Earlier today we told you about 10 fantastic-looking unknown games that really deserve your attention. But that’s not enough penance! We’ve done so much wrong. So here come another 10 indie games that are going under the radar, this Indie-Penance Day.
Same situation as before: these are the results of a clarion call released on BlueSky, for indies to submit links about their games via email, selected at random, and included below without my having played them. With something like 300 emails coming in now, it feels very unfair that only a minority of submissions can be picked, but it exemplifies the state of indie gaming. So many games, so few outlets willing to take a punt on covering them.
So I say to all other outlets, you’d think that articles like these might be something I “get away with” while the Kotaku team is away barbecuing their flags or whatever it is Americans do today, but the reality is: these articles do really good traffic!
There’s cold, capitalist money to be made in indie coverage! Don’t assume it all needs to be teasers for the trailer for the next Call of Duty skin drops—these Indie-Penance posts often end up in Kotaku’s most successful articles for the month.
Right, lecture over, let’s get on with cooing at really interesting-looking forthcoming indie games!
This super-pretty game is about helping two characters—Ben and Abi—separately explore a puzzly, platforming world, in both single-player and co-op. What the trailer above doesn’t make clear is that there’s an extra level to it, where you rearrange the world they’re exploring like a sliding tile puzzle, to change how you approach the challenges.
The one thing I cannot figure out, however, is why this has a “2″ in the title! There’s no evidence of a Lost Twins 1, making this incredibly odd. But who cares, when this game from a three-person Pakistani team looks so lovely.
Developer: Playdew
Release Date: August 2025
Steam Page
I’m a sucker for a esoteric game name, so Your Holy & Virtuous Heretic draws me right in. That’s then doubled down on when the developer behind it is called ‘i will bite raw coffee beans.’ Fortunately, this super-lo-fi first-person, turn-based RPG looks as weird as its surrounding names. It’s about the occult, magic, technology, and turn-based combat, but combined with free exploration, and I’m just so damned intrigued. There’s a demo if you’re equally curious.
Developer: i will bite raw coffee beans
Release Date: TBA
Steam Page
“Ride a bike into the dark forest,” Vicious Cycle instructs you, as you enter a very spooky-looking first-person puzzle adventure. The game is played in two ways: firstly by riding your bicycle through scary woods, dodging monsters and trying not to be dead; the second exploring on foot, solving puzzles in what look like quite escape-room-inspired ways. Looks like one for people who truly enjoy a good jump-scare. Like me. There’s a demo, too.
Developer: Brave Traveller Games
Release Date: 2025
Steam Page
Released just recently, Of Life and Land is a settlement sim that’s proving very popular with the small number of people who’ve picked it up so far. You’re building a small town in the middle of the countryside, with nature playing a key role in the game. As you grow your settlement, you’ll start to have an increased effect on the wildlife around you, possibly causing some to become endangered or extinct, or even accidentally triggering over-population. It seems the game leaves you free to decide how you want to handle your impact, while also worrying about economies, resources and citizens’ needs.
Developer: Kerzoven
Release Date: Out Now
Steam Page
I often wonder at the name choices people make for games, given how hard they can be to remember how to spell or Google, but I think Drăculești might take the biscuit. I don’t even know how to make my keyboard do that smiley a, or tailed s. However, if anyone can find it again, this is a romantic horror visual novel, based around the Dracula myth. And yes, you can totes get down with ol’ Drac himself. There’s going to be a Kickstarter next week, to get the game across the finish line, but there’s already a demo available.
Developer: Fine Feathered Friends
Release Date: TBA
Steam Page
Right at the other end of the dating game market is Heartspell: Horizon Academy. It’s hooking up via the magic of match-3!
I’ve recently been dragged back into playing the fantastic Gems of War by my 10-year-old, who is totally hooked, and as great as that game is, you never get to smooch the monsters. Thank goodness, given the 10yo is playing. He definitely won’t be playing this, which looks like a fantastic mix of visual novel and Puzzle Quest-like match-3 puzzles, where you level up your magical abilities and make kissy-face at the local wizards. There’s a demo out which apparently has a full 90 minutes of game!
Developer: Dire Kitten Games
Release Date: 2025
Steam Page
I know, it looks like I’m going through the hundreds of emails and just picking out the puns. I swear that’s not what’s happening. (Which implies something far worse is happening—a pun epidemic in game titling.) But come on, Omelet You Cook. God, that’s good/bad.
It looks completely mad. A cooking roguelite, with a Dave the Diver aesthetic, where you have to make omelets (look, I know it’s Independence Day and all, but it’s “omelette,” Americans. It’s a French word!) for a student cafeteria. You know, omelets with donuts and pineapples. It came out in early access in the last month, for only $8, and there’s a demo as well.
Developer: Dan Schumacher, Hjalte Tagmose
Release Date: Out Now
Steam Page
I’m not sure survival has ever looked so relaxing. Solarpunk (yeah, it’s two words in the art, one word in the text—indie developers…) is about growing food, crafting gadgets, and building buildings, all on floating islands that can be explored via airships. There are ways to build automation for your farming and resource gathering, which seems ideal, since the art makes me want to sit on a deck with my feet up, supping a coffee, as the sun gently sets. Mmmmmmm. There’s a demo to check if it’s as chilled as it appears.
Developer: Cyberwave
Release Date: 2025
Steam Page
Developer bilge submitted two unreleased games to this, the other being an excellent Kafkaesque horror based on obeying a pager, called Pager. But I couldn’t take my eye away from Balls, Dice & Stickers, the up-front name for a game about…well, you got there. And that’s most because I have no idea at all what is happening here. And I love it for that. Because there sure is a lot of stuff happening! You’re throwing balls at dice, while using stickers for bonus effects, I think? And it’s a roguelite, and a deckbuilder? Sure. Sure!
Developer: bilge
Release Date: 2025
Steam Page
Chicken Scratch is a multiplayer drawing game, where your job depends upon being able to convey bizarre prompts through art. But because you’re playing with up to seven people, it’s not so simple. This sounds like a combination of Pictionary and Telephone, as your friends try to interpret, add to or copy your drawing, then others guess the prompt you’d been given. Which sounds gloriously chaotic. Prompts are randomly generated (“Smiling Ice”, “Generous Novelist”, “Enraged Reindeer”), meaning there’s no end to the silliness. There’s a demo out now.
Developer: Keely Brown, Mat Belanger
Release Date: TBA
Steam Page
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