2025 was a pretty huge year for indie games, wasn’t it? Maybe the biggest ever? A few indies were nominated for GOTY awards against much bigger games. A sort of but not really indie game even won the lot! And then you had indie games dominating Twitch and the Steam Charts as AAA games continued to take pretty significant missteps. But you know what 2026 might just be even better for the independent scene. Here are just some indie games out this year that should climb their way onto your wishlist.
Cairn – January 29th, 2026
I really never thought we’d enter into an era of gaming where climbing up really big things was the hot mechanic, but I am not mad about it.
Cairn is the new game from The Game Bakers, who you might remember as the guys behind the amazing Furi. You play as a lone climber attempting to summit an unexplored peak. Every handhold, every foothold, every bit of stamina matters. There’s no fast travel, no safety net, and no quick fixes. If you misjudge a route or push on when you shouldn’t, that’s on you.
The Steam page describes it as a game about “freedom, perseverance, and discovery.” You’re choosing your route up the mountain, deciding when to rest, what gear to carry, and how much risk you’re willing to take. It’s quiet, but not passive. You’re constantly making small calls that can have very big consequences.
There’s already a demo available, which is absolutely the right way to sell this. Within ten minutes you’ll know whether it works for you, but if you liked Jusant, Breath of the Wild, or even PEAK but wished it was less silly, you will probably like this.
Cairn will be released on January 29th, 2026 on PC and PS5. Next: the complete opposite.
ROMEO IS A DEAD MAN – February 11th, 2026
ROMEO IS A DEAD MAN was revealed at The Game Awards and immediately announced itself as a very specific kind of nonsense. All caps, time wimey, dead guy nonsense with about eighteen different art styles.
This is a full-on stylish action game from Grasshopper Manufacture of No More Heroes fame, which means loud combat, ridiculous escalation, and a story that exists mostly to justify everything going off the rails.
You play as Romeo Stargazer, an FBI agent who is, as the title suggests, dead. Or mostly dead. He’s been resurrected via extremely anime sci-fi technology and now hunts criminals across space and time. If that sounds like an excuse for stupid stuff, that’s because it is, and the game seems very comfortable with that.
Combat is close-quarters and a bit character action-y. You’re expected to stay on the offensive, chain attacks together, and deal with enemies quickly rather than defensively. It’s very much in the lineage of No More Heroes and Killer Is Dead, and hopefully a lot less Let It Die.
There’s no pretending this is subtle or restrained. It’s violent, flashy, and knowingly stupid in a way Grasshopper fans will immediately recognise. If you’re in the mood for something dramatic, serious, or emotionally grounded, this very much isn’t that. If you’re in the mood for a jape, ROMEO IS A DEAD MAN launches February 11th, 2026 for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series. Just a heads up that you might want to kiss your family goodbye before this next game.
Slay the Spire 2 – March 2026
Slay the Spire 2 is doing the smartest thing it possibly could: not trying to reinvent something that already works frighteningly well. Crack cocaine was already pretty effective! Instead, it’s an expansion of the original idea, aimed squarely at people who have already lost hundreds of hours to “just one more run.”
You’re still climbing, still building broken decks out of scraps, still making one bad decision that ruins an otherwise perfect run. What’s new is more characters, more cards, more enemies, and more weird interactions to learn the hard way.
The art is cleaner, animations are smoother, and fights are easier to read without losing that scrappy charm the first game had. Again, it’s just the first game but bigger, and that’s totally fine.
What matters most is that the decision-making still feels sharp. In the original game, there were few feelings as devastating as realising just picking up the wrong card had ruined your entire synergy. If Slay the Spire 2 does that but with nicer graphics, I will personally be throwing at least 100 hours at it.
If the first Slay the Spire ate months of your life, you can start your climb with the second game in Steam Early Access from March 2026.
REPLACED – March 12th, 2026
REPLACED has been around for a long time. I mean, it was revealed at the final ever E3, which already feels like it’s been gone for a decade. But the appeal is still obvious the second you see it move. This is a cinematic side-scroller built around atmosphere first and action second, very much in the Another World / Flashback lineage, just drenched in neon and CRT glow.
You play as an AI trapped in a human body, navigating a bleak, retro-futuristic city where everything feels as unchill as a retrofuturistic city usually is. The game puts a lot of emphasis on animation and timing. Every hit, fall, and transition is meant to look good, not just function.
The lighting, camera framing, and animation work are doing a lot of the storytelling without leaning on walls of text. There’s a reason why this was the most anticipated games when it was revealed back in 2021.
This feels like the sort of game people will talk about in terms of presentation first, then slowly realise the mechanics are solid enough to back it up. Well, hopefully that’s the case. REPLACED launches on March 12th, 2026 for PC and Xbox Series. Time to cheese it over to the next indie banger.
MOUSE: P.I. For Hire – March 19th, 2026
You’ve probably already seen this one on Twitter, in between all the AI generated images of your dad kissing himself.
One of the most hyped indie shooters ever, Mouse: P.I. For Hire is a noir FPS wrapped in full rubber-hose cartoon nonsense, and it commits to the bit harder than you’d expect. Think 1930s animation, black-and-white brutality, and a detective story that exists mostly to give you an excuse to shoot things in increasingly silly ways.
The feel is closer to something like classic Doom mixed with BioShock, Steamboat Willie and Cuphead. Movement is quick, weapons are chunky, and encounters are built to keep you pushing forward rather than playing it safe. It’s very arcade-minded: get in, explode some heads, move on.
What really sells it is the presentation. The animation style isn’t just a filter slapped on top of a normal FPS; everything moves with that stretchy, hand-drawn energy. Enemies wobble, weapons bounce, and the whole thing looks like it would give someone from the 30s a heart attack if you showed it to them, and that’s why it works,
MOUSE: P.I. For Hire is due to launch on March 19th, 2026 for PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, Switch 1 and Switch 2. Please be good.
Desktop Explorer – Q2 2026
Desktop Explorer is a very, very cool idea that fans of LimeWire will love. It’s an adventure puzzle game where you’re literally poking around an old PC’s desktop trying to unravel a mystery. Your uncle left you his old machine as “inheritance,” it still boots, and inside you find clues to a missing-person case buried in files, folders, and corrupted software. Sounds simple, but really quite genius.
The premise sets the tone right away. You don’t just click on every pixel on the hunt for a spectral lighter that you can use to defeat a goat — you explore an entire 90s-style operating system full of hidden directories, chat logs, apps, and buried fragments of someone’s digital life. The interface is part of the storytelling, as every file, every shortcut could be a clue or a red herring.
A free demo has already been out on Steam for a while, letting you play the opening chapter, solve the first batch of cryptic logic puzzles, and people have been very positive about what they’ve explored so far.
If you like mystery games that treat the UI itself as the playground, or are a big fan of things like Pony Island, Desktop Explorer from Recurring Dream could be a bit of a sleeper hit. They’ve even put in bonus mini-games, which I always love. There’s no exact day yet, but Desktop Explorer is pencilled in for Q2 2026 on Steam.
Alabaster Dawn – TBC 2026
You can always count on indie games to make the kind of RPGs that the big guys just don’t anymore. If you liked what Sea of Stars did for 2D turn-based games, you might enjoy what Radical Fish are trying to do for action RPGs.
Alabaster Dawn is pitching itself as a “handcrafted action RPG focused on exploration, combat, and player freedom.” If you ever played CrossCode, the developer’s previous game, then you should be pretty excited by that.
You explore a ruined fantasy world shaped by an ancient catastrophe, taking on enemies in real-time combat that’s more about positioning and timing than flailing buttons. It’s not trying to be a Souls game, but it does expect you to pay attention. Wander off the beaten path and you’ll find side areas, optional encounters, and bits of story that flesh the world out without stopping everything dead.
The game is planned to be 30-60 hours long, with Combat Arts, puzzles, and very blood lovely graphics. It’s pitched as a blend of Devil May Cry, Kingdom Hearts, and CrossCode, which feels like a wild mix. It will even have a whole other separate roguelite mode built inside it. There’s a lot going on here, but also it seems like it will be a pretty approachable action RPG.
There’s no firm release date yet, but it will be launching into Early Access in 2026., and you can try a slice of it yourself with a demo. If it sticks the landing, this could be a very easy game to sink dozens of relaxed, slightly obsessive hours into.
.45 PARABELLUM BLOODHOUND – TBC
The easiest way to sell .45 PARABELLUM BLOODHOUND is this: it is basically Parasite Eve 3. I thought that might grab your attention.
It’s coming from Sukeban Games, the people behind VA-11 HALL-A, which explains a lot. If you’ve played that pretty beloved visual novel with mixology, you should expect plenty of style here. Except instead of serving drinks you’re serving people their arse on a platter via a large spherical dome that slows down time in an Active Time Action system.
You’ll be playing as Reila Mizakucki, a lone fixer operating in a grimy cyberpunk city, taking on jobs, navigating hostile environments, and surviving encounters. You’re also depressed, so take out the cyberpunk and it’s basically your life, but cóoler!
Visually, it’s sharp pixel art with strong colour contrast and very clear readability. It just looks like another one of them beautiful modern retro PS1 games that I don’t think I will ever get tired of looking at, particularly in the Signalis vein.
The bad news is that there is no actual set in stone release date as such, but I’d be shocked if it doesn’t come out in 2026 and also isn’t one of the most unique games of the year. Same for this next one.
DoubleShake – TBC
This is another indie game that’s not got a release date, but it was actually meant to come out in 2025 and then just kinda disappeared. If it doesn’t release in 2026, I will uhh shake my fist?
Double Shake is basically the modern baby of Mischief Makers and Tomba. You’re tasked with saving your island by jumping off giraffes with your giant tree trunk legs, chatting to villagers, and so much more.
The core loop is all about shaking things like a Polaroid picture. You’re constantly picking things up, hurling them, bouncing off enemies, and chaining movement together to keep speed up. It has that very specific Treasure feel where combat and platforming blur into the same thing, and you are often rewarded just by doing things.
Visually, it’s bright, expressive, and animated in a way that sells physicality and having giant, barrel-crushing thighs. Characters stretch and squash, and everything looks like it wants to be thrown across the screen. It’s stylish, but in a fun, toy-box way rather than a grim or cinematic one.
Now, I wouldn’t usually include this in an indie video, as it’s actually published by Limited Run Games, who are actually owned by the Embracer Group, who are actually gigantic idiots. But it started life as a Kickstarter project and the team at Rightstick is pretty small, so I think it should still count. Also, I just think it’s neat. Go play the demo and find out why.
Neverway – 2026
Neverway is extremely easy to pitch, which is usually a good sign. It’s a life sim crossed with a horror RPG. Basically Stardew Valley, but set in Bizarro World where something is very wrong and everyone’s pretending it isn’t.
By day, you’re doing familiar cosy-sim stuff: you know, farming, crafting, talking to townsfolk, trying to chat up 6 different people at once, and settling into a quiet rural routine. By night, the mask slips. The world shifts, hostile creatures show up, and the game starts pushing you into combat and exploration that feels closer to a survival RPG than a chill sim.
The Steam page describes it as a blend of “slice-of-life and eldritch adventure,” which is about as accurate as marketing copy ever gets. You’re meant to get comfortable first, then unsettled. The longer you spend in Neverway, the more it feels like the town is nudging you toward something unpleasant. Like marriage! Eek!
What makes it seem compelling beyond the minimal art style and likely tentacles is how cleanly the systems seem to sit together. This isn’t a gimmick where the horror is bolted on. The daily routines feed directly into your ability to survive the darker side of the game. It’s like Stardew meets Cult of the Lamb and that’s a very nice blend indeed
There’s no specific date yet beyond 2026, but if you like your cosy games with an undercurrent of dread, Neverway feels like a very smart twist on a very familiar formula — and a strong note to end on.
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