The Biggest Upcoming Indie Games Coming In 2025

Looking for something fresh beyond the big-budget blockbusters? Fed the same old AAA grind and bored? Though big-name titles hog the spotlight, smaller, scrappier studios create some of the most amazing, sincere, and flat-out fun experiences. These upcoming indie games are not merely filler between major releases. Some of them are genre-bending, pixel-popping masterpieces deserving of a place in your backlog (or day-one wish list).

Whether your taste in games drops you into total anarchy, artful side-scrollers, cozy simulations, or roguelikes with bite, this list of upcoming indie game releases offers something for every type of player. A handful will simply have you button-mashing through the night and pumping your adrenaline with tight combat or tactical brain burners; others will strike you straight in the emotions. Without further ado, let’s start!

From the brutally brilliant Animal Well to the bullet-hell-meets-vampire-slaying anarchy of Vampire Survivors and the hand-drawn melancholy of Planet of Lana, the best indie games in 2024 didn't just compete—they won. These were full-on campaigns in gaming innovation, style, and narrative technique.

Source: https://store.steampowered.com/app/813230/ANIMAL_WELL

And now 2025 is turning to double down on that momentum.

More accessible dev tools, financing sources, and devoted fan bases help indie games to level up. Small teams break out with big ideas—with studios like Mass Monster (Cult of the Lamb) and Sabotage Studio (The Messenger, Sea of Stars) returning with even more audacious concepts. Their next actions? Already much awaited, with Cult of the Lamb: Unholy Alliance adding modern co-op mayhem into the mix.

Now, let’s talk about emerging trends. Nine Sols is channeling Hollow Knight with a sprinkling of Sekiro-inspired parries, genre mash-ups are taking over (Deathbound merges Soulslike combat with party-switching RPG mechanics), and nostalgic visuals are getting a modern twist. Wholesome horror is rising. Even agricultural sims are changing; Moonstone Island adds monster collecting and deck building into the cozy-core mix.

Some of the most new indie games to watch in 2025—like 33 Immortals with its chaotic 33-player co-op, and Hyper Light Breaker, which turns a beloved 2D world into a fluid 3D action roguelike—show how no genre is off-limits for experimentation anymore. So, 2025 is your year to explore the wild, strange, and fantastic corners of the gaming world if you're somewhat bored with playing it safe.

The next generation of indie titles polishes your favorite genres or even twists, folds, breaks the edges off, and reassembles everything into something completely different. Narrative experiments wrapped in terror, platformers constructed around momentum or clay, and strategy games fashioned by puzzle logic, deck-builders, and faction systems — that's what you'll see.

Here are the best indie games to keep your eyes on in 2025—each one doing something memorable.

With a new focus on emotionally anchored storytelling and deeply conceived worlds that reject playing it safe, narrative-heavy videogames are rapidly evolving in 2025.

REANIMAL brings back the stop-motion animation style, which keeps the images quite disturbing yet encourages a more cooperative form of fear. Launching Fall 2025 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, this unsettling co-op adventure from Tarsier Studios (Little Nightmares 1 and 2) follows two siblings struggling to survive a distorted countryside filled with hideous, mutant animals. It veers toward the trademark dream-fable look of the company, but this time, terror coexists with players being forced to stay together while the world twists around them. It feels like a fractured storybook brought to life, tense and weird.

Source: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2129530/REANIMAL/

REPLACED trades monsters for machines. Arriving on PC and Xbox Series X|S, this cinematic 2.5D platformer from Sad Cat Studios debuts 2025 and puts you into a retro-futuristic dystopia where AIs battle to stay human and outlaws rule. You play as R.E.A.C.H., an artificial intelligence trapped in a human body and thrust into a decaying society where people are harvested for organs. The story feels like Blade Runner had a side-scrolling spin-off—brooding, brutal, and oddly personal.

Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/xbox-games-showcase-2024-replaced-hands-on-preview

Bye Sweet Carole is what happens when vintage Disney wanders into a nightmare. Little Sewing Machine's 2D horror platformer, releasing in early 2025 for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch, combines hand-drawn beauty with the sinister storyline. Set in the early 1900s, you accompany Lana Benton from the Bunny Hall Orphanage into the parallel universe of Corolla, a planet rife with evil owls, tar bunnies, and other disturbing species. It channeled the classic animation charm and then dragged it across the ground, darkly whimsical and emotionally rich.

Some games speak through story. Others just show you a single frame—and you’re hooked. In 2025, a wave of upcoming Steam indie games is pushing visual boundaries in ways that feel tactile, dreamlike, or downright surreal.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive) draws your attention right away with style. Set to release in April 2025 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, this reactive turn-based JRPG takes is happening in a world governed by fear of a single number. Paintress rises and paints upon her monolith once a year. Paints her cursed number. And every one of that age turns to smoke and fades away. This time, she paints “33.” And so starts your last journey to locate her, stop her, and break the deadly cycle before your time runs out. The combat blends turn-based tactics with real-time skill checks, while the art style pulls from French surrealism and JRPG classics like Persona and Final Fantasy.

Source: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1903340/Clair_Obscur_Expedition_33/

Then there's Midnight Walk, Moonhood Studio's debut on PC and consoles dropping midway through 2025. Everything you see—trees, buildings, monsters—was first created in actual clay before being digitalized into the game. The result is something poetic and disturbing. Though heavier, the tone reminds us of a Corpse Bride by Tim Burton. Every frame in this dark nighttime narrative with grime beneath its nails has a stop-motion soul.

Source: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2863640/The_Midnight_Walk/

And if your heart still beats for classic platformers, The Eternal Life of Goldman is coming to scratch that itch—without the bloat. Designed by the developers of This Is the Police and scheduled for PC, PS5, and Switch, this hand-drawn 2D side-scroller combines rich island exploration with crisp, cane-based combat. It avoids the typical traps in the genre: it is exact, vibrant, and intensely nostalgic. No tedious backtracking. No fake depth. Just tight gameplay, striking animation, and a mythic story that unfolds one frame at a time.

While some games seek to perfect what already works, others deviate from the script by splicing genres, changing mechanics, and testing our even conception of gameplay.

Drop Duchy (Sleepy Mill) literally creates a kingdom on top of puzzle game bones. Launching in May 2025 on PC, it starts with something familiar: tile placement. But over a medieval map, you are expanding towns, rivers, guilds, and strongholds rather than clearing lines. Add in roguelite runs, deck-building elements, and multiple factions, and you’ve got a geometric strategy game that scratches your brain and your city-building itch at the same time.

Source: https://www.thearcadecrew.com/games/drop-duchy/

The Stone of Madness turns the emphasis from world-building to survival. Released this January on PC and consoles, this real-time tactical stealth game is set in an 18th-century Spanish monastery where five prisoners must escape—each one struggling with phobias, traumas, and unpredictable behaviors. Designed by The Game Kitchen (Blasphemous), it explores ideas of madness, religion, and control while borrowing the psychological pressure of Darkest Dungeon and mixing it with isometric stealth tactics.

Source: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/news/stone-of-madness-interview-prison-break-immersive-sim-tactics

Then there's Croak, and it's exactly the kind of platformer you would find from a studio with Cuphead and Celeste DNA. Dropping soon on PC and Nintendo Switch; it's quick, twitchy, and strangely beautiful. Playing as a cursed frog throwing yourself over woodland biomes, you use your tongue as a gripping tool. The momentum-based movement makes it less about button-mashing and more about flow—get in the zone, chain your swings, and launch into massive boss fights featuring woodland creatures twice your size.

Source: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2616540/Croak/

From experimental hybrids to narrative gut punches and visual stunners, 2025's indie lineup epitomizes the wild, creative anarchy that keeps this scene so interesting. These are visions, experiments, love letters and everything that makes the media great. Keep from sleeping on the indies whatever you play this year. Whatever you play this year, don’t sleep on the upcoming indie games in 2025.

Distribution is one of the largest changes occurring in the indie scene—not mechanical or visual. Indies are no longer limited to under-the-radar drops or specialized venues. More games are launching across consoles, PC, and handhelds—often concurrently—in 2025. Early access is becoming typical; ports are speedier, and exclusivity is getting blurrier. The best indie experiences will meet you where you are, whether you’re playing on Steam Deck, PS5, or Xbox.

Some of the most ambitious upcoming titles in 2025 are landing first—or only—on PC. They provide sophisticated mechanics and fast patch cycles that fit PC for fans of experimentation, modding, or early access previews.

Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping brings cozy chaos back to your desktop in mid-2025 via Steam. A sequel to the surprise hit The Secret Salami, this "no-murdery mystery" swaps noir grit for campsite spookiness. The paper-cutout art style returns, and while the tone is lighthearted, don’t expect a brainless breeze—the original was sneakily complex, and early previews suggest the same for this one.

Source: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2714620/Duck_Detective_The_Ghost_of_Glamping/

And while we're talking about sequels. Among the most sought-after indie computer games is Slay the Spire II. Hitting early access on PC in 2025, it builds on the deckbuilding roguelike formula that inspired an entire subgenre. New characters, fresh card mechanics, and unannounced gameplay twists are on the way—but so far, the devs are keeping quiet. For now, it's PC-only, but don’t be shocked if console ports come later, just like the original.

Source: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2868840/Slay_the_Spire_2/

Aiming to strengthen its roots in tactical fantasy RPGs, Solasta II, the follow-up to Crown of the Magister, designed on the 5E rulebook of Dungeons & Dragons, promises more flexible combat, better cinematics, and a deeper universe. Originally announced at The Game Awards 2024, the game should arrive early access on Steam in late 2025. PC will be its home base at launch. However, console versions remain unverified.

These days, strict exclusives—especially those skipping PC—are rare. Often, even "console exclusives" land on PC via the Xbox or PlayStation ecosystem. Still, some titles in 2025 are meant first and primarily with console play in mind, providing a more curated experience for controller-in-hand players.

Guardians of Azuma carries on the farming-meets-action RPG tradition started by the first Rune Factory. Publishing in late 2025 for Nintendo Switch as a timed exclusive, this entry maintains its roots while leaning into a grittier, more styled anime look. With a darker graphic edge, you will raise crops, establish relationships, and fight monsters. It's a big stride forward, whether the new style marks the beginning of a new design chapter for the series or a one-off.

Source: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2864560/Rune_Factory_Guardians_of_Azuma/

Developed by TeamKill Media, Code Violet is a PS5 exclusive indie game launching in Fall 2025. Inspired largely by Dino Crisis, this third-person action-horror game centers on Violet Sinclair, a past-life girl imprisoned in a biotech laboratory invaded by prehistoric predators. Avoiding extinction, you will hide, flee, or battle your way across the complex, uncovering corporate secrets. There is no PC version scheduled. Hence, this one is among the few real console-only indies of the year.

As indies continue to grow in scope, their platforms evolve with them. While consoles bring larger audiences and easier plug-in access, the PC is still the playground for creativity and early feedback. Just choose your screen; the best independent experiences of 2025 are here, whether you're loading Steam or kicking back on your couch.

For years, “indie game” called to mind something quirky, small-scale, or deeply niche. But in 2025, the term feels more like a springboard than a constraint. Indie studios aren't just participating in gaming culture—they're steering it. From pushing technical boundaries to telling bold, unforgettable stories, their fingerprints are everywhere in the industry today.

The best upcoming indie games in 2025 test their limits not because they have to but rather because that's where indie innovation lives. Titles like Slay the Spire II, REPLACED, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 welcome the opportunity to experiment—whether it's bending genre expectations, diving into very personal subjects, or investigating new ways to tell a story.

Players are taking notice of the indie wave, too. In 2023 alone, over half of all new Steam releases came from indie developers. On platforms like Itch.io, indie titles dominate player engagement, and many of Steam’s top-performing games now sit shoulder-to-shoulder with releases from major publishers. It’s no longer just a numbers game—what draws players in is the reach, the replay value, and the unapologetic originality that indie games deliver.

Source: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1911610/Windblown/

The surge of upcoming indie PC games is also pushing the boundaries of platform ecosystems. Early access thrives on PC, where community input occurs in real-time, and games like Windblown or Drop Duchy can explore bold ideas before reaching a larger audience.

Furthermore, changing publishing models. Xbox Game Pass continues to feature day-one indie drops, while Nintendo and PlayStation regularly spotlight indie showcases that rival their mainline releases in buzz. These aren’t side quests anymore—they’re front-page games with global fanbases.

Minecraft holds the crown as the best-selling indie game of all time, with over 300 million copies sold globally.

Games like Minecraft, Stardew Valley, and Undertale have outsold or rivaled major AAA releases in lifetime sales—purely through word of mouth and community support.

Buy their games (especially at launch), leave reviews, share on social media, wishlist on platforms like Steam, and support them on Patreon or Itch.io if available.

Most indie games launch on PC (Steam, Itch.io, Epic) first, then expand to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, and even mobile, depending on demand.

Whether you’re dreaming up a momentum-based platformer like Croak, a story-rich horror adventure like Reanimal, or a strategy-puzzle mashup like Drop Duchy, now is the perfect time to bring your vision to life. The indie scene is thriving, and with the right team behind you, your idea could be the next standout in a list of the best upcoming indie games.

At Argentics, we help developers take their games from rough sketch to global release. From concept art and animation to full-stack development and platform optimization, our team has the tools—and the passion—to support every stage of your indie journey.

Eager to create something yours?
Contact Argentics today, and let’s start building your world.