Hades 2, slot machine horror and other new indie games worth checking out

Welcome to our latest roundup of what’s going on in the indie game space. It’s been a packed week, with tons of new releases worth highlighting and Tokyo Game Show taking place.

Before we get started, make sure to check out our recap of Kojima Productions’ 10th anniversary showcase if you need to catch up. I can’t quite get my head around how a literal walking sim from Hideo Kojima might work. Sony had a bunch of things to show off during its PlayStation State of Play this week, including a few tasty-looking indies like Chronoscript: The Endless End. So too did Xbox in its Tokyo Game Show stream — Double Dragon Revive looks neat, as does Rhythm Doctor.

Also, the developers and publishers of several of this week’s arrivals delayed them to get some breathing space from Hollow Knight: Silksong… only to run right into Hades 2. That’s extremely unfortunate. But the teams behind some newcomers — Baby Steps, CloverPit, Aethermancer, Star Birds and Deadly Days: Roadtrip — are doing something about that. They’ve teamed up for a special Steam sale and bundle of their games. Love to see indie developers supporting each other.

New releases

Hades 2 is finally out of early access on PC. The full game is now available on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 as well.

Reviews have been pretty stellar for Supergiant’s sequel. I played a little of it in early access last year, but decided to hold off getting in too deep until the full version arrived. And, of course, I now have a ton of other games to play. I’ll absolutely spend some time with Hades 2 eventually. But there’s another roguelite that’s soaking up a lot of my time right now…

I feel grimy when I’m playing CloverPit. I’m imprisoned in a tiny, rusty, metallic room that wouldn’t look out of place in Silent Hill‘s Otherworld. I have a debt to pay and deadlines to meet, with some coins, lucky charms and a slot machine to help me reach my goals and hopefully escape. Failure means plunging into a dark abyss.

Whenever I haven’t been playing EA Sports FC 26 in my free time, I willingly keep returning to this disgusting cell. I try desperately to find synergies between the lucky charms to break the slot machine and make sure I earn enough coins to resolve the arrears. Offers made by telephone, almost Deal or No Deal-style, can help while perhaps adding a greater risk of losing all my coins.

Panik Arcade has stressed that this is a horror game, not a gambling simulator. The whole idea is to bend the rules in your favor. 

I haven’t yet had a successful run. I did pretty well a few times with builds focused on cherries and diamonds, though deadline 11 has remained out of reach for me thus far. No spoilers here, but there’s a big jump from the 10th deadline’s debt level. 

The game is incredibly sticky, and I can see myself sinking many, many more hours into CloverPit. (I won’t be alone there. I just watched a video of someone who put 155 hours into the demo.)

CloverPit, which is published by Future Friends Games, is out now on Steam. 

I had fun with the Baby Steps demo this summer, but after looking forward to this literal walking simulator for a couple of years, I realize that I’m more likely to watch a YouTube video of someone playing it than try to beat it myself. I’d probably do that on a treadmill so I can get my own steps in at the same time.

This is the latest game from Bennett Foddy (QWOP, Getting Over It), Gabe Cuzzillo and Maxi Boch, who previously made Ape Out together. It sees “an unemployed failson” being forced to get up off his rear end and make it to the peak of a mountain. To take Nate there, you’ll need to pick up one foot and move it onto (hopefully) stable ground before moving his other leg, taking one clumsy step at a time to reach his destination.

Baby Steps is supposed to be as funny as it is frustrating. You will fall. A lot. Sometimes in a way that erases much of your progress. But as with working out, progress is the point. If only Nate would actually use his damn arms for stability as well. Then you might really start to see some results.

Baby Steps is out now on Steam and PS5.

I’ve had my eye on Bloodthief for a while. It’s a vampiric, medieval take on fast-paced dungeon running in the vein of Ghostrunner with Ultrakill-style murdering. A solo developer who goes by Blargis is behind this game, which hit Steam this week.

Giving so much of my attention to CloverPit and don’t-call-it-FIFA (and a few others we’ll get to momentarily) means I haven’t much time to check out Bloodthief yet. Still, I look forward to being as terrible at it as I am at Ghostrunner 2.

One of the highlights of Playdate Season 2 is Blippo+, a parody of cable TV. The FMV experience from Yacht, Telefantasy Studios, Noble Robot and publisher Panic has moved into the color TV age, as it’s now available on Nintendo Switch and Steam.

As you channel surf the otherworldly broadcasts and observe the offbeat alien TV personalities doing their thing, you might start to piece together a deeper story that’s playing out across the shows and news programs. Blippo+ is such a strange, wonderful thing. I’m glad it exists and that more people have the chance to enjoy it.

Consume Me is a coming-of-age life sim about a student who is entering her last year of high school and dealing with the stress and complexity of that painful time. For Jenny, that means managing chores (such as laundry and walking the dog), her studies, dates with her boyfriend and an eating disorder. Time management is a key factor, and you’ll try to stay on top of everything by playing minigames.

Consume Me, which is based in part on co-developer Jenny Jiao Hsia’s own experiences as a teenager, won the Seamus McNally Grand Prize at this year’s Independent Games Festival. AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P and Ken “coda” Snyder are the other developers of the game, which Hexecutable published. Consume Me is out now on Steam for PC and Mac.

Hotel Barcelona brought together two famed game directors, Swery (Hidetaka Suehiro), of Deadly Premonition fame and No More Heroes creator Suda51 (Goichi Suda). The latter came up with the concept for this game, which Swery announced all the way back in 2019. So the roguelite had been in the works for quite some time before it checked in to PC and consoles this week.

Here, you’ll fight your way through a hotel that serial killers have overrun. You can rope in a couple of friends to help you thanks to multiplayer support. In the style of many FromSoftware titles, you’ll also have the option to invade other players’ games and play spoiler by taking them out and undoing their progress. That seems really mean, though. I don’t know why anyone would do that.

Hotel Barcelona, from Swery’s White Owls Inc. and publisher Cult Games, is out now on Steam, Xbox Series X/S and PS5. 

Upcoming 

Annapurna Interactive is always a publisher worth paying attention to given its strong track record. This week, it revealed three upcoming adventure games during a showcase at Tokyo Game Show. I checked out demos for a couple of them, and I’ve already added all three to my wishlist.

D-topia is set in an apparent utopia run by artificial intelligence. You play as a maintenance worker who tries to keep things humming along by solving logic puzzles in the factory and helping out others with their problems. Your choices decide how the story plays out and, shock horror, things might not be going entirely smoothly behind the scenes.

I dig the very clean look here. It reminds me a bit of Mirror’s Edge. The dialogue in the demo is fun too. Expect to see this narrative-driven puzzler from Marumittu Games land on Steam, Epic Games Store, Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Windows PC via the Xbox App in 2026.

Also coming to Steam, Epic Games Store, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Windows PC via the Xbox App next year is People of Note by Iridium Studios. This is billed as a “musical narrative adventure” that sees pop singer Cadence seeking stardom with the help of other musicians who specialize in other genres. You’ll need to time your attacks to the beat to make them more effective, while genres play a role in making battles more dynamic. 

Turn-based combat generally isn’t my bag and I didn’t enjoy it in this demo either. However, Iridium wants people to be able to play the game their way. People of Note will include the option to disable things like turn-based combat and environmental puzzles. That immediately makes the game more appealing to me, especially because I like what I’ve seen of the world, story and characters. The promise of “full-length cinematic musical sequences” sure sounds good to me too.

The third game Annapurna showed off is Demi and the Fractured Dream. I haven’t had a chance to try the demo for this one as yet, but it looks like a Zelda-esque action adventure with environmental puzzles, platforming and plenty of hacking and slashing. As Demi, a cursed hero who is trying to save the world by slaying a trio of Accursed Beasts, you’ll have a variety of tools and spells at your disposal. Time your dodges just right, and you’ll power up your next set of attacks. 

This game from Yarn Owl is coming to Steam, Epic Games Store, Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Windows PC via the Xbox App in 2026.

This week’s State of Play included a gameplay trailer for Halloween, from IllFonic and co-publisher Gun Interactive. We also got a release date for it. The horror game is coming to PlayStation, Xbox, Steam and Epic Games Store on September 8, 2026. Why it’s not dropping in late October is beyond me.

This is an asymmetric multiplayer game in the vein of Friday the 13th: The Game (also from IllFonic and Gun) and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, which Gun published. Three teammates will play as civilians who are trying to save the intended NPC victims of Jason Voorhees. If you’d rather go it alone, though, you can terrorize Haddonfield, Illinois as the legendary killer in a single-player mode.