10 Indie Game Trends from 2025
2025 brought us a slew of incredible indies, as well as some interesting emergent trends.
Beau a.k.a. Bo_Po
co-host of indie video game podcast Underplayed
Emily Merritt
co-host of indie video game podcast No Small Games
Now that we can look back on the totality of 2025, it’s clear that this was a landmark year for indie games. Indies made a record-breaking showing at The Game Awards, with more independent titles nominated in the Game of the Year category than ever before. With so many stellar games on the market, some fascinating common threads emerged. Some of these are trends that we expect to see continue and expand in coming years. Others are serendipitous similarities that tickled us. And you can bet we’re keeping both eyes wide open for upcoming fads and undercurrents hitting us in 2026.
In this article, Beau of the Underplayed podcast and Emily of No Small Games break down our favorite indie game trends from the past year.
Trend #1 – Sequels to Monumental Indies
Examples: Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector, Escape Simulator 2, Hades II, Hollow Knight: Silksong, Monument Valley III, Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault (Early Access), PowerWash Simulator 2, Slime Rancher 2, Strange Antiquities
We still would have been impressed (and slightly overwhelmed) to see so many highly-anticipated sequels release across the span of several years. 2025 had other plans. The convergence of these games within a 12-month window is not just a noteworthy alignment; it’s proof that we were meant to enjoy familiar indie IPs just as much as new ones.
-Beau
Trend #2 – Medieval Fantasy Roguelites
Examples: 9 Kings, BALL x PIT, Dawnfolk, Drop Duchy, He is Coming, The King is Watching, The Royal Writ
In 2025, roguelites were living the dream of the 90s. The 1290s, to be exact. From princes to paupers, from kings to peasants, we got a huge number of roguelites based in medieval or feudal time periods. BALL x PIT set the world by storm with its surprising combo of brick-breaking and base-building gameplay. But my personal favorite was The King is Watching, which puts your kingdom under complete control of your rule, so long as you keep your eye on it.
-Emily
Trend #3 – Released on August 7, 2025
Examples: Examples: Artis Impact, Fischer’s Fishing Journey, Gemporium, Hidden Memories of the Gardens Between, Is This Seat Taken?, MakeRoom, Öoo, Paper Animal Adventure, Ritual of Raven, The Royal Writ, Strange Jigsaws, Tiny Bookshop, Whimside
August 7, 2025 was the May 9, 2024 of 2025. So many games arrived on this day, and while we hold 5/9/24 in higher regard for the depth of its game offerings, we revere 8/7/25 for its breadth and variety. August 7 also happens to be my birthday, and I can think of no greater present than hitting a mother lode of games I could spend an entire month or two playing.
-Beau
Trend #4 – No One is as they Appear
Examples: Kiosk, Look Outside, Static Dread: The Lighthouse, No I’m Not a Human, (Quarantine Zone in January 2026)
Horror is a genre we can almost always look to for poignant social commentary. Not to get too real in a rundown of these indie game trends, but it feels fitting for 2025 that we saw so many horror games with themes rooted in profound paranoia and skepticism of others. I think many folks are both wondering who in their communities they can trust and also seeking out support and comfort of community during uncertain and scary times. These games explore these anxieties in a variety of horror scenarios, and we’re already kicking off 2026 with similar themes in Quarantine Zone.
-Emily
Trend #5 – Stanley Parable-esque Narrators
Examples: despelote, Egging On, Henry Halfhead, Luto
It’s one thing for a game to have a narrator, but another for that narrator to adapt their musings to your actions as if they’re providing live commentary over your shoulder. The observant voices in these games seemingly react to anything we do. We could be playing a Switch under a blanket, or a Steam Deck on a day off, but try as we might, we won’t experience these playthroughs alone.
-Beau
Trend #6 – Time to “Die,” Mr. Bond
Examples: Cats & Dice, Dice with Death (Early Access), Dice Gambit, Dice of Kalma, Dice Legends, Dice a Million (demo), Die in the Dungeon, Lost in Random: The Eternal Die, Moves of the Diamond Hand Chapter 1, Pip My Dice
Card-based deckbuilders reached a fever pitch in recent years, but dice rolled their way into our hearts in 2025. As expected, there are a lot of roguelites and roguelikes on this list. What really impressed me is the breadth of gameplay styles and systems that made use of dice rolls in different ways. From elaborate dice boards in Die in the Dungeon, to completely customizable die faces in Pip My Dice, we saw every manner of rolling and scoring this year.
-Emily
Trend #7 – Developers with Flabbergasting Range
Examples: Baby Steps, Birdigo, Haste, Hyper Light Breaker, PEAK, REMATCH, Slots & Daggers, The Stone of Madness, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown, Tempopo, Wanderstop
A surprising number of developers stopped at nothing to do something wildly new. Who would have ever guessed that the creators of Sifu would decide to work on a soccer game, or that Aggro Crab would craft one of the gaming industry’s biggest multiplayer hits, or that the guy behind the wholesome SUMMERHOUSE would love nothing more than to show us his dark fantasy slot machine? You simply can’t make these things up, and they’re found absolutely nowhere near our Bingo cards.
-Beau
Trend #8 – Mysterious Manors
Examples: Blue Prince, Deck of Haunts, Haunted House Renovator, Luto, The Séance of Blake Manor, We Escaped a Twisted Game, Your House
What do you see when you look at a grand estate house? A personal story? A mystery? A threat at every shadowy turn? You can experience all of these and more in the many games from this year that invited players to inhabit, explore, and build sprawling manors. In many of these titles, the house itself stole the spotlight as the most fascinating character in the cast.
-Emily
Trend #9 – That’s Just the Pits
Examples: Bahamut and the Waqwaq Tree, BALL x PIT, Bye Sweet Carole, CloverPit, Everdeep Aurora, A Game About Digging a Hole, Gemporium, Hell Clock, Shotgun Cop Man
Things have been literally looking up for so many indies, as we described in our 2024-focused article that mentioned games about climbing, flying, and reaching new heights. Recently, there have been plenty of titles aiming in the opposite direction, tasking players with digging, dropping, and going to hell and back. We promise this is the one time we’ll tell you to look down.
-Beau
Trend #10 – Friendslop
Examples: Co-Op Kaiju Horror Cooking, Dark Hours, Escape the Backrooms, Guilty as Sock!, Mage Arena, PEAK, R.E.P.O., Restaurats, RV There Yet?
2025 was the year of “friendslop,” although not everyone agrees on its meaning and connotations. For those who haven’t yet been initiated to the term, friendslop is a new designation for online multiplayer games that are often hastily developed, and emphasize getting into silly and outrageous situations with your friends. Personally, I think we absolutely needed a word to define this new genre of gaming experiences, but “friendslop” implies a lack thought and care that I just don’t see in these games. Making any game is a challenge but crafting an experience to be shared by a variety of different gamers with different experiences, skills and preferences requires a whole other level of artistry. I’ll say loud and proud that I love friendslop and I hope we get even more of it in 2026.
-Emily
Want more thoughtful takes on the state of indie gaming?
Follow No Small Games and Underplayed on Spotify! Both shows cover indie game trends and news, as well as provide in-depth reviews of indie games new and old!
You can also check out live gameplay of many more indies on Beau (Bo__Po) and Emily’s (aSpecificEgg) Twitch channels.
About No Small Games
No Small Games is an indie game recap and review podcast brought to you by hosts Kate and Emily! They became friends while streaming on Twitch and bonded over their love of indie video games. In each episode of No Small Games, the two will discuss an indie game they both played independently. They’ll compare their experiences: the good, the bad, their most memorable moments of their playthroughs.
Learn more about the podcast and its hosts on the About page.