Welcome to the 250th edition of Indie-Penance Day! Running annually on Kotaku since 1776, each year we celebrate the emancipation of indie games from the tyrannical publishers that once ruled the land. For this semiquincentennial edition, we’re bringing you a broad range of new and upcoming indie games you’ve likely never heard of before, but will be so glad you know about now, all perfectly poised to be added to your Wishlist.
As ever, I put out a call on the socials for indie devs to let us know about under-the-radar games they’re working on or have recently released, and as ever I received far more submissions than I can possibly cover. Selected via my patented method (randomly clicking on emails, and checking they don’t look rubbish), read on for an eclectic mix of unique games. If there’s nothing below that you find interesting it means you’re at fault, because wow, the breadth of imagination and variety on offer here just blows my mind.
I’m Your Host
Developer: Calligram Studio
Release date: 2026
Steam page
I love a podcast that’s about restoring lost media to reveal a mystery. I’m Your Host flips that concept around, where you’re the person attempting to restore encrypted audio files to rediscover a lost podcast! It says it will have a customizable operating system in which you rearrange audio clips based on context clues, all with the goal of uncovering and solving a mystery hidden within, and it sounds exactly my jam.
Sparrow Warfare
Developer: Neon Aurelius
Release date: Q4 2026
Steam page
A mahjong-themed deckbuilder, where you control a team of birds led by a sparrow in an effort to free other birds from the tiles of an evil Storyteller. Is a sentence you’ve never read before. Sparrow Warfare looks charming, sounds fascinating to master, and there’s a demo to check out. From couple Neon Aurelius, in parts responsible for Secrets of Rætikon and Baldur’s Gate 3, the game art uses 17th century public domain bird illustrations that are then altered, colored and animated, and made into tiles, which is just the loveliest idea.
ShoreTiles
Developer: Voxel Studios
Release date: Q3 2026
Steam page
I’m not normally one for just pasting the blurb from the email, but ShoreTiles‘ is too good to pass up: “ShoreTiles is like Dredge, Bad North and Dorfromantik had a three way baby and it came out ready to haunt you when the sun comes down.” Sold. And even more so by the rally lovely-looking art in the trailer combined with the sinister sense of impending doom. Also, stick a lighthouse in a game and you’re almost guaranteed coverage from me.
Murder Meet Cute
Developer: Kitico, Laborare, Crybaby Studios
Release date: 2026
Steam page
Lost screen games are a favorite genre of mine, and Murder Meet Cute looks like none of them I’ve played before. It’s a detective mystery where you play as someone who fixes computers, and reluctantly gets dragged into a really creepy-looking murder mystery. I very much appreciate it that in the game’s list of features it mentions it’s a game about “a badass goth telling customers where to shove it.”
KAZ
Developer: Kalinarm
Release date: Jul 13, 2026
Steam page
Out in under a couple of weeks, KAZ is an action-roguelite that looks like nothing else, where a four-button input has you zooming around tile grids as everything is kicking off around you. I cannot get over how much I love the animation in the trailer! A score-chasing frenzy, with 145 quests and five different ways to play, I’m not even sure I want to try to figure out exactly what it is we’re going to be doing—I want to learn it on the fly!
Clowntown
Developer: Batterystaple Games
Release date: TBA
Steam page
A two-to-eight-player 2D co-op puzzle game where you and your chums play as clowns working together in over 100 minigames, with themes as different as trying to cooperatively replicate a painting using squirt guns, to building skyscrapers together. It looks very silly and a bunch of fun, and comes with a campaign mode that’ll last you all five or six hours. Oh, and there are 30 different honk noises, and there’s no way to switch them off.
Warriors of the End
Developer: DoubleXP Game Studio
Release date: 2026
Steam page
Self-described in their email as “the only good Survivors-type game,” and who am I to argue, Warriors of the End looks to combine a Vampire Survivors-like with tower defense, which seems like such an obviously good idea that I’m shocked I’m not seeing it everywhere. You deal with the hordes by careful positioning of your character and the various defensive mechanisms you gain as you play. Also it looks like if South Park made a bullet heaven in 1994. There’s a web demo of the game on the team’s Itch page. I had a quick play, and yes.
Dungeon Bodega Simulator
Developer: Alien Fruit
Release date: Out now
Steam page
You know who never gets the attention they deserve? The RPG shopkeepers. What a life that must be, trying to keep stock for passing adventurers but somehow also never going out of business. Dungeon Bodega Simulator shines a light on these sword-forging, potion-brewing, crop-growing heroes, and also gives them their very own puzzles to solve. Developer Harrison was fired from Xbox last year, so made a game about a recently fired adventurer trying to figure out their next steps. It’s out now, and less than $10.
Hoop Dungeon
Developer: Why Not Games
Release date: Out now
Steam page
You know who else gets short shrift in dungeon-based games? Basketball players. It’s a situation that’s finally improving thanks to Hoop Dungeon, a turn-based roguelite basketball game that’s all about tactical thinking and smart application of basketball moves. Oh, and it’s also about the power of friendship! And rivalry. It’s out in early access already, and should be reaching its final version any time now.
[Redacted] The Safehouse
Developer: Hearbeast
Release date: Out now
Steam page
A first-person detective game with a whole bunch of code-hunting and puzzle-solving to do, all in aid of solving the murder of a young couple in their safehouse. It’s short, just an hour or so, and only $3, and looks like it has some creepy underpinnings to discover in that brief span. And crikey, over 100 Steam reviews and they’re 100 percent positive!
Check back later today for even more incredible unknown indies.
