Hidden Diamonds: Indie games of 2025 that should not be missed
The backlog, as you know, is not rubbery, and you can't play all the games. But nevertheless, last year, just great projects could easily slip by — not very large-scale, from solo developers, but all original, with interesting concepts and gameplay. For more information, see the Izvestia article.
Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector
Screenshot from the game Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector
Genre: Adventure
What to play on: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
Thanks to the deep ent, carefully crafted sci-fi world and atmospheric soundtrack, the first part of Citizen Sleeper has won the hearts of the players. The development team managed to create a truly special project twice - the sequel turned out to be no worse. Android Sleeper is waiting for new adventures in the cyberpunk world of the Belt. Together with him and his motley crew, you need to survive in the icy void of space and travel on your ship from one fascinating story milestone to another.
PEAK
Screenshot from the PEAK game
Genre: cooperative with elements of survival
What to play on: PC
The case is when the creators didn't promote the game — the streamers did everything for them. Due to its virality, the hardcore co-op platformer PEAK sold over five million copies in a month. The concept is comical and simple — a plane with scouts crashed on a desert island. Together with the co-players, you need to get to the highest mountain and send flares into the sky. The path to the cherished goal is blocked by dense jungles, rocky peaks, stormy streams and frosty slopes. The biome map changes with each new race, so it's almost impossible to get bored.
Pocket Boss
Screenshot from the Pocket Boss game
Genre: Puzzle
What to play on: PC, iOS, Android
The player is an employee who works with business data and tries to please his demanding boss. Truly a puzzle for those who don't have much to do at work! You will have to solve more and more bizarre puzzles and puzzles under the gaze of the boss, who closely monitors the progress and wonders if the player has enough strength to earn a promotion.
Morsels
Genre: roglight
What to play on: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
A roguelike game that combines elements of a collectible card game and dynamic action. The game begins with the most common event for the genre — the death of a player. The mouse protagonist is swallowed by a huge cat. His throat serves as a vertical map of the world. The mouse can carry with it up to three companions-Pieces, creatures made of garbage, endowed with unique abilities and helping in races.
Fretless
Screenshot from the game Fretless
Genre: Action
What to play on: PC
Rob Scallon, a popular music blogger with several million subscribers on YouTube, participated in the creation of Fretless. He gave the game a musical plot and the character of the main character named Rob. Rob goes to the Battle of the Bands festival, which turns out to be a cover for the dark deeds of the villain Riffson. Of course, the player doesn't stay away with Rob. The battles are turn-based, the battles take place on musical instruments, and as you progress and defeat bosses, you can find various improvements for your musical arsenal.
Into The Emberlands
Screenshot from the game Into The Emberlands
Genre: Adventure
What to play on: PC
A cute adventure with casual graphics, with roguelike elements, where you have to explore a fabulous world invaded by a mysterious miasma and save a race of cute necks. The hero is a Bearer of Light and the owner of a magic lantern, with which he can explore the dark lands. The world of Into The Emberlands is procedurally generated, so it can be played almost indefinitely.
Lushfoil Photography Sim
Genre: Photographer simulator
What to play on: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
Games indirectly develop many skills. And Lushfoil Photography Sim is a real serious virtual photography tutorial in a playful way. In a broad sense, the gameplay boils down to wandering through picturesque locations and photographing them well. You can just take "screenshots", but the game provides all the settings for professional photography — shutter speed, photosensitivity, aperture size, exposure, focal length and lens type, zoom, white balance, flash, and more. To practice your skills, you need to complete small quests, such as shooting footage in certain locations and searching for hidden collectibles.
Babushka’s Glitch Dungeon
Screenshot from the game Babushka's Glitch Dungeon
Genre: platformer, metroidvania
What to play on: PC
A platformer with elements of metroidvania, literally filled with glitches. The main character, Grandma, was sweeping the floor and faced with neon "glitches" in reality. Like any decent grandmother, she started sweeping them away and fell into a mysterious basement — that's where all the adventures begin. Babushka's Glitch Dungeon really stands out from other pixel art games. Every aspect of game design here is built around mistakes and failures. Grandma gets new abilities, moves to new rooms, defeats enemies, turns into a chicken (and more), and at this time the elements of the level crumble into squares, randomly move and change properties.
Henry Halfhead
Screenshot from the Henry Halfhead game
Genre: Puzzle
What to play on: PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch
Kind Henry consists of half a head, but he is not discouraged, because he knows how to inhabit a variety of objects and adopt their properties. This is what the gameplay of this meditative puzzle is built around. The player follows Henry's life path from birth to old age. Each level, in fact, is a sandbox in which you can slowly understand with interest, but in order to go further, you will have to complete a number of tasks.
Wheel World
Screenshot from the game Wheel World
Genre: adventure, bike simulator
What to play on: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
Annapurna Interactive Publishing House is a storehouse of unusual games, and Wheel World is another diamond in its collection. This is a philosophical adventure and a cycling simulator at the same time: players communicate with cycling spirits and collect legendary parts for their iron horse to save the world. It's not every day that you'll find a bike simulator with a rich mystical plot and inner mythology, so Wheel World is truly unique.
Wanderstop
Screenshot from the game Wanderstop
Genre: tea house simulator, adventure
What to play on: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
Davey Reeden's previous games, The Stanley Parable and The Beginners' Guide, were more philosophical expositions. But Wanderstop will give you time to think about difficult topics, and it's nice to relax by taking on the role of managing a fabulous tea house. The plot tells the story of a professional Alta warrior. The girl had no equal in the arena for many years, but she began to lose battle after battle. In search of answers, the heroine went to the famous swordsman, but could not complete the journey and collapsed. She woke up in the Boro tea shop, where the kind host offered her a little distraction, to work with the tea business and think about what to do next.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
