The indie game week featured a wide range of announcements and new releases, with a clear presence of experimental horror games, first-person Soulslikes, and platforming and cooperative experiences. Among them is the first project released by Double Fine after its departure from Xbox, along with a major update for Enshrouded and other options spanning rhythm, survival and horror.
New Games with Different Gameplay Styles
Double Fine Productions launched Thank You Bus Driver through Double Fine Action Labs, a label dedicated to small and experimental projects. The game is available for $5 on Steam, Epic Games Store, Itch.io, GOG, Humble Store and Game Jolt. Players take on the role of a bus driver trying to reach his stop before time runs out, while increasingly strict rules are imposed on unruly passengers, such as preventing them from sleeping or trimming their nails during the journey.
Valor Mortis from One More Level is a first-person Soulslike about a British soldier who fought alongside Napoleon. After being resurrected by a corrupted Napoleon, the player faces survivors transformed into distorted enemies by a plague, using firearms, melee weapons and supernatural abilities. The game is available on Steam, Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 for $40. It is also included with Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass, with a one-and-a-half-hour trial available to PS Plus Premium subscribers on PS5 and PlayStation Portal.
Ratatan, from Patapon series creator Hiroyuki Kotani, returns as a rhythm-based action game with roguelite elements. Players control a group of units through rhythm-based commands to attack, reposition and block damage. The game is available for $35 on Steam, Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2.
Visual and Cooperative Experiences
Colorbound from Panpipe Studio is a platformer based on changing colors to reshape the environment and solve puzzles; a light color might make a platform float, while a dark color pushes another platform downward. The game draws on Chilean culture and heritage, placing players in the role of Anku, a boy trying to reunite his late grandfather’s band one last time.
Enshrouded has left early access on Steam with a major update and has appeared on PS5 for the first time, while an Xbox Series X/S release is expected in spring 2027. The update unlocks the full map, adds a new biome, additional enemy types and spells, and raises the maximum character and equipment levels. Keen Games has also rebuilt the rendering system and the early stages, and added the logical Sparkworks system, which allows players to create and share adventures, dungeons and interactive bases with the community.
Horror and Short Experiences
Other releases include Pixel Washer, an early-access cleaning simulation game on Steam, and Penguin Colony, which draws inspiration from H.P. Lovecraft’s “At the Mountains of Madness” from the perspective of penguins on the Antarctic continent during the 1930s. Tenebris Somnia offers survival horror with pixel-inspired graphics and live-action scenes, while Hubert places players in the role of a sheepdog protecting a flock from wolves in a short adventure lasting three to four hours.
Why Does This News Matter?
This week does not represent the launch of a single game with a broad impact, but it illustrates the breadth of the indie game space in terms of gameplay styles and platforms. The selection ranges from small, low-priced projects to larger-budget games adopting creation and sharing systems such as Sparkworks. Accessibility, platform and price remain decisive factors for players, especially as some titles continue in early access or announce future releases for additional platforms.