Six Indie Titles That Stole the Spotlight

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Hauled Back to Reality, But Still Gaming

Alas, the inevitable has happened. I have been dragged, kicking and screaming, back to the 9-to-5 grind — farewell, sweet freedom. I have returned to the land of spreadsheets and meetings that could have been emails. But I did promise a blog about the games that caught my eye at To The Moon Expo (TTM), and I intend to deliver.

Now, if I had any common sense, I would have focused my attention on the upcoming titles featured in the Cozy Quest on Steam (which ran from 17^th to 20^th November). It would have made perfect sense, especially given that temperatures here in the UK are currently plummeting faster than my motivation on a Monday morning. Winter isn't just coming; White Walkers are aggressively hammering on my door wanting escape from the Baltic blast, and we could all use some cozy vibes to warm us up.

To be fair, one of the games on my list is featured in the Steam event, so I am officially awarding myself partial credit for being vaguely topical.

Truth is, I wanted to shine a little spotlight on the some of the titles in development that are at risk of slipping under people’s radars while everyone else is distracted by big budget releases.

So, without further ado, let’s run through each game that stood out for me at TTM, in alphabetical order.

Cards on the Table (And Monsters in the Kitchen)

Look, I’ll be honest: I’m not exactly a card game aficionado, unless we’re talking Texas Hold’em. This lack of natural talent was painfully on display when I tried A Recipe For Survival at the expo.

However, since retreating to the safety of my own home and diving into the Steam playtest, I’ve had time to get to grips with the mechanics at my own leisure — without an audience judging my misplays. My understanding has increased significantly, though I’m still falling tragically short of the finish line. The demo runs to Day 7; I tapped out on Day 6 on Normal difficulty. But hey, every failure is just a learning opportunity, right? That’s what I tell myself as I hit the restart button for the fiftieth time. I keep going back for punishment, learning from my mistakes, and pretending I have a strategy.

The premise is simple: by day you’re a head chef, slinging cards to serve hungry customers. By night, those same customers transform into monsters whose strength depends on how well — or how disastrously — you performed during service. Suddenly, it’s a card battler. I think anyone who works in hospitality will say they’ve been battling monsters day and night for years.

But calling this “just a card game” would be underselling it. There’s real depth here:

• Optimising both day and night cycles to squeeze every coin of gold earnt.

• Deckbuilding decisions that matter — choosing which cards to strengthen your deck for service and battle.

• Spending gold wisely, whether on new cards, restoring health, or grabbing those temporary buffs that might just save your run.

Shy Penguin Studios is aiming for their game to come out of the oven in Q1 2026, but you can head over to their Steam page and join the playtest right now. Please, give it a go — if only to prove that you can do a lot better than me.

Tracks, Trains and Turf Wars

Dovetail Games—yes, the same crew behind the Train Sim World franchise—are cooking up something wildly different. Forget the meticulous sim mechanics; they’ve stripped things back and delivered Metro Rivals, which they’re calling a “simcade” experience.

Picture a near-future New York, where the Metro system has been overrun not by rats, but by gangs. Each defending their patch. Your goal? To carve out your own underground empire. The vibe is less "mind the gap" and more "mind the rival gang trying to run you off the tracks".

The gameplay shifts the focus away entirely from roleplaying a conscientious driver to pure raw speed. The controls are simplified—accelerate, brake, and various QTE events. Your main objective is to manage your speed, so you don't go off the rails—both literally within the game and metaphorically in your own mind.

Now, confession time: I’m atrocious at Train Sim World. I cause delays that would make Southern Rail blush. Did I fare any better with Metro Rivals? No. No, I did not, but here’s the twist — I loved every second of it. The game is pure chaos, and my epic fails had me laughing out loud.

There’s no firm departure date yet, but Dovetail’s website hints at a 2026 release. When it does arrive, expect customisation options (because who doesn’t want a graffiti covered death train?), a single‑player campaign, and PvP modes to keep the madness rolling. Until then, I’ll continue to delude myself that my crashes were on purpose for comedic effect.

Planetary Paparazzo

Picture this: a cozy, lo‑fi space‑rover photography game. Sounds relaxing, right? And it is… until I attempt a three‑point turn inside a building, then, the vibe shifts instantly from "relaxing space adventure" to "a scene of me repeatedly stubbing my toe in the dark ".

Roaming the planet in Rova was genuinely soothing. The lo-fi music combined with an art style that reminded me of Sable (the developers cited Moebius as a major inspiration, and it shows beautifully) made for a very zen loop. The premise is simple: explore various biomes, snap photos to catalogue the environment of its fauna and flora then upload them to a terminal to complete quests. There are no ticking clocks, depleting oxygen meters and no enemies. You can tick off tasks at your own leisure — or go completely rogue and ignore your job to embark on your own journey just to see what is over the next ridge.

My experience was mostly calming, as the rover is generally smooth to drive, but it can occasionally feel like you're trying to parallel park a tank. I quickly drove “as the crow flies” where possible, which turned out to be surprisingly therapeutic — especially when the rover caught some unexpected air.

Half‑joking, I suggested a jump button to maximise airtime. The developer laughed and admitted they already had animations for 360 flips, but they’re holding back until they can figure out a way to guarantee the rover lands safely 100% of the time. They want to keep that “chilled, cozy” vibe and upside-down rovers don’t give off that feel.

There’s no launch date yet, but the demo has been updated as part of Cozy Quest. If you fancy a chilled planetary road trip, give it a spin.

When Silence Speaks Loudest

We are going to change tone momentarily whilst discussing The Quiet Things, turning it more serious. The Quiet Things is an autobiographical walking simulator that doesn't pull its punches. It covers heavy themes such as grief, abuse, self-harm, and suicide.

I won’t go into too much detail regarding the plot. As the strength of a walking sim lies entirely in its narrative and the way it feeds that information to the player. Additionally, I’ve only seen a small fraction of what is going to unfold — and even if I knew the whole thing, it’s not my story to tell.

The demo opens with a hard-hitting sequence before transitioning into the past, putting you in the shoes of 8-year-old Alice and eventually moving forward into her teenage years. Wandering around the house, I was struck by how perfectly it captured the specific eras of Alice's life. The posters, the items — everything was instantly recognizable, grounding the heavy storyline in a very tangible reality. Interacting with objects revealed slices of Alice’s life, setting the stage for how she got to the moment we see at the start.

Playing it made me reflect on my own teenage years (which feel like a lifetime ago now). It brought back memories of friends who were dealing with some of issues mentioned earlier and reminded me just how ill-equipped and out of our depth we were back then.

There’s no date for this true story to be heard, but there is a demo on Steam if you want to experience it yourself. Just a heads-up: as I said, please heed the content warnings. It deals with some incredibly difficult topics which should be approached with care and the right headspace.

Caught in a Web

I’ll admit it — I don’t usually dabble in roguelikes. They’re not in my wheelhouse, and I tend to steer clear. But at the event, enough people told me I had to play Websy and the Time Rogues that I caved.

And honestly? I’m glad I did.

Like many small indie projects, this is a labour of love developed in their spare time. The focus so far has been on mechanics, and they feel fantastic. A story is planned to tie everything together, but even in its current state, the game shines. Bright, colourful visuals pull you in, and the basics are easy to grasp — before long, you’re shaping your own playstyle.

I leaned heavily on upgrades to patch up my glaring weaknesses at first, then used them to bolster my strengths.

Once you get going, the movement is incredible — you can really zip around with the swing ability. However, this requires quick reflexes to get yourself out of trouble. There were times where I avoided taking damage through what I can only describe as pure, blind luck. I genuinely wondered at times: Was I controlling Websy, or was I just a passenger and Websy was firmly in the driving seat?

There’s no planned release date yet, but I’m certainly looking forward to seeing this develop over time. If you wish to swing in and give it a try, there is an open playtest on their Steam page right now.

Rewriting History, One Case at a Time

Lastly is a point‑and‑click puzzle detective game with a futuristic twist called Wrongly Accused. Humanity, once led astray by AI, has collapsed and clawed its way back into a new civilisation determined not to repeat history’s blunders. You work for the Agency of Historical Accuracy — or AHA for short. I can only assume that in this timeline, Alan Partridge eventually became President of the World.

Your job involves using the world’s last remaining AI computer to recreate a virtual simulation of a past crime where an individual was wrongly convicted. Think Minority Report (if they’d turned up late to the crime) meets Quantum Leap’s Sam Beckett.

We already know who didn’t commit the crime, so it’s up to us as armchair detectives to work out the real culprit by:

• Interviewing suspects.

• Scanning environments for evidence.

• Interacting with clues to uncover new leads.

Once you’ve gathered everything, the real detective work begins. You categorise the evidence—what helped, what proves the original suspect’s innocence, what ties a new suspect to the crime. Then you compile a report outlining the who, why, and how. The next day, the game generates feedback showing exactly what you nailed… and where you are wide of the mark.

It’s slated for Q1 2026, but if you want to pretend to be Sherlock Holmes right now, there is an open playtest on their Steam page.

Stay Cozy, Game On!

Honestly, I could have gone on. There were plenty of other games I got my hands on at the convention that deserved a mention, but I wanted to keep this list focused on the ones that really stood out — and make sure there was a nice mix of genres in the spotlight. Variety is the spice of life, after all.

As for what's next? I’m hopefully going to get another blog post out next week. However, please accept this as a provisional warning: I have a chaotic three-day stint at work coming up. It’s going to be tiring, it’s going to be distinctly lacking in fun, but alas, it is necessary evil, I suppose — gotta earn those fun tokens somehow. The plan is to look at something I recently picked up on Steam and chat about how the definition of “video game” has blurred in fascinating ways in recent years.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear from you. Drop a comment about any upcoming titles you’re excited for—whether you’ve tried them at events or stumbled across them on Steam. Until then, take care, stay warm, and most importantly… have fun gaming.

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