Pretty Metroidvanias, free Bomberman-style chaos and other new indie games worth checking out
Engadget · C · trust 48/100
Plus, a dog game that lets you play dead so enemies ignore you.
Ndev Games/Com2us Holdings Welcome to our latest roundup of what's going on in the indie game space. It's Gamescom week, so there have been tons of game announcements . We'll dig into several of those as well as a few new games you can jump into this weekend.
You may recall a long-running saga about a guy who tried to gain access to a landfill site because he was convinced it contained a hard drive he accidentally threw away in 2013 . The hard drive is said to house a private key for 8,000 Bitcoin, which is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. James Howells' efforts to recover the hard drive (which is likely ruined anyway) have thus far been in vain , but he seems to have inspired a new game.
I'm making a game that you are trying to find your Bitcoin hard drive in a landfill.
An X user who goes by the name Paiden said they were working on a game in which you "try to find your Bitcoin hard drive in a landfill." This is one of several "needle in a haystack" games that have popped up in recent days. Those include an actual needle in a haystack game , with one needle to find amid 5 million strands of hay.
the catch is there are 5,000,000 pieces of hay and only 1 needle pic.twitter.com/q2TehY53iJ
My favorite example I've seen so far is one in which you have to figure out the location of a single missing semicolon in 187,421 lines of code . These are printed on sheets of paper that are stuck to the walls of a virtual office. The only way to pinpoint the missing punctuation (which the game removes at random) is by scouring the code manually.
i made a game where you literally have to find a missing semicolon in a codebase of 187,421 lines
— terminal (@terminaldotshop) August 24, 2026
I spent about five minutes with the semicolon game before giving up. I understand why people want to play these kinds of games — they can be meditative for some —but they're not for me. My brain just doesn't engage with them.
That said, I frittered away more time than I care to admit this week by claiming unique cards representing wiki entries in a fact-or-fiction game that Wikipedia made . My rapidly expanding collection includes the original Xbox, the Super Mario franchise, Suda51 and the 16:9 aspect ratio.
Developer: Ndev Games Publisher: Com2us Holdings Platform: Steam (Windows; Steam Deck Verified) Price: Usually $25, with a 20 percent discount until September 9
Fans of Metroidvanias have been eating well for a long time. There's been a steady stream of them for ages, and this week is no different. Two new releases caught my eye including Fatal Claw, which just left early access on Steam with its 1.0 release.
As a cat named Kisha, you'll explore an ancient kingdom that's been revived using modern tech. It's full of infected creatures from which you can absorb abilities after vanquishing them. There are multiple endings as well. Kisha appears to have electrical powers, so I think he should have the nickname "Pikacat."
The animations in the trailer are slick and the Steam reviews are generally positive. Commenters have suggested the developers took inspiration from the likes of Nine Sols and Umbraclaw . It looks like there's a hint of Hollow Knight in there too. Most importantly, there's a solid pun in the title.
Developer/publisher: Sigil Games Platform: Steam (Windows, Mac; Steam Deck Verified), GOG . Coming to consoles "soon" Price: Usually $15, with a 10 percent discount until September 11
Divinum is another pretty Metroidvania. It has a lovely pixel-art aesthetic and the developers took inspiration from hack-and-slash games. You'll play as Fjør, a young warrior who attempts to fend off an outside threat that has invaded their island home.
The combat system is built around two main weapons and a range of skills. It features parrying, dodging, blocking and combos.
You can refine your character build to suit your playstyle by equipping runes that can offer you unique bonuses and modifiers, but might have some tradeoffs. I appreciated a note from Sigil Games on the Steam page that promises runes will do much more than simply give you a minor damage boost. "You won't find anything this boring in Divinum ," the developer said. Bless.
Developer/publisher: Dotemu Platform: Steam (Windows) Price: free!
The folks at Dotemu are back with another retro-inspired game and this one won't cost you a penny. They shadowdropped Blasterbug: Last Bug Standing! on Steam this week. It's a Bomberman-style party game with local multiplayer support for up to eight players.
There are 15 characters with their own playstyles and special attacks, and just as many levels, which have modifiers of their own. Blasterbug has five game modes as well. You and your bugs (sorry, buds) can battle it out in a deathmatch, compete to earn the most coins, make a mess in Paint Battle, try to hang onto a crown for as long as possible or do all of those at the same time in the Party Battle mode.
While Blasterbug is free, you can pony up for some DLC if you like. A $2 Absolum pack adds a character from Dotemu's 2025 fantasy beat 'em up to the mix. Galandra wields a giant sword and can send opponents flying with a Necrotic Wave attack. The DLC includes an additional arena that features geyser traps.
Developer/publisher: Messhof Platforms: Steam (Windows, macOS; Steam Deck Verified), Xbox Series X/S, Xbox for PC , Nintendo Switch , Switch 2 , PlayStation 5 Price: Usually $10, with a 15 percent launch discount on all platforms except PS5. Also on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.
Blood Dungeon was one of our highlights of the Summer Game Fest edition of Day of the Devs. Nidhogg developer Messhof's latest game smushes Spelunky 's 2D platforming together with the chaos of games like Vampire Survivors . The art style looks straight out of MS Paint as well.
You'll harvest blood from fallen enemies to level up and acquire new abilities and upgrades, which you may also…
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