As you progress, you’ll enter new and mysterious regions with fresh characters to face. These characters aren’t to be trifled with and present you with twisted dialogue and new secrets to uncover. Inscryption doesn’t feature any heart-pounding jumpscares, but the journey you go on with your deck of cards is nothing short of disturbing. It’s also full of surprises, and you’re best off not knowing much before playing.

Into the Breach

• Developer: Subset Games
• Release Date: February 27, 2018
• Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC, iOS, Android
• Genre: Turn-Based Strategy/Tactics

Into the Breach is a turn-based strategy/tactics game and features RPG elements as well as endless gameplay. You control mechs from the future in an attempt to save the world from aliens. You’ll need to preserve both structures on the grid-based map and the mechs themselves. Enemy actions are clearly telegraphed, so you know exactly what they’ll do on the next turn; by manipulating their positioning, blocking enemies from spawning (at the cost of damage to the unit blocking them), and so on, you can avert disaster.

Win or lose, you’ll face another randomly generated set of levels, and you can unlock different types of mechs and weapons to mix up the action from run to run. This puts an almost limitless amount of gameplay at your disposal, as every fight feels extremely different from the last. Figuring out problems on each level takes immense strategy and this complements the turn-based combat perfectly. It’s the rare game to have received a 10 from GameSpot.

UFO 50

• Developer: Mossmouth
• Release Date: September 18, 2024
• Platforms: PC
• Genre: Strategy/Puzzle/RPG/Shooter/etc.

UFO 50 is a collection of 50 different standalone games, including both single-player and multiplayer ones spanning numerous genres: platformers, puzzle games, strategy games, adventure games, shooters, and more. The graphics look straight out of the ’90s and every game is different from the last. The design in all 50 games is top-notch, and there’s plenty of replayability offered by many of the games. You have access to all 50 games in UFO 50 right from the start, allowing you to pick what you, and potentially a friend, play.

REPO

• Developer: Semiwork Studios
• Release Date: February 26, 2025 (Early Access)
• Platforms: PC
• Genre: Co-op Survival

REPO might seem like a harmless game at first if you go in judging it solely based on graphics, but you’ll quickly learn it can be pretty scary. It’s a co-op survival physics-based game that sees you and up to five friends enter different locations to try and extract valuable objects. In your way of that goal are monsters that can pop out at any time to scare or even kill you. Your main weapon to defend against these monsters is a physics-grabbing tool that allows you to pick up and hurl just about any object around you. Sometimes you’ll even need to transport massive objects as a part of your mission, and teamwork is required to ensure the object gets from point A to point B without alerting any nearby monsters. REPO also features proximity chat so you and your teammates can communicate with one another, which comes in handy when someone is being chased by a monster. REPO is a thrilling game with enjoyable mechanics that will have you laughing and fearing for your life at the same time. It’s also still in early access and receiving new content fairly frequently.

Schedule I

• Developer: TVGS
• Release Date: March 24, 2025 (Early Access)
• Platforms: PC
• Genre: Simulation

Have you ever dreamed of a life where you’re a drug dealer slinging product night in and night out to make a living? Well, Schedule I gives you the chance to live out this… fantasy. You begin the game as a small-time dealer and need to build your entire drug empire from the ground up. This means making your own product, distributing it for profit, and then using that profit to expand your operations. Along the way, you’ll run into law enforcement, whom you can evade or fight head-on with various guns and weapons. Schedule I features 2000s graphics and mechanics, but it’s an in-depth simulator with a ton of content right from the start. You can even go into business with a friend in the co-op multiplayer mode, which makes for an even more fun experience.

Blue Prince

• Developer: Dogubomb
• Release Date: April 10, 2025
• Platforms: PC
• Genre: Puzzle

Blue Prince is an inventive and massively in-depth puzzle adventure game that will have you taking actual real-life notes to remember everything you come across. The game’s plot sees you inherit a large estate from a relative, but to claim it, you need to find a secret room in the house. To do this, you enter different rooms in the house and look for clues to guide you on where to go. Every door you find can lead to different rooms, and you have a few options to pick from that determine the room behind each door. The catch is that Blue Prince resets all of the house’s rooms at the end of each day, which occurs after you’ve searched a certain number of areas. You need to carve a path through the house and solve various interlocking puzzles to find your way to the mysterious Room 46. Blue Prince offers different items to aid you in your quest, which helps determine what rooms are available every time you reach a new door, but it’s ultimately up to you to figure out where to go. You’ll pocket permanent upgrades as you go, but the greatest tool you’ll acquire is knowledge of how the shapeshifting house works.

Echo Point Nova

• Developer: Greylock Studio
• Release Date: September 24, 2024
• Platforms: PC
• Genre: First-Person Shooter

Echo Point Nova is a first-person shooter that offers you unparalleled freedom and gadgets to explore a massive open world full of secrets and locations to uncover. The game starts with you landing on a strange planet that’s being overrun by a mercenary force. This plotline makes up the main quest, but it’s not nearly everything the game has to offer. Echo Point Nova features a huge open world made up of different islands that you can visit using a variety of tools. You can use a grappling hook to a hoverboard to other unlockable powers to both explore and move quickly around the areas you’re exploring. The gadgets and base movement system in the game make simply getting from point A to point B a fun adventure in and of itself. The world in Echo Point Nova also houses plenty of enemy variety, with massive colossi being the main foes you’ll face off against. You can take down these enemies using a custom-crafted loadout made up of various guns, gear, and other powers. And co-op support lets you do it all with friends.

Promise Mascot Agency

• Developer: Kaizen Game Works
• Release Date: April 10, 2025
• Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PC
• Genre: RPG

Promise Mascot Agency is an open-world narrative RPG where you manage a talent agency that specializes in, you guessed it, mascots. Your initial job is to recruit mascots, send them out for work, and then keep them happy, a far easier said than done task. You can upgrade your mascots with Hero Cards, which you can unlock by meeting more characters throughout the map. Speaking of which, Promise Mascot Agency isn’t just a management simulator. It’s an open-world game that you can explore in your Kei Truck, which can be upgraded itself with a variety of gadgets and tools. During your exploration, you can uncover hidden collectibles, meet new characters, and even stumble upon a mystery that takes the game in an entirely new direction. Whether you’re recruiting a new mascot, finding a new job for them, trying to clean up a mess they made, or exploring the open world, there’s always something to do in Promise Mascot Agency.

PEAK

• Developer: Landfall Games
• Release Date: June 16, 2025
• Platforms: PC
• Genre: Co-op

PEAK is one of those indie games that seemingly came out of nowhere to take the world by storm. You and up to three other friends can join a party together and start at the base of a large mountain range. You then need to climb up various surfaces and objects to reach the top of the mountain, or the peak. While this sounds simple, the gameplay is surprisingly engaging and difficult, especially when you have a full party in the mix. The climbing mechanics in PEAK can take some time to understand, and you also need to eat food to survive and manage any injuries that you sustain. Your friends can either aid you or sabotage you as you attempt to climb up the mountain and all of its different areas. In the end, though, every player will need some kind of help from a teammate if they wish to reach the peak. If you make even a small mistake in PEAK, you could be sent straight down the perilous mountain range and have to start all over. It’s an incredibly enjoyable experience that’s easily one of the best co-op games of 2025.

Look Outside

• Developer: Francis Coulombe
• Release Date: March 21, 2025
• Platforms: PC
• Genre: Horror/Survival

Look Outside is a survival horror game that’s inspired by the likes of Five Nights at Freddy’s, but features RPG elements and new twists to create a masterful experience. In Look Outside, your character is trapped in an apartment complex, and most of the game shows your character from the top-down as you explore the various rooms and hallways of the building. The main twist in Look Outside is that every NPC in the game who looks through an outside window is transformed into a horrific monster. You need to fend off and avoid these monsters as you traverse through your apartment complex and attempt to find food, tools, and weapons in order to survive. Every so often, you can return to your apartment to recuperate from the expedition, and during this process, you can meet some of your neighbors and utilize all of the resources you found. Look Outside isn’t a long game by any means, but it features fantastic replayability and some truly emotional gameplay that will have you tensed up in your chair until the end credits roll.

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

• Developer: Edmund McMillen
• Release Date: November 4, 2014
• Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch
• Genre: RPG/Rougelike

The Binding of Isaac is a classic indie game series developed by Edmund McMillen. While the first game in the series is certainly worth a playthrough, it’s the remake, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, that makes our list. Rebirth is an improvement on the original in just about every way, featuring over 500 hours of gameplay, more intuitive mechanics, and a slew of content to find and engage with. The core of the game is a roguelike shooter where you play as Isaac, who goes on a journey through randomly generated levels. In these levels, you’ll find new items to use and power-ups that transform Isaac into a superhuman with wild abilities. You’ll need everything at your disposal to continually fend off enemies and progress through new levels. The gameplay in The Binding of Isaac is easy enough to understand at first, but you’ll need to master its mechanics if you want any hope of surviving through your runs. It’s a blast to play and offers a ton of replayability through the randomly-generated levels and the 400+ items and abilities that are spread across these levels.

Keep Driving

• Developer: YCJY Games
• Release Date: February 6, 2025
• Platforms: PC
• Genre: Adventure/RPG

Keep Driving is one of 2025’s most underrated indie games. On the surface, it doesn’t look like much, as the graphics resemble a 1990s PC game that you’d play on the family computer. However, there’s more depth than meets the eye in Keep Driving. The game centers around you as you drive in your car throughout the countryside. Along your journey, you’ll encounter a variety of people, some of whom want a ride to their destination, while others request some odd jobs from you. By completing these objectives, you can upgrade your car, add items to the trunk by purchasing them in shops, and pick up new skills that help you become a master of the road. Keep Driving offers around four hours of gameplay, but there are four unique endings that all take you on wildly different paths, so it’s worth it to play through the game more than once.

Megabonk

• Developer: Vedinad
• Release Date: September 18, 2025
• Platforms: PC, Android
• Genre: Roguelike

There is no shortage of Indie roguelikes on the market, but Megabonk stands out as arguably the best of the subgenre. While its graphics take some getting used to, Megabonk’s gameplay hooks you instantly. As a roguelike, the overall gameplay loop involves you fending off waves of enemies, battling bosses, and trying to survive for as long as possible. As you’re attempting to survive, you can unlock new weapons and gear, upgrade your characters, and come up with whacky and inventive builds that make your next run totally different from the last. With all of this content at your disposal, you can alter the 40+ boss fights that Megabonk offers and challenge yourself in new ways with every run you attempt.

Dressmaker

• Developer: Cozy Lives
• Release Date: September 21, 2026
• Platforms: PC
• Genre: Simulation

Dressmaker is the kind of game many of us grew up on, but given a modern upgrade and a sense of community. Right from launch, people were sharing their creations–be they beautiful or bizarre–and the positive reviews came pouring in. It’s a great sewing simulator, if that’s your thing, as it talks you through every element of designing a dress, from measurements to stitching, but it’s also a brilliant creative outlet for those who can’t afford the real life hobby. Choosing from so many fabrics (which can then be used in millions of different combinations), designs, and embellishments means you can craft the dress of your dreams without needing to buy a thing. We’d even recommend ditching your Witcher 3 run to play it…

Who’s Lila

• Developer: Garage Heathen
• Release Date: February 23, 2022
• Platforms: PC
• Genre: Horror

If you enjoy weird control schemes and character-based mysteries that make your skin crawl, Who’s Lila is a creepy psychological horror game that asks you to play around with faces. Each part of your expression needs to be manipulated quickly enough that no one suspects you’re a social maladjust, but in a convincing enough way so as not to scare your peers. Eyebrows, lips, eyelids, cheeks, all need to match a genuine expression to successfully convey feelings in dialogue, otherwise you’ll do a pretty good job of alienating people and exposing yourself. There’s a chilling mystery at the heart of the game, and you start with very little detail about what’s going on. Only that someone is missing and everyone seems to want to ask you about it. If you like the sound of Who’s Lila and want more, check out our list of the best indie horror games.

Scriptorium: Master Of Manuscripts

• Developer: Yaza Games
• Release Date: June 26, 2025
• Platforms: PC
• Genre: Puzzle/Simulation

I’m pretty sure there’s a little medieval scribe hidden in all of us, and Scriptorium: Master Of Manuscripts gives it cause to come out. A very different pace from Yaza Games’ previous title, turn-based strategy game Inkulinati, but Scriptorium retains the iconic medieval-made-modern style filled with tiny details, snails, and bum-trumpets. Each day brings a new commission and you are the sole scribe in the scriptorium, looking to make a name for yourself by creating illustrations for famous and wealthy clients. Each manuscript is built from tiny sticker-like accents, allowing you to collage people, places, monsters, and beautiful floral patterns. There’s also a freestyle mode where you can create anything your heart desires, and then save copies to be printed or admired.

The Darkside Detective

• Developer: Spooky Doorway
• Release Date: July 27, 2017
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
• Genre: Point-and-click mystery

The Darkside Detective is a throwback to a more classic adventure, and is one of the best point-and-click games to play in 2026. Playing as a police investigator in charge of scoping out the paranormal, it unfolds as though the X-Files is a wacky buddy-cop drama. Each case presents tricky but solvable puzzles, with a bit of logic and creative thinking you’ll soon put the various spooky goings-on back in their boxes. There’s a sequel already available to play, and a third game was announced this year for release in 2027.

OFF

• Developer: Mortis Ghost
• Release Date: May 18, 2008
• Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC
• Genre: Psychological horror RPG

OFF is a strange little RPG that may appeal to fans of games like Omori or Undertale. Initially a straightforward turn-based RPG, the game pretty quickly starts to feel… off. The atmosphere is unsettling, people are saying things that seem to imply your actions aren’t helping, and even the soundtrack turns against you to play discordant industrial-sounding tunes at times. It’s a horror with no jumpscares, more of a creeping psychological dread. The only way to truly know what OFF is about is to play it and see.

West Of Loathing

• Developer: Asymmetric
• Release Date: August 10, 2017
• Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch
• Genre: RPG

Back in the Flash game days, many of us will have played Kingdom Of Loathing, a black-and-white stickman adventure filled with puns, quips, and silliness. West Of Loathing is the beefed up sibling of that free-to-play browser game, packing in a bunch more content and a fully fleshed-out story that takes place in the Wild West. The turn-based combat offers genuine challenges, whether you’re fighting cowboy skeletons, intelligent snakes, or demon cows. You can make a seemingly endless array of choices and wear many, many hats.

The Case Of The Golden Idol

• Developer: Color Gray Games
• Release Date: October 13, 2022
• Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox One
• Genre: Puzzle

If you’re a fan of games like Blue Prince where you’ve got to take notes and puzzle it out, you’ll need to give The Case Of The Golden Idol a go. The premise sets you up with a scenario full of blanks, and you have to fill them in by using your powers of deductive reasoning. You’ll find items and faces, words and names, then compile them all into various formats so you can see what you’re working with. At last, you’ll be able to solve the crime, murder, or bizarre occurrence that has taken place. The puzzles get harder the further you delve, but you’re always left with everything you need to solve it. It just takes perseverance.

Mythwrecked: Ambrosia Island

• Developer: Polygon Treehouse
• Release Date: December 5, 2024
• Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X
• Genre: Puzzle adventure

Cozy games and Greek mythology both have had a bit of a moment the last couple of years, and this is a game that expertly combines the two. It’s a mystery adventure set on a far-away island, where our hero has to collect mystical items and slowly return the memories of the local gods and goddesses. There are plenty of lovely little collectables, a relaxing soundtrack, and a gorgeous setting of beach-front ruins to explore. Mythwrecked might be as close as we come to a perfect ‘cozy night in’ game.

Mouthwashing

• Developer: Wrong Organ
• Release Date: September 26, 2024
• Platforms: PC
• Genre: Horror

Mouthwashing was on a lot of peoples’ best games of 2024 list, and for good reason. It’s horrifying, tragic, genuinely frightening, and very fun to play. Stranded in space and almost certainly waiting to starve to death, the crew of a Pony Express freighter are the only characters in this strange game. It would be wrong to give too much away, but the sights and sounds of Mouthwashing make it one of the most extraordinary indie games to be released this decade. Wrong Organ has recently announced another game, which sounds like a bit of a departure from its predecessor.

Fields Of Mistria

• Developer: NPC Studio
• Release Date: June 5, 2024
• Platforms: PC
• Genre: Farming/Life sim

Don’t hate me for this but I prefer 2024’s Fields Of Mistria to Stardew Valley. It’s a similar concept–you farm, make friends, do quests, have kids–but Mistria is so steeped in lore and magic that it feels a world away. Each character is beautifully drawn in classic 90s anime style, making picking just one to be your partner a little tricky. Thankfully, you can befriend them all on your quest to bring Mistria back into high repute. Over time, you’ll unlock new areas, NPCs, and story beats by engaging in (gentle) combat in the mines and leveling up your farm. We’ve got a huge range of guides to get you started in Fields Of Mistria, from secrets and easter eggs to romance and having children.

Still Wakes The Deep

• Developer: The Chinese Room
• Release Date: June 18, 2024
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X
• Genre: Lovecraftian horror

The isolation of a North Sea oil rig is turned into an unimaginably claustrophobic horror experience in Still Wakes The Deep. It’s largely a walking sim with a few surprise bits and pieces, but every second is absolutely drenched in atmosphere. From the way lighting is used, to the authentic Scottish accented voices throughout, you can’t help but buy into the reality that the game lays out for you. Which makes it all the more horrifying when things start to be dredged up that probably should have stayed far beneath the waves. Still Wakes The Deep is a must-play for gamers who value a thrilling, well-paced story and deep characterization.

Hypnospace Outlaw

• Developer: Tendershoot
• Release Date: March 12, 2019
• Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
• Genre: Fake OS detective game

This one had to be tagged as “Fake OS” as the genre itself only got introduced in 2026. Fake OS games are games where you play inside a simulated desktop, and some recent indie games have created some incredible experiences within these parameters. Hypnospace Outlaw is maybe the game most synonymous with the new genre, and an incredible showcase of technical skill and off-beat creativity. As an Enforcer, it’s your job to fight e-crime by placing bans or warning labels on content that violates the strict standards of Hypnospace. It’s a very funny game, with plenty of easter eggs in there for those of us old enough to remember the early internet, but it also has some moments of genuine challenge as you try and piece together a darker secret lurking under these quaint personal pages.

Thimbleweed Park

• Developer: Terrible Toybox
• Release Date: March 30, 2017
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
• Genre: Point-and-click adventure

There’s already been one game in this list compared to the X-Files, but Thimbleweed Park wears its paranormal inspirations on its sleeve. The creators of iconic point-and-click adventure games like Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion have basically recreated a winning formula with Thimbleweed Park, which gets a sequel next year. The game’s detective duo can be switched between to solve mysteries centering around a slowly pixellating dead body and a strange town inhabited by even stranger locals. The game raises a bunch of questions right from the start, and you’ll soon find yourself exploring for the hell of it and trying to make sense of why five specific people seem to be connected to all the weird things happening nearby. It’s an excellent example of the detective game done with flair.

The Procession To Calvary

• Developer: Joe Richardson
• Release Date: April 9, 2020
• Platforms: Xbox One, PlayStation 4, iOS, Nintendo Switch, Android
• Genre: Adventure

Monty Python fans and people who like a good adventure game can unite over The Procession To Calvary (and its sort-of-prequel and sequel, Four Last Things and Death Of The Reprobate respectively). A beautiful and only sometimes grotesque collage of Renaissance paintings form the artwork for the game, in which you walk around looking at and speaking with things. Sometimes you’ll be tempted to poke something, or optionally cut off a head with a sword. It’s just that sort of game. The puzzles are perfectly-crafted, and the butts are perfectly-formed.

I Was A Teenage Exocolonist

• Developer: Northway Games
• Release Date: August 25, 2022
• Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5
• Genre: Narrative card-based RPG

I Was A Teenage Exocolonist is a game that takes you through the tumult of teenage years with the background of outer space and a newfound planet home to deal with. Collecting cards based on choices you make, you’ll come up against “battles” which are situations in which you’ll need to use your cards to win or lose a skill point check. The outcomes of these decide your fate, from your first shot at romance to your very survival. It’s an incredibly rich (and sometimes heartbreaking) game, and if you want your choices to matter, you can’t get much more consequential than fiddling with a space colonist’s formative years.