The latest batch of new indie games is unusually broad, stretching from a workplace comedy about a worm pretending to be a financial analyst to a ship-design sandbox that can export creations for 3D printing. There are also colorful mascot-platforming stages, first-person puzzle rooms full of hidden solutions, a mobile-friendly shoe-launching puzzler and several upcoming projects worth putting on the radar.
It has also been a notable week for independent studios themselves. Double Fine Productions, recently independent again after leaving Microsoft, has launched a Kickstarter-backed game-jam project. Backers will vote on ideas from a pool of 26 pitches. Four concepts will advance into playable prototypes, before another vote determines which one becomes a small standalone game. The process is being documented by 2 Player Productions and streamed on Twitch, offering an unusually public look at a studio narrowing down raw concepts into a finished release.
The campaign has a deliberately towering stretch goal, too: if it somehow reaches $100 million, Double Fine says it will make Brütal Legend 2. Meanwhile, the studio has brought its former Xbox exclusive Keeper to PlayStation 5 and reduced the price of its most recent game, Kiln, to $8.
Aggro Crab is taking a different route with the success of Peak, using some of that revenue to fund and publish outside developers. The label intends to support intense, stylized games with a distinct attitude rather than confining itself to one genre. It plans to sign only a couple of projects annually in the interest of sustainability, and has said developers using generative AI will not be considered. Its approach to revenue is also notable: instead of requiring a project to fully recoup the publisher's investment before a developer receives money, Aggro Crab says revenue should start returning to creators so they can sustain themselves and support their games after launch.
For useful background on this topic, read Tetris Company Disavows White House's 'Build the Wall' Browser Game.
One of the games now supported by Aggro Crab is Rebounder, ThirtyThree's precision platformer with a handmade comic-book visual style. The publisher is also behind the earlier surreal horror title Subway Midnight.
Elsewhere, Eric Barone has offered a progress update on Haunted Chocolatier, his next game after Stardew Valley. No release timing was shared for the project, which was announced in 2021. Barone did, however, reiterate that it remains the game he is most motivated to work on and that he does not plan to compromise its quality merely to release it sooner. With other commitments, including the anticipated Stardew Valley 1.7 update, the wait is continuing--but development is still moving forward.
Available now: a worm with a desk job
Worming From Home
Developer: Zach Northrop and Mason Sabharwal
Platform: Steam on Windows and Mac; Steam Deck Verified
Price: Usually $10, with a 25 percent discount through September 18
For another perspective on this story, read New Indie Games: Worm Office Chaos, Colorful Platforming and DIY Ships.
Worming From Home makes an immediately understandable pitch: it is a remote-work simulator starring a worm. Players fling their invertebrate employee around a keyboard to write messages, manage spreadsheets and climb the financial-analyst career ladder while attempting to keep their non-human identity hidden.
The premise goes beyond a single joke. The worm needs to answer phone calls, attend video chats with its boss and handle the ordinary pressures of office life. There are life-simulation activities away from the desk as well, including exercise, hat shopping and flirting with colleagues. One especially odd detail suggests players should try dialing 911, though the game keeps the resulting surprise for those willing to experiment. It is a strange, playful take on working from home that sounds appropriately suited to short sessions on Steam Deck as well as desktop play.
Marsupilami 2: Salsa Palombia
Developer: Ocellus Studio
Platforms: Steam for Windows, Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch; Steam Deck Verified
Price: $30, with a demo available
For players craving a bright, traditional platformer, Marsupilami 2: Salsa Palombia builds on the foundation of its predecessor. It draws from the same broadly accessible school as Donkey Kong Country and Crash Bandicoot, while starring characters from the long-running Belgian comic series.
The sequel allows players to control three Marsupilami characters, swapping between two within each level to use their different talents. That flexibility gives the stages more mechanical variety: one character can curl into a ball, bounce through hazards and better navigate spike-filled areas, for example. Levels are designed with concealed paths and secrets, while the difficulty reportedly rises at a fair pace. There are four worlds in total, along with bonus stages for completion-minded players. It may not be an especially long adventure, but a compact, polished platformer can be exactly what the genre needs.
He Who Watches
Developer: Bobby Vanden
Publisher: Draknek and Friends
Platforms: Steam for Windows and Mac, plus Itch; Steam Deck Verified
Price: Usually $20, with a 15 percent discount through September 16
He Who Watches is a first-person puzzle game with an immediately striking architectural style. Its rooms evoke the visual language of shrine-based adventure puzzles, but its inspirations also include Fez, Animal Well and Tunic. That combination signals a game built around secrets, observation and the satisfaction of understanding rules that were initially obscure.
The player can walk on walls and ceilings, turning rooms into spatial brainteasers rather than simple floor-bound spaces. A magical bow provides another central tool: arrows activate switches, shift blocks and can function as a hookshot for crossing gaps. Particularly promising is the built-in hint structure. Each main room contains a smaller optional puzzle designed to point players toward the key idea behind the larger riddle without simply spelling out the answer. That is a thoughtful middle ground for a genre where getting stuck can otherwise stop momentum cold.
ShipShaper: Falconeer Chronicles
Developer: Tomas Sala
Publishers: Wired Productions and Gamersky Games
Platform: Steam Early Access for Windows; playable on Steam Deck
Price: Usually $9, with a 10 percent discount through September 16; demo available
ShipShaper: Falconeer Chronicles is less interested in making players learn complicated 3D software than in getting them quickly into the pleasure of designing a ship. Created by Tomas Sala, known for The Falconeer, the game uses experimental interfaces and organic shaping tools to remove much of the usual technical friction. Players build hulls, attach functional components and props, then create anything from practical vessels to far stranger nautical inventions.
Those ships are not only for display. They can be tested on the water and used in Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles, Sala's earlier game. In a generous nod to the developer's background in modding, other creators are also permitted to use ships they make in their own games. The option to export 3D-printing files adds another compelling dimension, allowing digital shipwrights to turn their creations into physical models.
Shoe It All!
Developer: Amberbite
Publishers: Amberbite and Bright Gambit
Platforms: Steam for Windows and Mac, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, Android, Google Play for PC, iPhone, iPad and Mac
Price: $8 on PC and consoles, $5 on mobile; Steam has a 20 percent discount through September 17
Shoe It All! revolves around a wonderfully direct puzzle-game verb: throw shoes. Players swing back and forth, judge the timing and launch footwear to solve more than 65 handcrafted challenges. Secrets, low-throw solutions and trick shots give dedicated players reasons to revisit rooms, while a speedrun mode supports a faster and more technical approach.
The comic-book presentation and pop-punk soundtrack fit its energetic silliness. Its availability across console, PC and mobile also makes it a flexible option, especially for someone looking to replace a few minutes of aimless phone scrolling with a game that has a clear goal and a quick payoff.
Upcoming indie games to watch
I Am Your Beast: Quitting Time
Developer and publisher: Strange Scaffold and Frosty Pop
Platform: Steam for Windows, GOG and Itch; consoles later
Release date: October 20
Quitting Time is a prequel expansion for Strange Scaffold's rapid-fire first-person shooter I Am Your Beast. It adds 10 levels and shifts the action to Southeast Asia. The DLC's exaggerated action includes the ability to hurl a riot shield with enough force to produce a spectacularly grisly result.
October 20 is also significant for the base game: I Am Your Beast arrives on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 that day. It is already available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and iOS.
The Final Cut of Lilith Cunningham
Developer and publisher: Causeway Studios
Platform: Steam
Release window: 2027
Causeway Studios is preparing a supernatural mystery centered on Lilith Cunningham's search for her missing daughter. A strange hotel and drive-in are involved, but the standout mechanic is a mystical film reel used to edit a full-motion-video movie. Changing the cut changes the world around Lilith and alters the people within it, creating a mystery where film editing is integral to investigation rather than mere decoration.
The game is standalone, though it contains references to the studio's first title, The Haunting of Joni Evers. Both belong to an expanding connected setting called The Worlds Across the Causeway, which will extend across games, short stories and other fiction.
Milki Delivery and Cat Secretary
Milki Delivery, from the developers of Minami Lane and Kabuto Park, launches on Steam for Windows, Mac and SteamOS/Linux on November 17. It casts players as a young milk courier caring for a pet cow, meeting local residents and delivering varieties such as strawberry milk and milk tea. Bike and farm upgrades provide light resource management, but there is no fail state. With a projected two-to-three-hour runtime and hand-drawn visuals, it looks like an inviting, low-pressure game for younger players and anyone seeking a brief cozy diversion.
Finally, Cat Secretary arrives on Steam November 4, with a demo available now. This narrative adventure stars a suited-up cat trying to derail its company's plan to replace human workers with robots. Keeping office morale up involves work such as coffee-making, router repair and reception-area upgrades, while side quests can be solved in multiple ways. A dating-sim element accompanies the cat's pursuit of promotions, and player choices influence its personality. It is an appealingly pointed premise wrapped in an office comedy--and a cat in a suit is an excellent starting point for any game.
Community
Discussion
Start the conversation.
No comments have been posted yet.