Amid the triple-A darlings of Gamescom, we track down some promising indie games, from some of the industry’s most inventive minds.
Indie games often struggle to catch the public’s attention when they have to share space with far larger, more well-known franchises and that was certainly the case at Gamescom this month.
Although the indie booths were bustling while we were there, those games weren’t drawing the labyrinth queues of Resident Evil Requiem, Kirby Air Riders, or Hollow Knight: Silksong – which despite also being an indie title is already big enough to scare other developers into delaying their games.
We were able to go hands-on with a number of promising looking indie games, that stood out against the triple-A fare, so if you’re searching for the next hidden gem, you might well find it here.
Bye Sweet Carole
2D horror game Bye Sweet Carole immediately caught our attention for its classic Disney inspired visuals, which we were told by one of the game’s producers are 100% hand drawn, with no AI involvement whatsoever.
Expert, exclusive gaming analysis
Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning.
We played the game’s first chapter and it begins whimsically enough, with protagonist Lara looking and sounding like an old-school Disney princess, as she chases a mischievous bunny.
Much like those older Disney movies though, there is an eerie darkness hiding in the background, as evidenced when a gnarled, inhuman hand bursts from a bush to grab an unsuspecting rabbit, crushing the poor thing in its grip.
Bye Sweet Carole wears its horror inspirations on its sleeve, with both Clock Tower and Rules Of Rose getting namedropped, right down to our helpless Lara needing to flee a stalking monster. While tense, it’s not especially scary, from what we saw, but that sort of thing is hard to judge at an event like Gamescom.
It’s certainly no Resident Evil Requiem but that’s by design, since Italian developer Little Sewing Machine is aiming for more of a ‘creepy’ vibe, even deliberately eschewing any gore so as not to clash too much with the art style.
The game promises plenty of puzzle solving and the need to avoid multiple stalker-type enemies, à la Clock Tower 3, but talk of a speedier rabbit transformation, that opens up new routes to explore, makes it sound almost like a Metroidvania game.
Bye Sweet Carole feels tailor-made for people who enjoy horror vibes but want to be more unnerved than outright scared, plus those that appreciate some good old-fashioned 2D animation.
Formats: PC (previewed), PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch
Publisher: Maximum Entertainment
Developer: Little Sewing Machine
Release Date: October 9, 2025
Hyper Light Breaker
After trying their hands at an action role-player (Hyper Light Drifter) and a platformer (Solar Ash), American studio Heart Machine is giving the popular roguelike genre a go with Hyper Light Breaker.
Roguelikes are a dime a dozen nowadays, but Hyper Light Breaker is distinct in that not only is it in full 3D (rather than a Hades-style top down experience), but it features randomly generated open worlds and includes multiplayer.
Each run has you plopped into a new world, where you must gather resources and weapons to upgrade your chosen character, so you can fight off enemies and eventually kill four bosses, which are also randomly selected.
Interestingly, it has elements of an extraction shooter since, unlike most roguelikes, you can escape to the main hub mid-run to spend your resources on permanent upgrades. You can only do this so many times in a single run though, and once you run out you’re locked into vanquishing the remaining bosses or dying and starting over.
Our session saw us thrown in the deep end and needing to find the third boss. Even with a full kit of high-end upgrades, our lack of familiarity with the mechanics and enemies meant we didn’t last long, although it was interesting exploring the open world, which was reminiscent of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild (the game even has a Zelda-esque hang-glider).
There is a lot going on with the various playable characters, Destiny-like loot drops, and many different buffs and upgrades. Much like Hyper Light Drifter, this game doesn’t pull its punches and it’s very tough right from the off.
Still, Hyper Light Breaker is an interesting take on the genre and the multiplayer, in particular, sounds like it could be a lot of fun. Although the difficulty does scale, so a full team of three can’t effortlessly walk over enemies.
Hyper Light Breaker had an early access launch on Steam in January (Heart Machine is aiming for a full launch in early 2026), but the new build at Gamescom only went public recently, adding a new playable character, a new boss fight, and new weapons.
Formats: PC (previewed)
Publisher: Arc Games
Developer: Heart Machine
Release Date: 2026
13Z: The Zodiac Trials
The other 3D roguelike we tried at Gamescom was 13Z: The Zodiac Trials, which is more traditional than Hyper Light Breaker, since you’re running through random rooms and you only leave once you die (though it too will offer multiplayer).
It’s combat feels faster and flashier, which matches its anime inspired graphics, with the various upgrades you earn throughout a run being nearly identical to the boons in Hades.
So far, 13Z seems to lack in terms of originality, but by comparison it is significantly more approachable and easier to grasp than Hyper Light Breaker.
Even though enemies hit surprisingly hard, and can kill you in just a few hits, we were still eager to throw ourselves into another run and there’s a very sizable amount of permanent upgrades to unlock that feel like a gentle promise to less skilled players, that things can get easier with enough patience.
Movement is wonderfully slick, as you speedily dash up walls and through the air with, as Singapore developer Mixed Realms puts it, ‘unbound mobility.’
Plus, the Chinese zodiac theming is a lot of fun, with each of the 12 Zodiac Guardians getting unique designs, roles, and personalities. The premise is that you’re trying to join their ranks as a new 13th member, so your options of player characters include anthropomorphic animals like a fox and raven.
The demo is now available via Steam and includes the entirety of the game’s first act, and an early look at its second.
Formats: PC (previewed)
Publisher: Mixed Realms
Developer: Mixed Realms
Release Date: TBA
The Signal: Stranded On Sirenis
At the moment, it’s too early to judge first person survival game The Signal: Stranded On Sirenis, since the build we played was pre-alpha, but it’s certainly had an… interesting development cycle.
According to the team at Canadian studio Goose Byte, after having escaped from the Embracer Group to avoid being shut down, The Signal began as a realistic looking multiplayer game, only for negative playtests to see that version get thrown out and for Goose Byte to pivot to a story-focused single-player adventure that apparently has proven more popular with testers.
Our playtime saw us step out onto an alien planet, stranded after a spaceship crashed, and with only the disembodied voice of Patricia Summersett (aka Princess Zelda herself) for company. Goose Byte wants her to be akin to the narrator in The Stanley Parable, where she’ll frequently have contextual dialogue (such as reacting if you kill a certain enemy type enough times), which could be fun if pulled off well.
The idea is that you’ll have a home base you’ll need to build and bolster throughout the game and to progress the story you’ll jump through portals to self-contained biomes in a manner explicitly compared to Super Mario 64. So, there’ll be no need to constantly build new bases at other locations.
There’ll certainly be an audience for a more isolated survival game, especially when so many examples have a strong multiplayer emphasis, but time will tell if the gameplay loop and story are enough to maintain interest.
The Signal will launch in early access for PC, alongside a VR version. There is a Kickstarter launching soon you can contribute to and a public demo will be available as part of Steam Next Fest from October 13 to October 20.
Formats: PC (previewed),
Publisher: Spiral Up Games
Developer: Goose Byte
Release Date: TBA
Denshattack!
Possibly the biggest surprise of the Opening Night Live pre-show, Denshattack! immediately caught peoples’ attention for its striking visuals and ridiculous concept of doing skateboard tricks with a train. Although despite its very Japanese aesthetics, it’s being made in Spain at developer Undercoders.
Looking like the lovechild of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and Jet Set Radio, Denshattack! is fast and frantic. You’re constantly speeding along train tracks like an autorunner, but you need to avoid obstacles by jumping, braking, drifting, and flipping to other rails, while racking up points by performing air tricks to get a high enough score.
Pulling off tricks is remarkably simple, since they only require the right analogue stick, and the game doesn’t even ask that you land wheels first, like in the Pro Skater games. However, the ones that earn you more points demand the kind of motions you’d see in a fighting game like Street Fighter, and we saw a handful of players struggling to pull them off even during the tutorial.
It’s also deceptively easy to crash into an incoming obstacle or make a panicked jump off the rail because of how fast things get, especially with the loud visuals serving as a potential distraction. Fortunately, checkpointing seems generous and you’re back in the action lickety-split, but the game still encourages you practise and perfect runs.
There is undoubtedly an audience that will lap this up and will want to see what wacky scenarios future levels offer (the demo had us ride atop a Ferris wheel, roll down a hillside and across the sea while avoiding bridges, and then jump into an active volcano) although we suspect the striking visuals will sucker in players unprepared for a high skill ceiling.
Formats: PC (previewed), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S
Publisher: Fireshine Games
Developer: Undercoders
Release Date: 2026
Honor Of Kings: World
Most Western gamers have probably never heard of Honor Of Kings but the 10-year-old MOBA is one of the most popular video games in the world, purely because of its success in China. It’s pretty typical of what many think of when they imagine a Chinese developed game, which in previous years has been dominated by PC-only titles such as this and MMO Fantasy Westward Journey.
In recent years though there’s been a sudden shift towards console titles, led by the groundbreaking Black Myth: Wukong, which announced a sequel at Gamescom this month. It only got a trailer at Gamescom, but we did get to see and play Honor Of Kings: World, an action role-player spin-off reminiscent of Genshin Impact by way of Final Fantasy.
Originality is not one of its obvious selling points but in terms of visuals and gameplay it already has clear appeal. We played co-op with another journo and despite having no familiarity with the setting or controls immediately got into its third person combat, filled with perfect dodges and speciality abilities on a countdown timer.
After getting the hang of things with some cannon fodder we then took on a boss, inspired by Chinese mythology, and… it was a solid action game. It’s class-based, with each having different abilities and weapons, but you usually have access to two at the same time, even switching between the two mid-combo, in a manner reminiscent of Devil May Cry.
Predictably, the game is free-to-play and it seems like it will be funded much like Genshin Impact, with lots of cosmetic skins and costumes. But developer TiMi seem to be aware of the potential pitfalls of that and insist the game is not pay-to-win.
‘We based our designs, especially the core combat mechanics, on the original Honor Of Kings heroes. So we are actually adapting all the skillset from the MOBA to a more 3D based experience,’ they explain. ‘What we’re trying to do is bring our own unique combat experience, the flow style that you’ve just seen, the hero’s combos, and the major boss fights, to make an original and fun game.’
Honor Of Kings: World isn’t an indie game in any definition of the word but as one of the lower profile titles at Gamescom it’s one that will probably have the biggest impact in the years to come.
Formats: PC
Publisher: Tencent
Developer: TiMi
Release Date: TBA
Cosmo Tales
Just as it’s impossible to review every indie game that’s released, it’s equally impractical to see all the many smaller titles at an event like Gamescom. Much of the time we’re essentially picking games at random, based on whether they seem to have an interesting premise or we’re aware of the developers.
In this case we were attracted by a game by Bohemia Interactive – who are known for hardcore, mirthless military simulators such as ArmA – which described itself as featuring a talking car and being inspired by ’70s retro sci-fi, which is very much not their usual shtick.
The game turned out be very early on, so only the developer was playing it, but although we only barely understood what was going on it did all seem interestingly peculiar. We’re not sure any of it looked particularly ‘70s but you pilot a flying car in a full 3D environment, with the ability to switch dimensions at the press of a button.
We were shown a level where you’re trying to take down a giant enemy robot, as you fly between tiny planetoids, but where certain stages of that fight are made easier by switching into a dimension where time goes slower (to get through a minefield unscathed) or where you can pass through solid matter.
Despite being so early in development the sheer novelty of it was very appealing, since while Bohemia are purposefully targeting a more family friendly audience, with ambitions of Pixar style storytelling, there’s actually a lot going on in the game, in what is essentially a space combat simulator with a unique gimmick.
Formats: PC
Publisher: Bohemia Interactive
Developer: Bohemia Interactive
Release Date: 2026
Duskfade
Deliberately billed as a throwback to classic 3D platformers, Duskfade certainly looks and plays like something you’d see on the PlayStation 2, but that’s mostly a compliment.
Platforming was very satisfying to pull off, in the demo we played, especially since protagonist Zirian has a dodge roll he can perform mid-air, granting you a lot of horizontal movement, and we also acquired a grappling hook that feels reminiscent of the swingshot sections from the Ratchet & Clank games.
Combat’s quite involved too, with Zirian’s clock hand sword having a shot gun function, while dodging attacks at the last second triggers a Bayonetta-style slow-mo effect.
However, while only a short slice of gameplay, Duskfade lacked any truly unique ideas or concepts to call its own, and its desire to be a throwback means it risks only appealing to older players who have a fondness for older platformers.
Then again, the kid who was in front of us seemed to be enjoying himself, even though he found a couple platforming sections more challenging than we did. So perhaps Duskfade could take on the role as a gateway drug to the genre.
Formats: PC (previewed), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S
Publisher: Fireshine Games
Developer: Weird Beluga
Release Date: TBA
Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter.
To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.
For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.
MORE: Final Fantasy 7 Remake Nintendo Switch 2 preview – this is no Elden Ring
MORE: Lego Batman: Legacy Of The Dark Knight is more like Arkham City than you think
