When over 50 indie games come out a day on Steam alone, it can feel impossible to keep up with what’s worth playing. One of the best techniques is to curate a wishlist, meaning games that deserve attention float to the surface on release. And that’s where we can help: here are ten games you’ve likely never heard of, that well deserve your attention.
As Kotaku’s writers and editors are all off thanking absolutely anything they can find, I—a disgraceful foreigner who celebrates no such gratitude-based holidays—am left holding the confused bundle of keys and upside-down instruction manual. So, as ever, I’m abusing my ill-explained power by writing about as many unknown indie games as I can cram onto the site. SEO be damned, here are a bunch of games you’ve never heard of, but should absolutely be slammed onto your wishlists as hard as possible.
As is now traditional (these features have been going for three years now!), these games are selected at random from the hundreds of emails I’ve received after appealing for suggestions. Unless I say otherwise, I’ve not played the games, and as such can’t vouch for them, not least because most have yet to be released.
If anything catches your eye, wishlisting the games on Steam does wonders for the developers, letting the algorithms know people are interested. And given the range and potential here, something should catch your eye.
No one could have predicted 2021 hit PowerWash Simulator, but it’s meant that when someone announces they’re making a game about cleaning up pixels, I’m listening right away. That’s the promise of Pixel Washer, a 2D interpretation of the form, which can be checked out in a web demo over on Itch. I just did, and yeah, it’s very similar to PWS, albeit in lovely 2D pixel art, and that’s just fine with me.
Developer: Valadria
Release date: TBA
Tom Jubert has written some of the smartest games you’ve played. Subnautica, The Talos Principle, FTL… He’s now turning his attention to the freshly out-of-copyright novel, 1984, as a first-person survival adventure set within Orwell’s tale. Indeed, the entire novel is read out loud as you play (and that AI voice in the trailer will be replaced by a real human voice actor).
1984 seems a very daunting prospect to take on, and in less experienced hands I’d be immediately wary. But if there’s anyone who could pull it off, it’s Jubert. It’ll be interesting to see.
Developer: Inner Party
Release date: TBA
Having recently replayed the wonderful SteamWorld Dig 2, I’m doubly-intrigued by the upcoming Bore Blasters. At first glance, it looks a very similar game. At second glance, it’s clearly not! Where SWD2 has you methodically digging by hand, Bore Blasters is about mass-demolition as you mine through blocks with a “machine gun drill,” flown around on a gyrocopter. However, you’re still collecting rare gems, upgrades for your blasting equipment, and battling the enemies that live in the blocky underground realms.
Developer: 8BitSkull
Release date: Q1 2024
This is a fantastic idea: a customizable 3D RPG space in which you can create and run your favorite table-top campaigns. Clearly unlicensed, so lacking official inclusions from the likes of WOTC, this Early Access release seems like something a smaller TTRPG should jump into licensing. Dungeon Full Dive offers the ability to view a campaign from a traditional top-down perspective, or jump into one of your miniatures and explore from a first-person view.
A high entry price—$30—might be off-putting this early, but the developers promise future updates will be free. It also offers the ability to play in VR, and to crossplay with those not in VR. This is a brilliant idea that I’m surprised not to have seen done before.
Developer: TxK Gaming Studios
Release date: Early Access out now
I’m a big fan of the original Polimines, and as it happens was already playing this freshly released sequel this week, but it came up via the same wildly random process as every other game included in this list. And frankly, good, because it’s not like this brilliant puzzle game is getting covered anywhere else.
If you’ve played The Best PC Puzzle Game Ever, Hexcells, you’ll already have an idea of how Polimines works. This combines that wunder-puzzle with Picross, and the result is a fantastically tricky, methodical gaming of marking tiles, eliminating others, and scratching your head until every nit has fleed.
Developer: Molter
Release date: Out now
Released just last week, Lucky Hero is an idea so obvious I can’t believe there aren’t a hundred games like it already. It’s a combination of roguelite RPG and fruit machine. You collect symbols which offer weapons, armor, abilities and so on to add to your dials, then spin the wheels and upgrade items and launch attacks based on what lands in front of you. I’m already installing it.
Developer: Mora Churrasco Studio
Release date: Out now
Remember 2008’s rhythm racing game, Audiosurf? That’s what first sprung to mind when I watched the trailer for Infinity Girl. This is to be a roguelite racer, taking influence from games as diverse as Thumper and Monkey Ball, where the music defines the tracks, actions, enemies and even worlds you play in.
Developer: Chroma Games
Release date: 2024
Just spinning the giant wheel-o-deck-builder to see what’s next… [ticker ticker ticker tick tick…tick] It’s…SPACE INVADERS!
StarVaders is a combination of the erstwhile deckbuilding rogue-ish, applied to a schmuppy vertical scrolling arcade game! Which sounds bonkers, but when you watch the trailer above, just seems to make so much sense. There’s a demo out already.
Developer: StarVaders Studio
Release date: 2024
Another deck-builder, but this time with dice instead of cards? I’m up for that. Die In The Dungeon looks like a Slay The Spire-type affair, but with the intricate application of dice in a complicated grid, alongside magical relics, and hoping for good rolls.
I really like the pixel art here, even if we have perhaps seen rather too many frog-based characters of late. If this gets the balance right, it could be a corker.
Developer: ATICO
Release date: TBA
Successfully Kickstarted, 10 Dead Doves is a creepy PS1-style horror, set in the Appalachian wilderness. And it looks all kinds of weird.
A 30 minute demo is out now, which offers all manner of peculiar scares, delivered with a…unique graphical approach. This has gone straight on my wishlist, and the demo is downloading as I type.
Developer: Duonix Studio
Release date: 2024
More tomorrow!