5 Indie Gems You Probably Missed But Need to Check Out

Five strange, stylish indie games that deserve a closer look

From retro LCD action and rolling castles to blood-soaked tactical battles and one very angry ball of flesh, these five indie games stood out for very different reasons.

Indie games move fast, and it is easy for something interesting to disappear under the sheer number of new releases, demos and Early Access launches hitting Steam. We have already highlighted games such as Wanderburg in a previous indie roundup, but there are always more games worth putting back on the radar.

Here are five that caught our eye, ranging from retro handheld-inspired action and roaming fortresses to tactical bloodbaths, macabre card combat and city-destroying flesh.

Future Knight

Future Knight is a 2D action shoot ’em up that fuses the nostalgia of LCD screens with the brutality of modern combat. Imagine your old handheld console coming to life, but with a bizarre story, frantic combat and a unique visual aesthetic inspired by classic electronic handheld games.

The game taps that nostalgic vein perfectly, with the retro look and feel carrying through to the action. It has a killer soundtrack and packs a lot of action into its 2D shoot ’em up design.

Future Knight turns the look of old LCD handheld games into frantic 2D action.

Gameplay switches between the robot hero and his benign tumour as they attempt to stop a bizarre cult. You have eight hours to save humanity’s memory, defeat grotesque bosses, ride the skies on your Future Board and survive the chaos of a retro-futuristic Tokyo.

Released: 13 August 2026 | Developer: Studio Koba, Aeternum Game Studios | Publisher: Aeternum Game Studios

Wanderburg

We covered Wanderburg in a previous roundup and felt it deserved another highlight.

Wanderburg is built around a beautifully realised and totally bonkers premise: drive your Castle on Wheels into battle in a minimalist medieval roguelike of roaming fortresses. Devour villages, build a modular arsenal of siege machinery and grow with every stronghold you crush.

Wanderburg turns a roaming medieval fortress into an increasingly destructive war machine.

Graphically it is extremely satisfying, with its bold animated style giving the whole thing a lot of personality. Gameplay is suitably action-packed too, with some incredible-looking machines giving a big nod to the steampunk vibe. What begins as a modest moving fortress quickly becomes a growing, devouring war machine that reshapes the battlefield with every run.

Wanderburg entered Steam Early Access on 8 September 2026.

Ex Sanguis

Ex Sanguis is a unique-looking game, both in terms of its gameplay design and its bold, disruptive visuals.

Gameplay focuses on a series of tactical, turn-based bloodbaths as you lead the Stillae, elite warriors fighting to save a dying world from the forces of Stasis. Slay foes, kick them backwards on the timeline and trigger chain events where elegance and blood flow as one.

Ex Sanguis uses a striking red, white and black style for its timeline-based tactical battles.

It has an almost jarring but incredibly dynamic graphic look and feel, with a huge contrast between the bone-white and matt-grey environments and deep blood-red visual effects and characters. It is one worth checking out and shining a light on.

Ex Sanguis entered Steam Early Access on 10 September 2026.

Shards of Order

Shards of Order describes itself as a grim RPG with card-based combat where nothing stays dead. Lead a party of survivors through a world undone by shattered Laws. Restore them and reshape the rules of the game, but be ready to face the consequences.

If anything, the art style in Shards of Order is beautifully done, and the game’s character design is impressive in a macabre sort of way.

Shards of Order mixes grim RPG presentation with an unusual card-based combat system.

Developer Fardust throws out some of the usual rules of deckbuilding and card-based combat. There are no traditional turns and no mana points. Every enemy acts on a visible countdown, and every card you play winds those counters down, shifting the flow of the fight.

Shards of Order released on 28 July 2026.

ROLLA

Soon to be released, ROLLA has you playing as a rolling mass of pulsing flesh.

While Steve McQueen is nowhere to be seen, the all-consuming and expanding pulsating fleshy blob that you control seems determined to destroy everything in its path. Roll, eat, grow, repeat is very much the order of the day.

ROLLA is built around growing larger, smashing through the city and chasing higher scores.

There is something satisfyingly chaotic about watching the cityscape disappear beneath you, and the simplicity appears to be part of the point. Roll through the city, wreak havoc, eat everything, grow larger, complete tasks and chase high scores.

This clearly is not trying to be some deep, sprawling RPG. Sometimes you just want to become a giant fleshy problem for an entire city.

ROLLA is scheduled to release on Steam on 30 September 2026, with a demo available now.

Five very different reasons to keep watching the indie scene

That is the good thing about digging around the indie side of gaming. One minute you are looking at tactical card combat, the next you are driving an enormous castle or flattening a city as an expanding ball of flesh.

If you want more games on the radar, our second 2026 indie games watchlist covers another five projects that caught our attention.