After the monumental releases of Deltarune, Peak, Hollow Knight: Silksong and more, the indie game space in 2025 has never looked more vibrant. But after the most anticipated indie games of the year are released, what are we meant to look forward to?
Let’s start with a recap on what games are out in the world today. To start with the obvious, Hollow Knight: Silksong has been taking the indie world by storm recently.
If you haven’t been paying attention, the original Hollow Knight game was released in 2017 by Team Cherry. The metroidvania has been known to be challenging yet rewarding, with speed runners and gaming masochists alike throwing themselves at it in the hopes of vanquishing the Absolute Radiance waiting at the end of the tunnel.
After a few releases of extra downloadable content, Team Cherry shut themselves away with promises of a future title known as Hollow Knight: Silksong. The development team was suspiciously quiet about the project for many years, leading to rumors that the game would never be released — thankfully, they were wrong. Although Team Cherry easily could have easily upped their price, they set Silksong at a more-than-reasonable $19.99.
Chapters three and four of Toby Fox’s Deltarune have also been a hit with the gaming scene. Fox first rose to prominence with 2015’s legendary Undertale, and Deltarune has been his follow-up, working alongside artist Temmie Chang. Chapters one and two are free-to-play, with three and four packaged together for $24.99.
Also, if you’ve somehow missed out on Undertale, it’s currently available on Steam for only $2.49!
Another major hit has been Aggro Crab and Landfall’s Peak, which has found its footing among streamers. The cooperative climbing game features proximity voice chat and lends itself to wild and ridiculous moments among friends. This style of game, often referred to as “friendslop,” has been gaining prominence on YouTube and Twitch as they foster clippable moments for internet influencers. The game is only $7.99 on Steam, but you’ll need some friends on board.
Now as for the games coming up next. Starting off strong, I think it’s a good idea to set your sights on Blippo+ from the gaming publisher Panic. The group is responsible for hits and indie darlings Firewatch, Thank Goodness You’re Here! and Untitled Goose Game.
Blippo+ is perhaps the weirdest game I’ve ever seen. The entirely live-action title presents itself as an “off-cable TV simulator,” according to its Steam page. The game is stylized like an old television program, with characters sporting strange hairstyles and uneven levels of saturation. It’s akin to the movie “I Saw the TV Glow” in presentation, with a much zanier take.
In Blippo+, players surf through a variety of channels streaming from Planet Blip, while uncovering various secrets and piecing together a larger story about this strange world. The game’s trailer also hits at some mysterious anomaly known as the “bend,” implying that things will only get weirder from here on out.
Blippo+ releases on Sept. 23 to Nintendo Switch and Steam.
Now for a title a little more within most people’s levels of weird: UNBEATABLE. I’ve had my eyes on this title for a few months now, and I’ve only become more excited as time goes on. You play as Beat, a musician living in a world where “music is illegal and you do crimes,” as the tagline states.
UNBEATABLE is a rhythm adventure game in an anime-esque style, with brightly colored characters and gorgeous visuals. And as the tagline alludes, you’ll be living a rough-and-tumble city lifestyle while fighting with policemen and doing graffiti. And of course, it’s all about the music, which already seems incredible based on the trailer.
UNBEATABLE also slots itself into a growing genre climbing its way towards mainstream consciousness: grind fiction. Also known as “animemo,” grind fiction finds itself within urban fantasy and settings accompanied by skateboarding, youth rebellion and graffiti.
UNBEATABLE releases to PlayStation, Xbox and Steam on Nov. 6, featuring both a story mode and an endless arcade mode.
Finally, an unexpected rising star in the indie games industry has been the humbly named Sledding Game. This little indie darling is developed entirely by a single person, with the Sledding Game’s Steam page crediting the game to The Sledding Corporation.
Sledding Game is innocuous and simple in concept: playing as a small, rounded frog character, you sled down a snowy mountain with friends. The game features proximity voice chat and a variety of activities and goals to accomplish, such as snowball fights and customizable characters.
While Sledding Game is straightforward and unassuming, it’s found a devoted group of fans. The game’s Instagram page recently reached 500,000 followers, and the game hit 200,000 Steam wish lists in July. Much of the success is certainly attributed to the developer’s consistent updates on Instagram, showing off new features and the process required to implement them.
Sledding Game has no set release date and no announced platforms aside from Steam, but it has already gained traction amongst fans. However, the proximity voice chat, lovable characters and ragdoll physics will likely make the finished game a delight to play.