2025 was a great year for Indie games. I can’t remember another time when The Game Awards featured so many Indie games as nominations across its various categories. Never mind several Indies being nominated for Game of the Year. That’s wild, and speaks to a year where small teams, and small games were the dominant force of culture within the industry at large.

However, not all of the very best that 2025 had to offer received as much attention as your Expedition 33s, Silksongs, or Hades 2s. Nope. Even in a year with several massive Ws for Indie games and smaller studios alike, there were still several titles that flew completely under the radar.

So, please allow me some of your time to go through some of my favourite Indies from 2025. Specifically, I’d like to highlight 10 games that I really enjoyed, but which didn’t make as big of a splash throughout the year.

To start, let’s dive into the game that I spent the most time playing in 2025: Monster Train 2.

Monster Train 2

There’s a sentiment that I’ve often seen attributed to the game Slay the Spire:

It’s a Deckbuilder where any card can be the backbone for your strategy.

I agree with this statement, to a point, but have largely found it to ring hollow the more time I’ve spent playing Slay the Spire. There’s an incredible amount of mileage that one can wring out of that game while playing it on the lowest difficulty. However, I don’t feel that holds true once you begin adding in additional difficulty modifiers via Ascension levels.

I mention this because the same problem does not exist in Monster Train 2. It’s a game where I’ve won using just about every card in the game. Better yet, I’ve done so while under the pressure of the game’s highest difficulty, and still managed to pop the optional super boss that punctuates each run.

It’s this level of flexibility that sits at the heart of why I think Monster Train 2 is so damn good.

It is an absolute joy to draft a card that you previously had misgivings about, only for it to turn into the linchpin that holds your entire deck together. And that feeling happened again, and again, and again as I kept pouring more, and more time into Monster Train 2.

By the time I finally put the game down, I couldn’t believe how many different styles of deck I’d built by mixing, and matching cards from the game’s 10 different factions. There’s so much mileage that you can squeeze out of the game because Monster Train 2 is stuffed to bursting with Keywords, Upgrades, Equipment, and Modifiers that’ll radically change how you approach winning on a run-by-run basis.

While it doesn’t reinvent the wheel, I promise that Monster Train 2 is well worth it. Once you start to discover all of the vectors for how to leverage a card, each draft becomes a maelstrom of possibilities. If deckbuilding is your thing, then you need to give this game a look.

However, if you are looking for a Deckbuilder that meaningfully shakes things up then may I suggest StarVaders instead?

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StarVaders

Review copy provided by publisher

On paper, StarVaders looks like something that was very specifically crafted for me. It’s both a Deckbuilder, and a Tactics game. Wow. 2 of my favourite genres? At the same time? Yes please!

In all seriousness though, StarVaders is an impeccably designed game, and works far better than it has any right to be. I say this because both movement, and attacking are tied to the cards in your deck. As such, you’re beholden to a little randomness in as far as what actions you’re actually capable of taking on a turn-by-turn basis, which has the potential of being a very frustrating can of worms to navigate around.

However, StarVaders doesn’t have a huge problem with randomness thanks to 2 very clever bits of design:

The first is that you’re given 3 re-rolls (Chronos Tokens) for every world, with the ability to recoup 1 of them during every combat encounter. This will let players draw a fresh hand in the event that they’re totally stuck, which I think is great. There’s nothing worse than losing a run because of a single bum hand, but StarVaders provides a means to help mitigate such scenarios from occurring in the first place.

Secondly, and arguably a more important bit of design is that the overwhelming majority of StarVader’s cards feature some kind of movement property. This can include forced movement in a specific direction, allowing the player to reposition, or displacing an enemy unit. In all cases, players are given a ton of tools to (literally) navigate the different problems that are thrown their way. This makes the process of both constructing your deck, and consistently executing your strategy satisfying in equal parts.

If you want to try a Deckbuilder that feels new – like it’s pioneering fresh ground – then consider StarVaders. I was really surprised with how well it manages to blend its 2 constituent pieces into a cohesive whole, and would highly recommend it to fans of either Deckbuilding, or Tactics.

However, if Deckbuilders aren’t really your cup of tea then you’re in luck because the rest of the list doesn’t have anything to do with cards. Instead, we’re going to switch focus to the only spoopy game that made this year’s list: Eclipsium.

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Eclipsium

I’ll be perfectly honest with you: this is going to be one of the more pretentious inclusions on this list. I say that because Eclipsium is akin to an Art-house film, but in video game form. It doesn’t have much in the way of mechanics, nor does it have any dialogue.

Despite these apparent shortcomings, Eclipsium is genuinely one of the most interesting things that I played all year. Though, I’m not entirely certain that I can articulate why that is.

I think a part of my intrigue stems from how Eclipsium repeatedly filled me with an overwhelming sense of dread, and unease. The first thing that you do in the game is cut off your own tongue to open a door. This is never explained, but it perfectly sets the mood for everything that’ll follow.

Or…holy shit when you go down into the well for the first time? The camera trick, and the way the music cuts in? Even just thinking back on it is giving me goose bumps. The whole sequence is so unnerving, but you can’t look away for fear that you’ll miss something.

However, Eclipsium isn’t always “on”, and I think that’s the key for why it works so well. It’s a roller coaster with high-highs, and moments of relief. Those breaks really help to punctuate all of the different set pieces, so they land with the appropriate level of impact. An impact that has left me thinking about the game well since finishing it.

I know it likely feels as though I’ve said nothing about Eclipsium, but if I’ve piqued your interest, even a little, then give it a chance. It’s the sort of thing where the less you know beforehand, the better.

Though, if spoopy games aren’t really your speed, then perhaps you’ll enjoy the cozy comforts of Wanderstop.

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Wanderstop

Admittedly, I feel like calling Wanderstop a Cozy game is a bit of a misnomer. Yes, you spend the majority of your playtime in a no-stakes environment gardening, and brewing tea. There’s also no combat, nor any penalties for serving customers incorrectly. Those are all hallmarks of the Cozy genre, and you could play through the entirety of Wanderstop only engaging with it like this.

However, for me, Wanderstop was a game about burn-out. It’s a game about what it feels like to give everything that you have to something only to be told that it wasn’t enough. That you weren’t good enough. 

It’s a game about the doubt that creeps into your mind, and slowly poisons you whenever you try to move on. What if the same thing happens again? Why should I even bother?

It’s a game about how burn-out isn’t just a self-destructive process. It hurts you, yes, but it also hurts your friends. Your family. The people who love you.

For me, Wanderstop was a mirror. It gave me a space to meditate, and the time to self-reflect. When it was finally over, I cried. In fact, it was the only game I played all year that elicited that strong of an emotional response from me. While I wasn’t particularly bothered by the tea brewing, I’m glad I stuck with it because Wanderstop turned out to be exactly what I needed when I played it.

Unfortunately, that turned out to be a little heavier than I expected, so let’s shift gears with something a little more light-hearted: the adorable Öoo.

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Öoo

I don’t think that I can summarize why Öoo is so great without repeating what I’ve already written, so forgive me for paraphrasing myself here.

The genesis moment for me with Öoo happened when I hit a dead-end while navigating through the game’s first world. The format of the game had me thinking that I’d unlock some new power-up for my bomb ability after completing all of the world’s challenges. Specifically, I was hoping to unlock something that’d allow me to bypass the blockade that I encountered at a fork in the road earlier in the game.

That’s when it hit me: I already got the power-up. In order to even reach the room that I was in, I had to learn to use my existing abilities in a new way. Ergo, my reward for finishing all of those puzzles was knowledge. Knowledge that I could leverage to move onto, and complete the next set of challenges. This experience repeats across all 8 of Öoo’s worlds, and the game is all the better for it.

Though, for my money the more impressive feat is how Nama Takahashi (the game’s solo developer) manages to convey all of the concepts in Öoo without a single line of dialogue. Everything that you’re going to learn will be taught to you through the game’s intelligent level design. In today’s age that feels like a lost art, so seeing it on full display throughout Öoo was a delight.

While I won’t give every game on here a blanket recommendation, I do think everyone needs to play Öoo. It’s 10 dollars, and 2 hours. For what it’s worth, I think most people will find it an incredibly worthwhile 2 hours.

However, Öoo wasn’t the only great Japanese Indie game that I played this year, nor was it the only great Puzzle Platformer from 2025. As such, may I now turn your attention towards MotionRec.

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MotionRec

I can not believe that I played 2 different Puzzle Platformers that I loved this year. Even just playing 1 great Puzzle Platformer is a treat, but 2? Really? My cup was truly overflowing in 2025.

Honestly, a lot of the same compliments that I had for Öoo are applicable for MotionRec. It embraces a “show, don’t tell” approach in as far as teaching the player. As such, even the tutorial puzzles feel satisfying to piece together.

Though, the thing that really stood out to me with MotionRec was how it leveraged platforming in its design. The core of MotionRec is the ability to record your movements, and play them back in real-time. At its most simple, this can be used to glide over an extra large gap that you otherwise couldn’t pass. At its most complex, you’re thinking about how to leverage your character’s movement, and the level design itself while recording the exact movements you need to complete the puzzle in question. It’s a frankly beautiful marriage of Platforming, and Puzzle solving that I had blast playing through in its entirety.

Now that I’ve finished gushing about 2 equally brilliant Japanese Puzzle-Platformers, let’s reign things back in with Slip ‘n Slime.

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Slip ‘n Slime

Frankly, there were a ton of great Puzzle games that I played throughout 2025. Basically the entire back-half of this list will be nothing but back-to-back-to-back Puzzle games.

However, there was seldom a Puzzler that felt as unique as Slip ‘n Slime. It’s an entire game built around the same harebrained logic that’s used in ice sliding puzzles that are otherwise a throwaway mechanic in most games that they appear within. That is, when you step onto the ice, you carry your forward momentum until you collide with a solid surface. It’s a rich, mostly untapped well of potential, and Slip ‘n Slime wrings a ton of value out of it.

I know Slip ‘n Slime isn’t the most exciting entry on here, but it was one of the better crafted games that I played this year. It’s extremely well put together, has a great sense of mechanical pacing, and is chock full of those euphoric “ah ha” moments that make Puzzle games so enjoyable in the first place. And sometimes that’s all you need from a game for it to stick with you.

Nevertheless, if you’re in the mood for a thinky game, but don’t want to constantly flex your lateral thinking muscles, then could I interest you in the next entry on this list: The Roottrees are Dead?

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The Roottrees are Dead

I feel like it’s become a bit of a trope in my writing to talk about every Detective game that I play in relation to Return of the Obra Dinn. Lucas Pope’s masterwork is still one of the best games in this particular subgenre, and has gone on to inspire several other developers much in the same way as FromSoftware did with Dark Souls for Action Role-Playing Games.

However, I believe that mythologizing games in this way isn’t particularly helpful for the continued growth of a genre, and tends to diminish continued iteration and innovation. Specifically because everyone will continue to chase the evangelized title(s) instead of branching out to experiment with familiar ideas in a new context.

Thankfully, The Roottrees are Dead came along in January doing just that sort of experimentation. It features a twist on Her Story’s search engine gameplay by allowing players to search multiple databases for relevant information to their investigation. This means that you’re not just keying in on specific phrases, but you’re also figuring out where it makes the most sense to search for those phrases. As such, the eventual discovery of brand new information feels all the sweeter because you were involved, and actively engaged during every step of the process.

Though, it’s not just a new twist on familiar gameplay that makes Roottrees so phenomenal: it also does a lot to tell a cohesive story. Pouring over 5 generations of the titular family’s history via books, printed/web articles, and old advertisements paints a vivid picture of who the Roottrees were/are, and how they’ve influenced Butler County, Pennsylvania across over 50 years.

But do you want to know what the truly wild bit of Roottrees is?

You also get the expansion, Roottreemania, as a free pack-in. That’s 2 separate mysteries to untangle, each with an almost entirely unique cast of characters to investigate, and stories to tell. The fact that this game is only 25 CAD is frankly criminal given both the quality, and amount on offer.

However, I know some of you are keeners, and you’ll have already played The Roottrees are Dead. As such, let me direct your attention to the other stand-out Detective game that I played this year: The Séance of Blake Manor.

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The Séance of Blake Manor

I’m fairly confident that The Séance of Blake Manor would’ve been my favourite Detective game in 2025 had I not already played The Roottrees are Dead. That said, I’ve got room enough in my heart (and on this list) for 2 excellent Detective games. Especially when the former incorporates time limits in such an interesting way.

Yes – time limits. My favourite thing!

I’m not being facetious when I say that either: I genuinely like time limits in games. They help to encourage risk-taking in games that otherwise struggle to motivate players away from samey, risk-adverse strategies. 

In Blake Manor’s case every action – talking to someone, cross-referencing evidence, or inspecting an item – costs a minute of in-game time. This, coupled with a hard 2 day limit to conclude your investigation, helps to encourage a more thoughtful investigation of the many mysteries strewn throughout the titular Blake Manor.

There’s also an element to planning that arises as a consequence of Blake Manor’s time-based system, which adds an extra dimension to your investigation. Each of the manor’s guests will keep to a schedule, and this influences when, where, and how you’ll be able to carry out your investigation. For example, you wouldn’t want to break into someone’s room to riffle through their belongings while they’re standing right there with you. 

That said, you’re given well in excess of the amount of interactions you need to actually finish the game, so there’s plenty of room to dive into flavor text. In fact, I’d actively encourage doing so because Blake Manor leans into Irish folklore as a central pillar of its setting, and story. That was a nice change of pace from the Greek, Norse, and Eastern histories, and myths that I’m a lot more accustomed to seeing represented in fiction.

Which brings us to our final entry on the list: Citizen Sleeper 2.

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Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector

I think that the biggest compliment I can give to Citizen Sleeper 2 is thus: I did not realize that it was almost twice as long as the first game. It did not feel longer. It felt fleeting. As if there was no amount of time that I wouldn’t be willing to spend with my ragtag crew as we continued our space adventures.

In a similar vein of thinking, I view almost every aspect of Citizen Sleeper 2 as a direct upgrade over its predecessor. It does a much better job of maintaining a level of stress that accurately mirrors what the player character (and supporting cast) are going through. As a direct result, decisions, even small ones, feel like they have more weight which increases the impact of both successes, and failures.

Though, I think the thing that’ll stick with me most isn’t Sleeper 2’s mechanical improvements – it’s the narrative. It’s a game about work, and the relationship that we have with our work. It explores what work means to different groups, and classes of people, which helps to bestow a face to the many in-game factions. This also helps give the game’s world a palpable texture that I usually only encounter within books, which was a pleasant surprise.

But Sleeper 2 also asks the player to reflect on what work means to them while they’re playing. What do you get out of work? Why do you work? How do you feel when your work is exploited by others for profit?

In an industry that is chock full to bursting with games that are too afraid of upsetting anyone to actually say anything substantive, it was refreshing to play a game like Citizen Sleeper 2. It says what it wants to clearly while providing moments of down time for players to reflect on what it means to them. 

That kind of introspection might be a little too artsy-fartsy for some folks, but it was part of why I appreciated my time playing Citizen Sleeper 2. It got me to think about my own tangentially related experiences in a similar fashion to Wanderstop. I think there’s a lot of value when entertainment (regardless of its form) can provoke that kind of response from someone.

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And with that, we’ve finally come to the end of the listicle.

I’m well aware that I was a little more pretentious than I normally am with this sort of thing. There were simply more games that I played this year where my gears started turning for reasons other than mechanical depth. Admittedly, that was kind of refreshing since I seldom have those kinds of experiences in gaming at the frequency that I have them while reading a book, or watching films/television.

That said, I hope that there was something here you hadn’t already heard of, and are now curious enough to pick it up for yourself. Think of it like getting a gift for making it through another year.

Speaking of, thank you to everyone for everything this past year. This has been the best year running my blog in terms of total view count, developer out-reach, folks sharing my articles, and donations. Though, admittedly, the donations were a (relatively) recent addition.

Regardless of how you chose to engage with my blog throughout 2025, I’m truly grateful for it. It means the world to me. Thank you.

Did you enjoy what you read? Consider supporting my work by buying me a coffee over on Ko-fi.