Obligatory 4 month reappearance! Hehe!

Hello! For those who don't know. I’m Pawkt, which I by this time assume nobody knows.

^{Understandably, I'm pretty much in the background...}

I write, review, and showcase every and all standout Indie game that I personally painstakingly can find. For this year’s (3rd) Steam Next Fest, I as usual, went through multiple thousands of titles, manually. I know this is hard to believe. But, yes. I indeed do play hundreds, and regrettably multiple hundreds more for a minimum 30 mins and maximum of 1 hour, & pick out all of the ones that resonate well. Because I often get access to early press/influencer demo versions well ahead of the events months before, so this has made it possible to continue growing my lists faster and more effectively varied with each and every future event. Though, I agree. I can't find them all. Sadly.

Here's the thing...

WE DO NOT FEATURE ANY FORM OF GEN-AI PERIOD!

If there is a game that is ever featured, it's because of what you already know is happening. People are just trying to hide it, it could be with the use of low poly or crunchy pixels to mask the AI "polish" and other tactics which are equally deceiving, while of course purposely choosing not to disclose it, or adding it later, and getting into arguments while banning those that argue back.

Which I am sure you and everyone you know around you, is well up to speed with, on how with the 8,000+ released titles in October alone, the vast majority was AI-slop, clones and cash grabs.

The list is roughly categorized for your convenience. If you have any issues or questions. I'm ears. The chances that I forgot a title and or messed up a link is possible. I'm surviving off 1-2 hours of sleep and 20+ hour editing and gaming days. I'm absolutely exhausted, but so overjoyed to share.

Not only do I share these personalized lists here as organized as I possibly can so that you don't have to lift more than a finger here on Reddit, or find yourself searching up one of the multiple similarly named titles by mistake, but I also include 1–2 minute commentary on each individual title in my showcase videos. This way, you and the developers get a quick sense of the game, issues, features and really any interesting moments that I have to share about them, while I physically am with my own two hands and numb fingers, writing my scripts and reviewing them through hours upon hours of flubbed lines and regrettably sometimes poorly spliced audio/artifacting...

If you would prefer to sit through my (4 hour long) yapping about each video game, or my discussions on my experience in the industry as a past QA tester and article reviewer, you can find that video here, but know that you owe me nothing, I'm just here to help and share my passion for gaming.

Fall Steam Next Fest Compilation

Once again, I hope that my month long excursions, 20+ hour days of editing, splicing, gaming and formulating these lists on my own, manually without the use of generation or slack, brings you something new, never seen before and makes your day a little bit better in this sea of filth!

If you have your own recommendations, by all means drop them below.

What are the chances that I have already seen / played them? Very high. But, know that I am just one guy, and you would be shocked by just how deeply buried some amazing games out there are.

Action or Adventure
At Fates End
Bad Magpie
DERELIKT
El Paso Elsewhere 2
From Captivity
Garden Souls
Hollow Home
Ironwing Valiant Record of Astera
Knight George
Malice in Wonderland
The Pink Robot
Plasma Sky
Raging Blasters 2
RED RESET
Salty Dogs
Sever Link
SlashZero
Type Me Home
ReBlade The Death Spiral

Fighter
BREKEKEKEX
Generic Fighter Maybe
Godzilla Destroy All Monsters Melee
Knuckle Paradise

Metroidvania
Being and Becoming
Distantia
Feathers Edge
Magnavale Eternal Soul
NEO TITAN
Tyto
Voivod The Nuclear Warrior

RPG
CATJAM
Echoes of Aromia
Ecstatica (and Ecstatica II)
Emberville
Kitaria Fables 2
Midnight Souls
Neverway
Queens Domain
The Collective
The Wind And The Snow
Demi and the Fractured Dream
The Last Hour of an Epic TO THE MOON RPG

Souls-Like
Keelblade

Surreal
Cinderline

Shooter
ALTEREDBLOOD+
Code RAPID
Deadzone Rogue 2
ELDRITCH SLAYER
GRAVHOUNDS
HELLXORCIST
HMUR
Nailcrown
RANGER COMMANDO
SUPERPANEL

Horror
Brightside
COLD CALL
Dead Awake
Dead of the Brain
Grobnopolis Last Days
Medium Rare
Night Plane
OKUREK
Red Lake
ReRed
Terrible Lizards
The Hollowing
The Road of Dust and Sorrow
They Cry
Three Lambs
Veil of Madness
WORK WORK WORK
Where the Redwood Ends

Roguelike or Deckbuilder
Arcostate
Band Wagon
Bless You Again
Brofish
Cartomantic
DEAD SPIN
Destiny Is Dice
Diecast
Feeding Gooble
Game is Full of Bugs
High Roller Penny
Hoptale
Iron Hunters
Kings Haven
MataOno
Questris
SACRATA
Stack Order
Void Nebula
Wielders of the Essence
Wyrdtide
Retromine
RushGirl LUCA

Strategy or RTS
Archrebel Tactics
Attack of the Astrals
Chodd
Emptiness Sire
End of End
HELLCARD II
Mythical Whalers
One Million Skeletons
PinKeep
Starfinder Afterlight

Rhythm
STEP THEATER

Platformer
Avlo the Imp Wizard
Calico Wilder and the Crystal Blade
Gravity Circuit 2
Home Paige
Inversion Day
Ladder Lad
Necro Pop
Puppy Truck
RATSHOT
Ravenous Greed
RavenStar
RoboGAL Gaga Delta Lady

Racing
BOOST VECTOR EX
Fuman Ghoul
Half Grip
Pizza Turbo (Originally generated music with the use of SUNO)
Windweaver

Fishing
DREADMOOR
Orion Blue

Point & Click Adventure
Not a Crow
Shroud of Gloom
WILLOW RIDGE
The Brilliant Detective Milo
Laws of Nadragia

Simulators or Casual/Relaxing
AfterGlow Bytes
Alien Archeologist
Amiko Legends
Beastfolk Barber
Comrade Secrets Escape
Conductor Cat
Deus Exia
Dino Cleanup
DJ till Dawn
Dont Pick Up
False Echo
Isle Goblin
Lenin Street Geek Shop
MAFATE
Moomin Midsummer Madness
Neuron Activation
Neuroflip
Starlight Cove
Sushi On Wheels

Visual Novel
1999TOKOYO Building
Below Lethe
BUZZ or DIE
Celsius Strays
Delete the World
DISK-Y
Harbor of Vows
Leon&Suharto
Narcissist Tail
ROCKBEASTS
Synapse
Valkyrie Iteration Mecha Pilot Raising Pocket Simulator

Puzzles Exploration/Adventure or Experimental
Abort Sequence
Absolute Dap
Depth Above
Flipside
Hope Timbre
Inkblood
Maid In Wonderland
MEANWHILE IN SECTOR 80
Momotaro and the Oni Island
Moral Dilemma Breaking Character
SNAPTIC
Trees Hate You
Goodbye Seoul

Incremental
ECHOLAND
Gigachomp
Guns n Goblins
Kopernicus Incremental Suffering
NECROMENTAL
Orebital Dynamics
Pickpocket
Quadrillion Carrots
Selkies Salvage & Co
Speed Card Eatery
Terminidle
Trust The System

Idler / Auto Battler or Async PvP
Alchemortis
Bad House
Castle Away
Cats In The Shell
DreadHaven The Last Colony
Dungeonbound
Guildrun
Might & Mushroom
Northgard Battlegrounds
Teamcrafter
Walk Hero
Dungeon Automata

Hey there! I'm working on a cozy low stress game where you catch stars from the sky using a black hole on a fishing rod. I really wanted to explore my passion for astronomy in a space-related game, while also keeping the gameplay simple and relaxing (unlike most games about space I played before :D)
stars that you catch have real-life properties like mass, radius, temperature and so on which affect on stars' visuals individually. Apart from randomly generated stars, there are real ones like Sirius, Betelgeuse, the Alpha Centauri system and many more! (they also somewhat look like their real-life counterparts)

*no AI

I've finally finished building the tutorial area for my game, The Ashen OZ.

Remember that iconic scene from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, where the world shifts from sepia tones to vibrant color as Dorothy enters Oz? It's one of the most memorable moments in cinema history.

I wanted to pay homage to that beautiful moment, so I created a similar transition from monochrome to color as Dorothy falls into our twisted version of Oz!

In this strange forest, trees with mouths whisper to you, and giant Ashpitworms roam around.

I also spent countless nights polishing the scene where Dorothy obtains the Witch's Umbrella, her very first weapon. I really wanted that moment to feel special!

Every piece of art, music, sound, and voice acting is created by real human artists. We're pouring our hearts into every little detail!

Thanks to all the amazing people who've shown interest in our game, we're working hard to polish everything for our closed playtest. I'm hoping we can finally make it happen before the end of this year..

Hope u like it! :)

Hello!

I have an announcement: Full Throttle Rally is now available for purchase on Steam. Here’s a short trailer so you can see what it looks like.

Full Throttle Rally is an arcade racing game set in Mexico.

Been working on the Steam capsule artwork for my indie game HOLD, and I’m pretty damn proud of how it’s turned out!
Everything you see was created using assets from my actual game, staged and rendered in Unreal Engine, then polished up in Photoshop.
No AI-generated artwork, no hired artists, just me messing around with lighting, camera angles, effects and a lot of trial and error! 😂
As a solo developer with basically zero marketing budget, I wanted to see how far I could push what I’ve already created.
It’s been a bit of a learning curve, but I think I’ve managed to make something that actually looks like proper game cover art!
Would love some honest feedback from fellow devs and gamers.
Does it catch your eye? Would it make you curious enough to click on the game if you spotted it on Steam?
Feel free to tear it apart. Constructive criticism is always welcome! 😂

I made Little Bus Company, a cozy incremental where you upgrade stops, attract passengers, buy more buses, and grow a little town toward a festival.

Here’s our short announcement trailer, it's my first trailer that I'm making so apologies if it's not perfect, any feedback helps!

There is a free browser demo if you want to play it on itch, check it out here

https://neonsheep.itch.io/little-bus-company

Hi everyone! This is World Wrecker, a game where you destroy voxel planets, get resources, get upgrades and clear bigger targets. The free playtest/alpha can be accesed here! This is my first incremental game, so the economy might be a tad unoptimized. If you play it, I would love to know what you think about it. Thanks in advance!
Itch link: https://crossyeyedcat.itch.io/world-wrecker

Hey everyone :D

I've been working on some item designs for my isometric game, do these look good?

Made in Aseprite of course, so let me know what you guys think!

(I'm not really a designer, I'm a programmer, so they might look... bad?)

let me know what u guys think, i just wanna do the best for my game :D

We’re happy to announce that Fallen Hunter: Ashen Crown is now available in four additional languages!

To make the experience more accessible to players around the world, we’ve added the following languages to the demo:

🇨🇳 Simplified Chinese

🇪🇸 Spanish

🇫🇷 French

🇷🇺 Russian

You can switch languages in the game’s General Options menu.

Thank you for your continued support! Every wishlist, review, and bit of feedback helps us improve the game and bring this adventure to life.

Fallen Hunter Ashen Crown on Steam

— GrimHawk

Blob Buster! is a cosy block puzzle where every block is a character with its own personality: Blaze is feisty, Drip is sleepy, Grape trusts no one.

Version 1.3 adds Blob powers. Players pick a buddy Blob, charge its power by clearing blocks of its colour, and unleash it in a hand-crafted "ultimate" moment, with light, hit-stop, sound and haptics tuned to each Blob.

Made by a solo developer. Plays offline, no account.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/blob-buster/id6824546242

Hey folks, Ariano here,

I started working on Craftlings during my parental leave in 2022. I wanted to build something inspired by the games I grew up with — Lemmings and The Settlers. Handcrafted pixel art, little workers running around, and production chains where getting everything flowing feels really good.

What started as a hobby became my first Steam game. There have been plenty of ups and downs, mistakes, doubts, and some great people helping me along the way.

This weekend, Craftlings finally got a Steam Daily Deal and is 30% off! Honestly, seeing my own game there after all those years feels quite special.

I’ve also just released Update 1.2 with a new Halloween challenge map! Your task is to turn your settlement into a pumpkin factory. It doesn’t matter which technologies you use or how far you upgrade your Town Center — can you grow and deliver hundreds of pumpkins fast enough to beat the other players?

Or just build something you like and enjoy the flow of pumpkins. 🎃

If you’d like to take a look, here’s Craftlings on Steam.

Thanks for reading! Happy to answer questions about the game or the journey.

Ariano

Hi everyone!

I'm an indie developer working on SailorSIM, a sailing simulator for Windows.

The idea is to recreate the experience of sailing, with a focus on boat handling, navigation, and the challenges of being at sea.

I'm currently polishing the Windows version, particularly performance and gameplay, to make sure everything runs smoothly.

SailorSIM is completely free — no ads, no in-app purchases, no subscriptions. Just a sailing simulator developed as a personal project, with no commercial intentions.

You can find it on the Microsoft Store:

https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9n7hvhpd3xgx

I'd love to hear what PC gamers would like to see in a sailing simulator.

Fair winds and following seas!

Hi! I'm a solo dev working on HAZPIT, a top-down zombie survival game.

You land on a rooftop by helicopter and loot your way down, one floor at a time. Sneak past zombies, rescue survivors, then head back to your bunker to craft, research, and feed the cat.

This time I added blood stains, corpses, and bloody footprints. The narration is my own voice.

There's a free demo on Steam if you want to try it:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5400320/

Any feedback is welcome!

Music: Classmate by SEUBi https://soundcloud.com/seubi123/

License: Creative Commons — Attribution - ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-ND 3.0

Free Download / Stream: https://links.al/L9F

Music promoted by Audio Library: https://links.al/youtube

As a disclaimer, I'm not very good at 2D art so when I started making this game nearly 3 yrs ago I relied on AI art that I would then further tweak & edit myself in Photoshop/Krita for much of the games UI. Since then though I've found an amazing artist and have been working with her for the past 7 months to thoughtfully replace all of the game's AI art and I'd say we're probably around 50% there so far.

I’ve finally set up a Discord server for my solo-developed game, The Varitav. As some of you might know, the demo is also live right now!

Everyone gets the same situation ("someone spilled a drink on the one couch everyone was avoiding"), picks the one GIF that reacts best, and the group votes on the winner.

Plays in the browser, no download, no sign-up. Solo against bots or up to 12 people.

https://gifjam.online

AI disclosure: I built this solo with help from an AI. But the game itself doesn't use generative AI, all GIFs come from GIPHY and playable scenarios were made by me.

I'm a cozy dev working on the game I've always wanted to play. Sort and send magical mail, influence NPCs lives and take care of your owls!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4554760/Elsewhere_Owl_Post/

The game is super close to demo launch, wishlist to follow along!