Indies to Catch in November 2025!

November is upon us! How the time flies. GOTY season is brewing up, with lots of astonishing titles on the block, pushing shoulders and taking names. The big GOTY awards are in a bit of a sour spot - if they were 100% honest and not driven by corporate influence, it would be all Indies and AA season this year. SILKSONG, BLUE PRINCE, EXPEDITION 33, HADES 2, BALL x PIT... The list goes on. But we all know some lip service will need to be given to a few big slammolas from the Triple-A to satisfy the crowds. I should be getting my notes on my GOTY 2025 as well! But hey, there are still 2 months left in the year and as always, there are great games loaded in the chamber for us to wait for - let me share a few I'm excited about.

OUTSIDE THE BLOCKS

This reminds me that I still haven't reviewed TINY GLADE. Which is a bit of a crime, as that game is a supreme example of the Diorama Box genre and worthy of praise! But it seems we will have a new competitor on the block for the title of the best digital modeller kit, because everything I've seen so far in OUTSIDE THE BLOCKS is extremely promising. The level of detail and fidelity in this one is gobsmacking! I love the idea that it aims to be a very open-ended toolbox, one to give a hobbyist everything they need to spend countless hours working on a single project. There are countless presets for substances and textures. Rich selection of lights and moods to set. A vast library of items to play with and assemble to your heart's content. I won't say the options are limitless, but they are definitely very robust, a whole cornucopia of little things to enjoy.

Another thing I like about it is a silly little detail that I think adds a ton of charm to this 'make a nice scene' concept. The glass domes! The pedestals! All editable, all customisable. It sounds like such a small thing, and yet, for me, it is like the most succulent cherry on the top. Because it really makes this game feel like you're working on a glorious terrain piece for a tabletop game. A display of artificial landscape to put on a shelf and enjoy at your leisure once it is lovingly wrapped up. I am looking forward to this.

RUE VALLEY

If you follow my writing to any degree, you might have picked up on the reverence I hold for DISCO ELYSIUM. It is a perfect game. The ultimate experience. With astonishing world-building, godlike writing and a whole gamut of emotions it will wring you through, there is no other RPG on the planet that can reach its peaks. But the hunger for similar experiences lingers. The itch, the drive, the desire... once you have caught the dragon, you now need to chase it forever. So imagine the rush in my veins when I learned that the creators of DISCO ELYSIUM called RUE VALLEY a game they consider closest to their masterpiece. That made my eyes sparkle and brain fizzle with a pleasant tingle.

I did play RUE VALLEY earlier in the playtest and I had a good gut feeling about it. It was a little rough around the edges, but the vibes, the idea, the narrative push... It was already there. A glimmer of what's to come. And now, it is finally coming out and I hope I can once again sink deep into a story that will grip me by the goolies and never let go. You are an unstable man with issues. What issues? Well, that's the fun part - you'll be able to decide what beautiful knots and twists live in your mind. Also, time is broken and events repeat. Groundhog Day rules, baby! Talk to people. Try shit out. Don't be afraid to be unhinged. Rinse, repeat, and alter the reality with the power of foresight. And oversight. And everything in between.

UMAMI

I just recently learned about UMAMI, and since the demo, I've been craving more. It's a very simple game. You get a juicy, vibrant picture of some cutesy meal and then use scattered, magnetic wooden blocks to reassemble it. It's all very basic, but to my surprise, I had a blast with the demo. Why? Well, it's hard to say exactly, to find that golden kernel of a reason. But if I were a betting man, I would say it's because the developers nailed the challenge of the game. The puzzle difficulty level is spot on, perfectly balanced. It will require some sharp attention to detail, but some centrepiece blocks offer a great starting point. The more you fill up the picture, the easier it gets to lock in the remaining blocks. And the sense of satisfaction you get once you assemble the stylised, cutesy model is delightfully warm and fuzzy.

Another thing that feels great is the art style. The models are adorable! Everything is cute, but not overwhelmingly so. The details are rich, but never confusing or noisy. Each scene offers extra little bits to play with, a card to find, and a soft, soothing mood that makes each stage a perfect little destressor. Just put it on after a hard day at work, rest, relax, and let the gentle massage of the grey matter commence as you get your little chonky pieces in their proper places. It's good fun.

A BETTER WORLD

I know very little about this game, and yet, I want to support it. Why? Because I am of firm belief we need more of those wacky experiments. Games that do not focus entirely on the gameplay fun, so to speak... but rather on showing us some bizarro experience. I ain't saying this should be the standard, of course. I still for the most part want my games to be, you know... about fun, riveting gameplay! But every now and then, you need a little palate cleanser, a bit of that pickled ginger between juicy bites of sushi. A BETTER WORLD promises a strange experience on its premise alone. You're a new employee in a time-managing company. But you manage TIME, literally - shifting through timelines of history and making decisions to alter the outcome of humanity's progress. Or lack of it! It's up to you to mess with the holy timeline and hopefully get a few chuckles and maybe even a sparkle of illumination from the Worlds That Could Be. A bit of theoretical speculation never hurt nobody, right?

And so, I am eager to bite into this title. I do expect it to be this singular experience. Played and done, put on a shelf. All I can hope is that the fun it will bring will be memorable enough to stay with me for a while. We'll see soon enough.

MONSTERS ARE COMING!

On my never-ending quest to root out innovation in the giant, noxious swamps of Roguelites, I find a gem in the mire every now and then. MONSTERS ARE COMING! also has a forgettable subtitle, but that is not important - what matters is that it is very, very fun. It's an interesting concept done well; you play as two things at once: a rolling, lumbering fortress-town and a cheeky hero running around in an endless chain of tasks to perform. Your township cares not for your wandering and slowly trudges onwards. Your goal is to build it up with deadly armaments and resource-making structures so it becomes self-sufficient in its capacity to deal with hordes of enemies. You, at the same time, are the rolling town's prime suppliers. Wood, stone, gold, you name it - run around to gather resources, circle back, feed the hungry engine. Of course, you're not defenceless either, bashing monsters with an ever-growing arsenal of tools and skills.

It is a riveting dynamic. A balancing act of good investments and wise decisions. You need to make sure that both parts of your equation can keep up with the hordes of shady monsters. A weak, slow hero won't be able to cut through the throngs to get to the juicy resources. An underarmed township will struggle to push through without constant babysitting. Making sure you keep up the tempo is a big part of the fun here. It works well too; each run I had in the demo felt different, and that was with the limited number of tools and structures that the demo offers! I am sure the full version will be even more robust, allowing for wacky builds and lots of exploration between cards, combos, and synergies.