All articles tagged with #indie games
Steam’s February 2026 Next Fest runs Feb 23–Mar 2 and offers 30 highlighted, free demos to download now (with hundreds more in the showcase), giving players an early look at a range of titles from strategy and horror to roguelikes and shooters, ahead of upcoming sales like the Steam Spring Sale.
As Slay the Spire 2 locks in a March 5 release, indie developers respond by adjusting their own launch plans—some delaying their games, others moving up to dodge the hype and crowded window—creating a busy early-March landscape on Steam.
PlayStation Store adds two free PS5 demos—Starfall Defenders, a tower-defense title with player-directed actions and eight upgradable towers, and Virtual Ties Isekaijoucho Traumerei, a narrative-driven visual novel—no PS Plus required; the store’s indie demos are expanding, with others like Under The Island, Mina The Hollower, and Planet of Lana II also highlighted.
Kotaku’s The Sicko’s Guide to Steam Next Fest February 2026 spotlights a curated batch of indie demos (including Corn Kidz 64, Downsouth, RUBATO, Blast Cats, PSI, Subjectivation, ChainStaff, Bad Pixels, and ᴛᴜᴍᴏʀ ɴᴇᴄʀᴏꜱɪꜱ ꜰᴀᴄᴛᴏʀ:// αᴍᴇɴ) and discusses how Steam’s discoverability can obscure hidden gems. The piece advises creators and players to bolster discovery by following developers, checking itch.io, adding demos to the wishlist, and exploring Backlogged pages to tailor Next Fest to personal tastes.
Engadget’s indie-gaming roundup surveys Steam Next Fest demos and a raft of upcoming titles, from the Zelda-inspired Gecko Gods (Switch/PS5/PC on Apr 16) to Denshattack!’s train‑trick chaos and Wax Heads (May 5). It highlights showcases like Convergence and Indie Fan Fest, queues up releases such as Raccoin (Mar 31), GridBeat (Mar 26), InKonbini: One Store. Many titles arrive across Switch, PS5, Xbox and PC, with previews like Surfpunk, Croak, Skate Bums, Love Eternal, Titanium Court and Become, plus an Adventure Game Aptitude Test from Woe Industries—plus plenty of Next Fest demos to try.
Sony is spotlighting 11 indie games coming to PS5 in 2026 via PS Blog, including Coffee Talk Tokyo, Fishbowl, Hela, inKONBINI, Mina the Hollower, Mortal Shell 2, MOUSE: P.I. for Hire, Never Grave: The Witch and the Curse, ONTOS, Out of Words, and Over the Hill, signaling a stronger push to position PS5 as a hub for indie titles.
After a Japan-only rollout, Braid: Anniversary Edition for Switch 2 is now live on Western eShops with higher resolution and frame rate, improved textures, and new developer commentary. It costs £14.99 / 16.99€ / $19.99, with an upgrade pack of £2.25 / 2.49€ / $2.99 for existing Switch 1 owners; in Europe, the Switch 2 edition is cheaper than the Switch 1 version, and the article notes creator Jonathan Blow’s past comment that initial Anniversary Edition sales were “utterly terrible.”
Xbox’s February 16-20 roundup previews 10+ new titles, including multiple Game Pass drops led by Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, plus a slate of indie games and genre experiences releasing from February 17–20.
A No ICE in Minnesota indie game bundle on Itch.io offers over 1,400 games for $10 to benefit the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, expanding on a prior No ICE California fundraiser that raised over $105,000 for the Immigrant Defenders Law Center. Created by JesstheHuman with 651 contributors, the package includes PC games such as I Get This Call Every Day and Spellbearers, plus physical goods, and is available through March 10.
Steam has added nine free-to-keep titles spanning bullet-hell, puzzle, idle and narrative experiences, available to permanently own after download. Examples include Touhou Mistystory, Robo Dolphin Escape, REDACT, Maloomify the Ocean, My Building, Gazed, RK Override, BUS: Prologue and Channel 4 Midnight; users should check system requirements and grab them from Steam’s store pages.
A broad indie-gaming roundup highlights Highguard, a 3v3 raid shooter from former Apex/Titanfall developers, along with Don’t Stop, Girlypop!, Cairn, Steel Century Groove, Rosday’s Wanderling, Space Warlord Baby Trading Simulator, I Hate This Place, Rebadge, Darkhaven, Box or Void, and Good Boy. The piece also covers discourse around a Switch version of Dispatch and how Nintendo’s guidelines shape content, noting platform availability and launch discounts as games land on Steam, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Switch.
Indie Selects marks its second anniversary with a six-title Anniversary Collection (Despelote, Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, Cronos: The New Dawn, I Am Your Beast, Afterlove EP, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage), introduces three Xbox Dynamic Backgrounds, and runs a 300+ title Anniversary Sale from Jan 28–Feb 9, with the Collection hub available Jan 28–Feb 10 via the Xbox Indie Selects hub.
Wildlight Entertainment says Highguard's reveal at The Game Awards didn't land as well as hoped; CEO Dusty Welch says a different trailer emphasizing the game's unique loop might have helped, and the lack of pre-launch marketing was a deliberate part of their plan to 'announce, go dark' before showing more of the game. Highguard, a free-to-play shooter, launched on January 26, and the studio—founded by former Respawn developers—remains resilient despite the mixed reception.
A new indie 2D noir card battler, Project KILLDANCE from Toge Productions, released on Steam January 15 and is completely free to download with no microtransactions. It’s already earning a 96% Very Positive rating from around 58 reviews, with players praising its blend of turn-based and bullet-hell action and short playthroughs (about 20 minutes). The title originated from the 2023 Toge Greenhouse game jam, and developers hint at potential expansion due to strong feedback.
Microsoft is running a week-long Buy One, Get Two Free sale on indie games in the Microsoft Store, letting players trio up titles for the price of one. The promo includes well-known indies like Untitled Goose Game and Valheim and runs through January 29 in the Deals tab, though individual prices can vary and some titles may have been cheaper in other promos.