For indie game developers, getting eyes on your game as launch draws near remains one of the largest hurdles of the entire development process. There are only so many journalists who cover indie games, the market is heavily saturated, and we’re not even going to talk about the cost of getting a trailer featured on The Game Awards.
In an effort to overcome this perpetual struggle, some of the largest names in indie gaming came together in 2024 to launch The Triple-I Initiative. The group assembled trailers of upcoming “Triple-I” indie games from established developers and publishers behind hit games like Slay the Spire, Risk of Rain, and Palworld.
The Triple-I Initiative was such a success that the coalition of indie developers did it again in April 2025, with a whole new host of developers and publishers showing off more than 40 indie games. From world premieres to gameplay reveals and release date promos, here’s everything we saw in the second annual Triple-Initiative showcase:
Neverway
Created by the pixel artist behind the stunning indie hit, Celeste, Neverway is a unique take on the life sim and farming genre that often features cozy and wholesome gameplay in bright, colorful settings. That’s not what you’re getting here, though. This is a darker, creepier take on the life sim genre that we so desperately needed.
Neverway’s protagonist, Fiona, decides to start her life over on a farm but somehow finds herself as an immortal herald of a dead god. We’ve got a blend of horror, life sim, and action RPG where you can meet and even date more than 10 unique characters, all with their own routines and storylines.
Farm, craft, prepare meals, and decorate your homestead. All while your life falls apart and a nightmare reality slowly leaks into your world. How’s that for cozy?
There’s no release date yet for Neverway, and it has currently only been announced for Steam. It’s still going straight to the top of my wishlist, though.
Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core
Deep Rock Galactic is a procedurally generated adventure FPS where you and up to three of your best friends become badass space dwarves, taking on hordes of alien beasts while collecting goodies from some deep, dark caves. Released in 2020, the game has been incredibly popular on consoles and PC, alike, which means it’s time for a spin-off.
Ghost Ship Games premiered a new trailer for Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core during the Triple-I Initiative showcase, giving us all a glimpse at the upcoming self-published spin-off that brings back our favorite spicy dwarves for a new co-op adventure with a roguelike twist. Each new foray into the darkness of the caves will kick off with every dwarf holding only the most basic of equipment.
To get through the onslaught of alien hordes, you and your buddies are going to have to work together to improve your weapons and abilities as you progress. Become the deadliest dwarf, or become a dead dwarf. Either way, you’re going to want to suit up and dive in again when it’s over.
Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core is coming to Early Access on Steam, with announced plans for a console launch just yet. Ghost Ship Games did sit down for a 20-minute post-show deep dive, showing additional gameplay footage and commentary from the team.
Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor goes 1.0
Sticking with Deep Rock Galactic, Ghost Ship Publishing and Funday Games have announced that the first DRG spinoff, Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, is finally reaching 1.0. Released in February 2024, this Vampire Survivors-esque single-player variant of Deep Rock Galactic is leaving early access and going full launch on September 17, 2025.
Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is one of the Steam Deck’s most played titles, and you’ll be able to play the 1.0 version when it launches on the handheld console as well as on your PC. There do not seem to be any plans for a console launch at this time.
Love Dynasty Warriors, but wish it was a little more… Scottish? Say hello to Tears of Metal, a hack-and-slash roguelike where you and some friends can wail your way through hordes of enemies, becoming stronger and unlocking the lore behind the mysterious Dragon Meteor. It just might be what you’re looking for.
You actually don’t have to wait long to start building up your own Scottish battalion and slay your way across the battlefield, either. Paper Cult, the self-published developers behind Tears of Metal, announced the game’s first Open Beta is coming to Steam.
Sacrifire
Pixelated Milk took to the Triple-I Initiative showcase to reveal the release window for SacriFire, a pixel art styled RPG about a young priest struggling with his faith as gods and demons are on the brink of war. SacriFire will hit consoles, including Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One, in Quarter 1 of 2026.
Endless Legend 2
Endless Legend 2, developed by AMPLITUDE Studios (known for Humankind, Endless Space) and published by Hooded Horse, is a strategy game coming to Steam in Early Access this summer. Players are invited to choose a faction and develop the fantastical ocean world back from the brink of extinction while engaging in massive, all-planet-encompassing wars.
Frostrail
If you’ve been on the hunt for a ruthless open-world survival FPS, Frostrail just might be for you. Coming to Early Access on Steam in 2026, Frostrail has The Long Dark energy mixed with all the frozen terror of a Frostpunk-like icy hellscape. A brutal cold has descended upon Frostrail’s once-mighty empire, and a pact between the Emperor and an entity dubbed the Void will have players scrambling for an armored train that serves as humanity’s last hope in this icy, wicked land.
Moonlighter 2
Moonlighter 2 is the much anticipated follow up to 2018’s cozy roguelike shop-sim adventure. A young merchant named Will finds himself in an alternative dimension where he must do what he does best — dungeon crawl for valuable loot by night, sell that loot to the locals by day. Crank up the charm and finesse your haggling strategy to get the most for your goods so that you can invest those funds into the local economy for better gear.
Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault is coming to Steam, Playstation, and Xbox this summer. Good news, Xbox Game Pass subscribers, Moonlighter 2 is a Day One addition to the service.
Star Birds
Have you ever wanted to claim an asteroid for yourself and build a darling base right on top of it? Then the next title from the developers behind Dorfromantik is likely for you. Star Birds is equal parts relaxing asteroid base-builder and vibrant resource management. Explore a variety of asteroids (including some that are a little sus looking) and then farm them for vital minerals for producing goods and satisfying the needs of your flock of space birds.
A demo for Star Birds is coming to Steam in June.
Escape Simulator 2
Pine Studio revealed Escape Simulator 2, the follow-up to its best-selling escape room game, chock-full of intricate puzzles and secrets. Escape Simulator 2 is a significant bump in quality to its predecessor, with bigger and more detailed rooms, deeper lore and secrets, and an improved room editor for designing your own escape room experience.
A demo for Escape Simulator 2 is available now on Steam. Pine Studio has not yet revealed plans for console launch or a specific release date for Escape Simulator 2 as of yet.
Outbound
Van life has taken social media by storm, so it only makes sense that the romanticization of roughing it in a vintage bus while you travel freely makes its way to gaming, too. Outbound from Square Glade Games (Above Snakes) gives players the chance to craft their own home on wheels and go off grid with workstations and power supplied by sustainable sources.
Take your caravan adventures on the road in a vibrant and lively world with three of your besties in this wholesome open-world exploration and farming sim. Outbound kicked off a Closed Alpha on April 14, with future plans for a Beta coming later this year. A Discord is open for those who would like to join and provide feedback to help shape the game’s development.
Enshrouded – Thralls of Twilight
Enshrouded is Keen Games’ survival crafting sim with action RPG-inspired combat. It is currently available on Steam in Early Access. Despite its unfinished state, the game has over 4 million players and over 67,000 positive reviews at the time of this writing.
During the Triple-I initiative, Keen Games showed off an Enshrouded update slated for a May release titled Thralls of Twilight. However, additional details on the pending update remain scarce.
Timberborn
You know what city builders need more of? Beavers on ziplines.
At least, that’s what Mechanistry seems to believe when it comes to the next update for its city-builder Timberborn. Like Enshrouded, Timberborn remains in early access on PC via Steam, the Epic Games Store, and GOG, where it has been since 2021.
That lengthy stay in Early Access hasn’t stopped the developers from continuing to expand on Timberborn’s world void of humans, where lumberpunk beavers are running the show. May 8 brings with it the launch of Timberborn’s 7th update which introduces mechanics for ziplines and tubeways.
BlazBlue Entropy Effect x Dead Cells
Few games get the crossover treatment more than Dead Cells, which is putting another notch on its bell by entering the BlazBlue universe this time around. The crossover will land later this summer, and it will also be accompanied by a brand-new multiplayer mode for BlazBlue. Sorry, online besties — this one’s local only.
OPUS: Prism Peak
SIGONO Inc and Shueisha Games announced a release window for its upcoming narrative adventure, OPUS: Prism Peak. Put yourself in the shoes of a weary photographer, armed with a trusty old camera, and explore an ethereal realm just outside of reality.
There’s plenty of mystery and intrigue to keep you coming back to explore more of this beautifully illustrated adventure that looks like it was plucked straight from a Studio Ghibli movie.
OPUS: Prism Peak launches on Steam this fall.
The Alters
A release date trailer for one of this summer’s most anticipated indie games landed in our laps during the Triple-I Initiative showcase, and we’re all simply beside ourselves with glee. 11 bit studios’ surreal sci-fi strategy sim, The Alters, will finally come to PC, consoles, and Xbox Game Pass on day one when it releases on June 13.
Speedrunners 2
Fair Play Labs and TinyBuild are racing back to your PC this year (and your consoles in 2026) with the release of Speedrunners 2: King of Speed.
This fast-paced, competitive multiplayer platformer pits up to eight players —that’s double the number of players compared to its predecessor! — against each other on a side-scrolling 2D map where they must master navigating the map, utilizing shortcuts, and timing pick-ups to outrun one another.
Those who can’t keep up are gradually knocked off the screen until only one runner remains.
Over the Hill
Funselektor Labs Inc, the developers behind the unbelievably pretty Art of Rally are back with another vehicle-centric adventure that is just way too pretty for its own good.
Over the Hill ventures back in time to the golden age of off-roading, allowing players to take to the wilderness alone or with friends to explore biomes based on real-world locations. Vehicles harken back to the ’60s through the ’80s for some extra nostalgia.
The trailer served as a gameplay reveal for Over the Hill, which does not yet have an official release date at this time. Developers Funselektor Labs and Strelka Games provided additional post-show commentary on Over the Hill for the showcase.
Super Fantasy Kingdom
City-builder fans were certainly getting their fix from the Triple-I Initiative this year. Super Fantasy Games and Hooded Horse announced a Q3 2025 release window for the upcoming roguelite city builder Super Fantasy Kingdom during the showcase.
This delightfully old-school, pixel city builder will have you building your kingdom, managing resources, and training up an army to protect your people from an onslaught of monstrous hordes. Plan your defenses carefully as you mix and match everything from vampire guards to ice priestesses and dinosaurs to keep your kingdom safe on Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG later this year.
X4: Foundations Diplomacy Update
X4: Foundations from Egosoft is a strategy sim for players who want to explore a vast, dynamic, and fully simulated space sandbox while engaging in epic space battles — and it’s getting a major update this summer that will introduce new strategic elements and build upon diplomatic gameplay.
Sorry console fans, this one remains PC only via Steam and GOG.
Rematch
We don’t often see new contenders in the sports genre, which is typically dominated by major publishers and titles like EA’s FC25 and Madden NFL. Rematch is a fresh take on football (of the soccer variety) where the player controls one athlete on the field in 5v5 matches with a third-person camera perspective.
Play solo or online in competitive game modes bolstered with seasonal content when Rematch launches on PC and consoles in June.
IKUMA – The Frozen Compass
The developer of Lost Ember, Mooneye Studios, is back with another narrative adventure to tug at our heartstrings. The developer and publisher revealed Ikuma: The Frozen Compass, a story about a young cabin boy named Sam who is stranded in the Arctic with nobody but his dog, Ellie, by his side.
Ikuma offers players the ability to dynamically switch between Sam and Ellie to explore the frozen tundra when solo, or the option to cozy up with a friend on the couch and brave the cold together. Each character has different skills that must be used together if the pair are to survive and solve the mystery of the expedition that came before them.
Ikuma: The Frozen Compass is coming to Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Steam, and the Epic Games Store in 2026.
Shapez 2 Dimension Update
Tobspr Games and Gamirror Games revealed that the early access factory building game Shapez 2 has a new update coming on June 2. The update will include the ability to construct multi-layer 3D factories while also working on train mechanics. A slew of other quality-of-life improvements are also coming to the game when the update launches next month on Steam.
V Rising – Invaders of Oakveil
The gothic, open-world vampire survival RPG V Rising has a brand-new update, but its only available to players on PlayStation 5 and Steam. The Invaders of Oakveil update introduces a new threat to the game in the Venom Blades. This new faction serves the Serpent Queen Megara, and you’ll have to travel to the corrupted wooded region of Oakveil if you want to rid yourself of these new foes.
Necesse – The Forgotten Depths
Fair Games released its procedurally generated crafting and survival game Necesse in 2019, but this early access title is far from being abandoned. The latest update, The Forgotten Depths, is available on Steam and adds a brand-new biome to explore, major changes to the in-game economy, and more.
Duskfade
Weird Beluga, partnering with publisher Fireshrine Games (known for Core Keeper, Reka) unveiled its debut title, Duskfade. Duskfade is a 3D action adventure inspired by titles from yesteryear, where players will engage in dynamic platforming and fast combat as they help the young hero, Zirian, save his sister and restore the fabric of time in an awe-inspiring world.
Duskfade is coming to consoles and Steam in 2026.
Cozy and wholesome games are great, but sometimes you just need to get your hack and slash on. Enter Morbid Metal, the hack’n’slash action roguelite from Screen Juice coming to early access on Steam this summer.
The Eternal Life of Goldman
Don’t be fooled by The Eternal Life of Goldman’s beautifully hand-drawn aesthetic. This vibrant platformer developed by Weappy Studio and published by THQ Nordic is a dark adventure full of fairy tales and myths that pays exquisite attention to detail at every turn.
The Eternal Life of Goldman’s hand-animated look means that no two rooms or landscapes are alike, and every aspect of the game, from characters to particle effects, is unique.
You can pick up The Eternal Life of Goldman on Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch later this year.
CloverPit
Developers Panik Arcade and publishers Future Friends Games wanted to see what would happen if Balatro and Buckshot Roulette had a bastard love child. Say hello to CloverPit, a roguelite slot machine horror game that is described as “a never-ending debt simulator.” Seems scary enough to me.
A demo for CloverPit is available now on Steam, but no details on a potential release date or console plans have been revealed yet.
Into the Fire
Starward Industries, the developer behind haunting sci-fi adventure The Incivible, wasted no time developing another barren hellscape adventure. The developer’s sophomore release is Into the Fire, an extraction survival game set in the shadow of a volcano that is happily spewing out fire demons just to make things tougher.
Into the Fire draws on retro-futuristic inspiration for its creative tools that players can utilize against the flames. Uncover the legends fueling the fires, save whomever you can, and take up arms with fire-extinguishing shotguns and other craftable survival tools. Take a leap Into the Fire when it launches on Steam in Early Access this year.
No, I’m not a Human
Developer Trioskaz and publisher Critical Reflex brought the analog horror fix to the Triple I Initiative showcase with No, I am not Human — a deeply unsettling horror where not all the visitors on your doorstep are welcome. Players will have to choose who to trust and bring into their home, but should you accidentally let in a Visitor then you may need to do what must be done to keep yourself and the rest of your guests safe through the night.
No, I am not Human is coming to Xbox, PlayStation, and Steam this fall.
VOID/BREAKER
Stubby Games, a one-man development effort, premiered its sophomoric game release is an ambitious roguelite-FPS set in a sci-fi universe where players will fight against hordes of machines and a hostile AI in an endless sequence of fight, die, repeat.
VOID/BREAKER is promising fast-paced, fluid movement and destructible environments when it launches on Xbox, PlayStation, and Steam. A playstest for the game saw a 93.3% satisfaction rate among reported feedback from early players, so this one may be one to keep an eye on.
Katana ZERO is still getting free DLC (eventually)
Katana ZERO from Askiisoft and Devolver Digital is nothing short of an indie game legend, and like the previously mentioned Dead Cells the characters from Katana ZERO are no strangers to crossovers. However, fans of the franchise have relied solely on those crossovers for more of this cyberpunk-y neo-noir platformer from 2019.
Free DLC for Katana ZERO was actually announced several years ago, and in 2020 Limited Run Games even revealed a physical copy was in the works. We’ve been waiting all this time, except for those who gave up and assumed the DLC was canned.
Except that it wasn’t, and according to a sweet trailer shown during the Triple-I Initiative showcase, the Katana ZERO DLC is still very alive, still coming, and still going to be free. Its coming to Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and Steam … eventually, anyway. There’s still no release date. Maybe it’ll release whenever Hollow Knight: Silksong does?
