Top 25 Indie Games to Watch in 2025
Top 25 Indie Games to Watch in 2025
They say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, which is just fun way of saying it’s good to be prepared. Having said that, as some of our most anticipated games of this year started to slip into 2025, we wanted to take a look at all of the other titles that are coming next year that have piqued our interest.
We tried to rank these games, rather than just list them and we did this with combination of how good the game actually looks, the likelihood it will be good and our genre preferences.
TLDR these games will range from all different types of Indies from teams with a handful of devs to triple-i level studios and some studios that might even have publishing deals with bigger companies, which doesn’t make them less independent, they just were fortunate enough to secure a publishing deal and alleviate some stress for their next release.
Let’s not get too caught in the weeds with the definition of what an independent game studio is. Instead, lets just try to have fun and get excited for some indies together.
There are also loads of games that are due out in 2024 that we didn’t add here, but could slip into next year. Games we were excited for in 2024 were Baby Steps, Metal Slug Tactics, and Skate Story just to name a few off the top of the head.
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THE LIST
25. Mouse: PI for Hire
Our initial assessment was that Mouse: PI for Hire looked interesting, but also looked like a shallow attempt to capitalize on popular trends including the genre and aesthetic. However, the more that the studio shows and talks about the game, the more it might have some substance to go with its style and isn’t just a “Boomer Shooter that looks like Cuphead”. What gets us most interested is that Metroid Prime might be a big inspiration.
Speaking on Podcast beyond, the game director said “The ultimate goal for the team is to have something that feels both familiar and fresh. combining FPS with many Metroidvania elements including abilities, upgrades and backtracking”
24. Midnight Walk
Moonhood is the new studio that was founded by the creators behind Lost in Random, which has a clay aesthetic, but was all created digitally. With their debut game The Midnight Walk, Moon Hood took this a step farther.
Every asset was first created and modeled using clay and then scanned as a 3D asset into the game engine. This hands on approach is obviously a lot more work, but it immediately looks unique. There is no replacing the real thing. According to the co founder of the studio, this hands on approach has orgnanically created a grittier and more poetic feeling.
When you combine the Art Direction and the literal hands on approach with the tonally dark atmosphere which looks like a playable version of Tim Burtons a nightmare before Christmas, Midnight Walk is one we can’t wait to try.
23. Drop Duchy
Trying to add a fresh perspective to the geometric puzzle genre is a rare occurrence. That is exactly what Sleepy Mill, small indie studio founded in 2023 by former Ubisoft Paris Lead Gameplay Designer have done. Their debut title takes the familiar Tetris gameplay and combines it with deck building, rogue-lite and medieval tactics. Maybe it could even be called a Tetris-like?
Instead of trying to clear lines of different shapes and colors, you are trying to build your kingdom, featuring tiles with lakes, rivers, glades, villages, guilds and more. Each time you play will feel different due to the procedural nature of the game and its combination of three different factions to play as. Line up tiles right and you should be able to successfully defend your kingdom from enemy troops. At the very least, Drop Duchy looks extremely unique with its blending of genres and minimalist art style.
FYI the word duchy means the territory of a duke or duchess.
22. Grit and Valor 1949
Grit and Valor 1949 is a real time tactics roguelike that we got to preview earlier this year and it was loads of fun. It felt like Into The Breach, Command and Conquer, a dash of tower defence and then blended with an alternate WW2 diesel-punk timeline.
The missions are fast, frenetic and each one provides you with different set of challenges as you try to fight back against the axis in your giants mechs. After each level you will gain experience which you can use to upgrade your mechs and pilots for future missions. Bonus objectives during each mission provide crucial materials needed to stay ahead of the curve. The end goal is to make it to enemy HQ while you traverse on a map that feels reminiscent of Slay The Spire as you try to turn the tide of war.
21. Tails of Iron 2
Tails of iron was a hidden indie gem where you played as a rat trying to reclaim the land from the evil frogs in this 2D RPG with brutal souls-like combat. With a unique story of rats vs frogs, solid combat, and strong narration, Tails of Iron had a very immersive atmosphere.
Tails of Iron 2 looks to expand on all of the meaningful aspects of the first game including the tough combat, crafting, quests and settlement building. I’ve yet to see what new features the sequel will bring, but even more of the same with a little extra refinement and polish wouldn’t be a bad thing.
20. Katana Zero DLC
There are a few long shots on the list and this is the first and most uninformed. There is nothing that indicates that this will release this year other than the passing of time. It’s been a long time since Katana Zero released and a week after it’s release, the studio said they were working on free DLC, and even in 2024, they have said it’s still happening. On their website, they said it was originally 3x as big as planned and then 6x and now they have said it’s less like DLC and more like Katana 1.5.
Katana Zero came to Netflix in 2024, which is good news and bad as it likely helped the studio secure more funds, but also slowed down the development requiring resources to port it.
19. Deer and Boy
Trying to fill the void left by playdead has been challenging since INSIDE released in 2016 and then unfortunately lost a few of it’s key core members who have moved on to other opportunities. There have been a fair amount of games that got close like planet of Lana, COCOON and Somerville, but none captured the same magic.
Not much is known about this cinematic platformer from Lifeline games, but if we are only judging by the trailer which is very atmospheric and the description where it mentions tragedy and escaping reality, there is a chance Deer and Boy can fill the void.
18. Slay The Spire 2
Widely considered to be one of the best deck building games, Mega Crit is back with what appears to be a lot more of the same, which is a good thing when the base formula is as excellent and additive as it was. New heroes with new decks along with plenty of new things to see along your climb of the spire like new enemies, events and treasures.
STS2 is once again using the early access model. There isn’t much else to say. If you enjoyed Slay The Spire, getting a lot more of it should be a great time. There is also mention of new ways to play but that has yet to be revealed.
17. Reanimal
After making Little Nightmares 1 and 2, Tarsier Studios are making a new game now that supermassive is making Little Nightmares 3 with Bandai Namco. Im curious as to what happened and why they didn't make the third, but Reanimal doesn’t look all that different from what the studio have done before.
According to the game description Reanimal is darker and more terrifying than their previous games. Reanimal still looks to feature plenty of puzzles, horror and atmosphere,
16. Tenjutsu
One of the original founders of Motion Twin, left shortly after the release of Dead Cells to start his own studio Deepnight games and are back with their second title. Yes, their second, the first Nuclear Blaze, a short and very fun firefighting romp with a strong Dead Cells movement feel
Tenjutsu is an action rogue-like where you play as a former member of the Yakuza hellbent on revenge. The dev sums up the game saying it’s what John wick would be if he were a roguelite. Devolver Digital has picked up the publishing rights to this one, which bodes well for the quality based on what they have seen.
15. The Eternal life of Goldman
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Breathtaking, hand drawn, 2D side scrolling platformer. From the team behind this is the police comes a platformer that looks stunning, which is due to the attention to detail and what the studio says is frame by frame drawn and colored without cutting any corners. The adventure takes place on a beautiful archipelago full of vibrant colors.
Dripping with inspiration from the classic 16 bit platformers, you are on a mission to destroy an ancient diety and to do so you must unlock new powers on your cane that will help you explore the island to the fullest. The studio is also trying to avoid a lot of the pitfalls of the genre. “It demands precision, but is never grueling, it encourages exploration, but doesn’t have you backtracking and it has a complex story, but it doesn’t feign pretension”. All of which is easier said than done and only time will tell.
14. Morsels
In the words of the developers, you play as a mouse fighting against a force of wicked cats using magical cards to transform into weird little monsters. With a grimy art style that feels reminiscent of nidhogg and fast paced roguelike gameplay where you capture creatures powers, Morsels seems interesting to say the least. The reason the art style and grime feels similar to nidhogg is because Toby Dixon, who is the artist on Morsels also worked on Nidhogg and Atomicrops. Morsels was easily the standout of the Nintendo Indie World Showcase that it was featured in.
The concept sounds similar to Nobody Saves the World, but the gameplay looks more addictive. Morsels was revealed mere days before Annapurna Interactive had its entire workforce quit and hopefully this wont affect the release of Morsels as they were handling the publishing.
13. Cairn
Rock climbing games had are having a bit of a moment. Games like Surmount, and Jusant released in 2024 and now Cairn. The big difference with Cairn is that it takes the most realistic approach out of the three and looks to focus on the micro aspects of rock climbing including stress, tension, anxiety and methodical nature of the sport.
Cairn focuses on the small moments inside of rock climbing from finding proper footholds, having the right posture and maintaining your balance. This is where Cairn intrigues us where those other rock climbers didn’t. On your journey to make it to the top of a summit never reached before you need to take things slowly, but also need to manage things like food, water and medicine. Early reviews are impressive with PC gamer calling Cairn “the best thing they played at Gamescom”
12. Replaced
Replaced at one point was one of our most anticipated indie games, but over the years our expectations have been tempered slightly. Not much can be said that already hasn’t been said about the game. It was originally supposed to be released in 2022, and then the war in Ukraine happened and with the studio located in Belarus, which shares a border, things had to be put on hold for the safety of the team.
Nothing has changed about Replaced, the premise still sounds interesting as you play as an ai trapped in a human body, the visuals are still eye poppingly gorgeous with the 2.5D pixel aesthetic and the score is still dripping with 80’s synth. Every trailer that we have been shown looks better than before, but just over the passage of time, our interest has cooled, but we still cant wait to see how this game turns out
11. Sword of the Sea
The lineage and similarities between Journey and Sword of the Sea isn’t hard to recognize. Many members of thatgamecompany left to form their own studio, Giant Squid, who has since gone on to make Abzu and The Pathless. The easiest way to describe Sword of the Sea is that it looks like Journey on a skateboard and in the place of a skatepark is an expansive world full of ruins. The atmospheric adventure has you exploring the remnants of an ancient culture as you try to restore the ocean beneath the desert.
Full of all the skateboard game classics like jumps, carving and half pipes, but completely reimagined in a different context. The score is also being done by Austin Wintory, who has become infamous for his scores of games like Journey and Flow among other higher profile games like Assasins’s Creed Syndicate. Sword of the Sea follows in the studios history with its unique art style that immediately captures your attention with other worldly vistas and bold contrasting colors.
10. Hollow Knight: Silksong
This list is being made in September 2024 and we are taking a fairly educated guess that it won’t release in 2024. Best case scenario, we were wrong, it does release in 2024 and then we get to play the game. Worst case scenario, it doesn’t release in 2024 and we are right by adding it to our list of most anticipated games of 2025.
If there was a definitive date, we would have Silksong much higher, but throwing it in at 10th feels like the right place for it with the uncertainty. There is no doubt that Team Cherry are still working on Silksong despite minimal communication, but clearly they are perfectionists and have no reason to rush the release. The other option is that they are actually pretty smart marketers as absence makes the heart grow fonder and its popularity has only continued to go up every year. You can check google trends for proof of that.
9. The Stone of Madness
You might have heard of Blasphemous 1 and 2. These games were made by The Game Kitchen and now they are trying their hand at a real time tactical stealth with an isometric perspective called The Stone of Madness. The Game Kitchen is also sticking with what they know as they are located in Spain and there is a long history with religion.
This time around they are letting you take the role of five different prisoners who all have unique abilities and will play an integral role in executing their escape from the 18th century Spanish monastery. The game features darkest dungeon style ailments such as traumas and phobias which will play a big role in how you manage your characters in the two different campaigns. Based off their excellence with the Blasphemous series, we can’t wait to see what they do with the stealth genre.
8. Tears of Metal
Tears of metal is an hack and slash, action roguelike from Paper Cult, the team behind Bloodroots. It gives hints of Braveheart with its settings, but it’s also infused with the fantastical as you are trying to unravel the mystery behind a dragon meteor.
Tears of metal is available in solo or coop and looks to have some unique features including building out your settlement between runs to help build your army of soldiers to join you in the field with death being permanent for your soldiers. The art style was instantly captivating and it’s safe to assume that Tears of Metal will be ultra violent if Bloodroots was any indication.
7. Earthblade
One of the first indie games that we were looking forward in 2024 was one of the first delayed til 2025. Formerly Matt makes games is now EXOK games, who you likely know as the team behind the ultra demanding platformer Celeste that also had a heart of gold. The pixel art, soundtrack, precise platforming and authentic story that touched on mental health came together to create one of the best indies of 2018.
Their new game, EarthBlade, is an action exploration platformer. They have said it basically is a metroidvania but they don’t love being boxed in by labels which likely means they have a lot more up their sleeves and we can’t wait.
6. Possessors
Heart machine is the only studio with two games on this list. In addition to their much larger Hyper Light Breaker, the team also revealed in the summer that they are working on an action adventure side scroller that sounds a lot like a Metroidvania. “Find and unlock a wide array of powerful weapons and upgrades to bolster your arsenal and explore previously inaccessible areas”.
The game takes place in a flooded mega city with stunning art and atmosphere, which is now the status quo for the studio. According to the studio, Possessors is inspired by games like Inside, signalis and Control as well as shows like Severance. In true Heart Machine style, the game goes deeper than surface meanings “possessors is about relationships, specifically the ones that hurt us and how we navigate through them”
5. Croak
Created by some of the talents behind Cuphead and what appears to also be inspired by Celeste, Croak looks to make a splash for Woodrunner Games, a small team from Montreal with boss fights, diverse biomes and unique skills as they attempt to make one of the best platformers ever. Their words
The art looks incredible, the story sounds whimsical as you try to figure out why you became cursed as a frog to begin with, and the controls look precise. What looks to really set Croak apart from other precision platformers is the momentum. You have to make use the frogs tongue to grapple, which will propel and bounce you around the levels. It seems like the type of game where you need to get into a flow state and be in the zone. In addition to the unique movement mechanic, Croak features huge boss fights with plenty woodland creatures like foxes and beavers.
4. Crowsworn
Crowsworn initially planned on having a December 2023 release date, but after their Kickstarter was a huge success, things evolved. Mongoose Rodeo raised more than 10x the amount they were expecting with the initial goal being 125k and according to the studio “the level of quality isn’t on the same scale anymore. This money affects everything. Animations, enemy design, level design, mechanics, size of world etc. Quality takes time”
As for the release date, when someone asked on Reddit if Crowsworn would release before Silksong, the head of marketing for both Team Cherry and Mongoose Rodeo, Matthew Griffin aka Leth said “no chance” he then responded to a question about Crowsworn in 2025 or later and he responded yes. Also after playing the Crowsworn demo, it might sound slightly sacrilegous, but it’s our most anticipated Metroidvania at the moment. Yes, even more than Silksong. They are both likely to be stunning games, but I think it comes down to tonal preferences.
3. Eternal Strands
Yellow Brick Games is a indie studio based in Quebec founded by plenty of former AAA devs mainly co founder and Chief Creative Officer Mike Laidlaw, who has a strong resume as the creative lead on the first three dragon age games as well as one of the writers on Mass Effect.
Their first game, Eternal Strands, looks ambitious and their inspirations are even more ambitious. Breath of the Wild, Shadow of the Colussus, and Dragons Dogma. What’s most exciting about this early 2025 adventure game is that it might actually live up to the inspiration. Instead of solving puzzles by moving the environment with the ultra hand ability from Breath of the wild, you are defeating colossal enemies with it and with the help of all of the elements that you can control with their take on high fantasy.
2. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a JRPG with “reactive turn based tactics, European influence, and a bad name. One of the most intriguing aspects of the game is the unique premise, which shares similarities to Children of Men.
Every year The Paintress paints a number and every person of that age disappears. Left in the wake is a world without old age. This year, the number 33 has been painted and with only one year left to live, expedition 33 sets out in hopes to be the first successful group to reach The Paintress and put an end to the to her reign of death and unravel the mystery. Inspirations are broad but range from Persona, Tales, Final Fantasy and looks to blend with the action of DMC, Souls and Nier
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the debut game from Sandfall interactive and was easily one of the most captivating announcements from Summer Game Fest.
1. Hyper Light Breaker
One of the games we were looking forward to the most at the start of 2024 was Hyper Light Breaker. We loved Hyper Light Drifter and would probably rank it somewhere in our Top 30 of All Time. Their follow up, Solar Ash was a bold departure from their first game and was extremely ambitious. HLB looked to be a perfect fusion of their first two games with a slight addition of rogue-like elements. The worlds are a hybrid of procedural and hand crafted environments and anyone that got hands on during Summer Game Fest said it played amazing.
However, the team at Heart Machine must have very high standards because it was supposed to release in Q3 2024 but the team said they said they didn’t want to ship a product, even in early access that they weren’t satisfied with.
High standards combined with making sure development remains sustainable and HLB was shifted to very early 2025. Hopefully they keep early because January is usually quite quiet and would be a great time to release as people are extremely thirsty for anything new and the team at Heart Machine deserves nothing but success. As a side note there are some amazing NoClip docs on the studio that you should watch.
What games did we miss? Head to the comment section of the video and let me know if you found any new games to add to your Wishlist or what games you think need to be on the list?