Indies to Catch in February 2026!

The frigid February is here and I dream of spring, already. Oh how I yearn for the sun and the warmth! But for the shortest month of the year, we still are going to be blessed with a selection of fantastic games. As usual, it might be hard to play through all of them, or even give every single release the love it deserves, but I am again happy to share the five titles I am looking forward to this month. A heavy focus on roguelikes, it seems, but heck - it is the genre I enjoy to no end and am always happy to try what innovations these canny developers can bring to the table.

MASTER OF PIECE | 4th February

What a find! MASTER OF PIECE feels like a quintessential roguelike - it has it all, perfected, mastered, squeezed to its fullest potential. Let me try to sell you on the game by the power of its mechanics. It's a tactical, turn-based combat roguelike, with slight elements of an auto-battler. You control your band of mercenaries, which - once deployed on a tight grid arena - will move onward to the enemy flag to beat the devil out of it. You have limited action points each turn to either spawn a new warrior from your collection or move the ones on the field. Every combat encounter is solved quickly, but it doesn't mean there is no tactical depth here. You need to utilize your troops to the best of their abilities to overcome the challenges, as they are a finite resource in each combat.

Crafting your "deck" is all about making decisions about upgrading your mercenaries. You can modify their stats, use one-time items, or grant them traits. Plenty of mercs also impact each other in various ways - combo potential here is very high! And the build variety is also promising. You can try to Death Star a single warrior to make him the ultimate fiend, supported by a variety of utility-oriented troops. Or spread your might across multiple decent frontliners. Or rely more on buffing cascades, with one trooper after another buffing the rest.

It looks fantastic, plays superbly snappy, and has this aura of extreme confidence in its systems. I strongly suggest checking out the demo if you're not convinced yet - it works like a well-oiled machine; every decision feels valued, and every encounter is riveting. Great game.

UNDERBOARD | 6th February

Auto Battler excellence! I loved the demo to bits and played it to its maximum squeeze. I never was a huge aficionado of the genre, always considering it a bit to... idle for my tastes. But UNDERBOARD showed me the light. It's great because the whole focus on kitting out your team of crazies is so well fleshed out. You need to be quite a number cruncher to get the most out of your pieces. Take into consideration their positioning, their attacks, and capabilities. Outfit them best with your items, and make wise decisions on who to level up. Surrounding systems make sure you have plenty of options to lean on, build-wise. With an excellent Labels system, you can feel rewarded no matter which way you lean, be it tanks-heavy frontline or debuff-oriented team. Sky is the limit!

It also looks great and plays great. There's hardly any downtime; it's a constant jump between encounters with neat meta-progression elements and a challenge level so well adjusted that the game never feels too easy or too difficult. Just that sweet spot where bosses and elites might test your build, but will never feel like insurmountable bullhonky. Even exploration is a fun, active part of the experience, as you need to balance your need for finding experience and items with the chase against the clock to find a boss and smash its noggin. UNDERBOARD demo has proven that the core loop works like a charm, and the vast variety of items, pawns, and spells will make for a heaven for experimentation.

MEWGENICS | 10th February

What a disgusting game... I love it! MEWGENICS is a wild card, one of those games that sell themselves a bit on shock value and on the zany notion of its core premise. But hey, that's the fun part of the media industry at large, and we should welcome more outlandish ideas too. Especially when there's a good game lurking under its slightly gross outer layer, yeah? From the creators of BINDING OF ISAAC we surely can expect a tight game, and that's true here to be sure. The game is divided into two interwoven components. First, you run your little, shady... uh, well, breeding facility? You hoard your kitties and as they gather traits and abilities, you need to make sure they can pass them onto the next generation... since each fierce feline can be used in the fight just once before hitting its well-earned retirement.

And you need to make sure you have a healthy litter of future fighters, for you need a strong team of slightly uncanny fuzzballs to take on the various challenges that the world has to offer. True to its nature, there are decision here to be made that might be a bit... off. You can force a bit of Medieval Europe royal lineage strategy of inbreeding, to keep a powerful trait pure and in your pool, but, well... that decision has its costs. The best part of MEWGENICS might be its emphasis on balancing current run viability with a more holistic outlook on your longer meta progression. Items, traits, bloodlines... You want to make sure that you come back from each adventure with a stronger baseline to kick it off in the next escapade.

It's strange, it's gross, it is hugely fun with so many little systems in play that you'll quickly forget about your cat with a second head sticking out of its arse simply because the traits it carries are so important for your progeny to inherit!

LUNAR ASCENDANT | 13th February

I do miss a good Book RPG. You know, a game where most you'll do is read and occasionally make a decision here and there. LUNAR ASCENDANT definitely fills that niche well enough, and the demo, while a slow burner, shows its potential well. Even if the introduction felt a bit clumsy - being a random shmuck who oh-so-very-bravely interrupted a terrorist hijacking, you're sort of forced to become the mayor of the first and only Lunar City. And soon you will find that the job is riven with troubles. Multiple factions vie for power, having their agendas that they would love for you to fulfill. The ever-present shadow of the Earth Federation looms over your every decision. Personalities clash, as the game introduces quite a hefty portfolio of outspoken characters. And just like in real life, it is pretty damn hard to predict what consequences your actions will bring to the table.

This might be a weak point of the title for some. It's pretty much impossible to plan ahead. You can read every report, chat with everyone you can, but when decisions start rolling in, you'll have virtually no clue what might be hitting you next. You pat yourself on the back, making a call to improve the colony somewhat? Great, sadly it means you have no resources left for three other decisions that you were supposed to make that day. But if you're frustrated about this lack of clarity, this rather ephemeral economy of actions... Let me reframe it for you. This is NOT a resource management game. It's not a strategy, where you should plan to optimize your every move. Nah, it's a narrative, a story, a role-playing game where the best way to enjoy it is to roll with the punches. Pick options that resonate with your gut, with the persona you're crafting. Maybe you want to be a Union man, a worker's best friend and damn the consequences? Perhaps as a proper neophyte you'll do everything to liberate your colony from Earth's shackles? Or would you rather be a corporate stooge, chasing profits above all else? This is where the fun lies, the open-ended question to the player - who do you want to be in this close-to-earth dystopian world?

KILLING STONE | 18th February

I already gushed my praise over this game in one of my older Demo Dives, and of course nothing changed since then... Other than my growing excitement to soon be able to tackle it to the end! It is a very unique blend of gothic horror adventure with a deck builder roguelike, where you face a variety of powerful demons in the fight for human souls. Writing it down like that undercuts how well this premise is executed. The demons are eldritch, with unique personalities, fully animated and horrific to behold. Each combat, while abstract in its mechanics, is an extremely flavorful romp through the written contract. Every encounter starts with bargaining face to face with the demon. You vote with your chips to either reduce their harmful influence or enhance your own abilities. Every battle carries weight. The mechanics present a unique take on tug-of-war, using a variety of hellish and celestial pawns. This approach is spectacular in its depth while keeping the overall simplicity intact.

I am enthralled with the overall narrative, too. I want to explore the mansion surrounded by the frigid cold. I want to delve deeper into its secrets, chat up the residents, and - quite literally - face their demons. With superb visuals, great style, and high fidelity of the presentation, KILLING STONE is shaping up to be a generous offering in the genre, a next step akin to HADES. Bringing the roguelike formula out of the crowded basement of pixel art projects can attract more players. Many might not be sold on the retro style, but they would likely try this genre if it had all the bells and whistles that come with higher-budget productions.