A cosy, clever puzzler with adorable art, quirky dialogue and just enough logic to feel satisfying. It’s short and can get repetitive, but, like Thomas Was Alone showed, personified shapes add immediate heart and charm. Hard to not like.
The King is Watching hooked me from the demo alone. A smart blend of roguelite, city builder, and tower defence. The gaze mechanic makes every choice feel vital, and runs are tense and addictive. Balance and grind may hold it back a bit, but it’s got enough going on that absolutely deserves attention.
He is Coming delivers a stripped-down but intriguing roguelike loop, helped a lot by its retro artstyle: explore, loot, and face tense boss fights with wild set bonuses. The real star is potentially Kingmaker-mode, a PvP twist where your build becomes the boss for others, with crowns and skins as bragging rights. Worth a look!
Time Flies is short, strange, and potentially unforgettable. You buzz through clever puzzles and silly bucket list goals, laughing one moment and reflecting the next. It’s over appropriately quickly, but every second is packed with charm and thoughtfulness.
Word Play blends Scrabble with roguelike tropes, offering clever modifiers and polished design. Runs can lack the wild synergies of its Balatro inspiration, but it’s still a sharp, satisfying word puzzler, especially if you’re a word nerd.
Pip My Dice takes Yahtzee-style rolls and turns them into a pretty slick roguelike. Customisable dice, clever relics, and endless synergies make it dangerously addictive. Rough edges and overt Balatro inspiration aside, it’s got that number-go-brrr joy.
Aviassembly nails the fun of building and flying your own, sometimes absurd, aviation creations. It’s simple, addictive, and surprisingly deep, though missions can feel a bit samey. Short but satisfying, with loads of promise if the dev keeps expanding. Fun for a lazy afternoon.
Hollow Knight: Silksong is officially landing on 4 September 2025, confirmed by the new (and very hype) launch trailer. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reveals Team Cherry’s tiny Adelaide team simply kept expanding the game - adding quests, bosses and polish - because “they were having so much fun it was hard to stop.” They also pretty explicitly allude to DLC in post-launch, woo!
Game Science wrapped up Gamescom with Black Myth: Zhong Kui, a sequel to Wukong. Based on the legendary demon slayer, Zhong Kui commands 80,000 demons and fights alongside a giant tiger. The project is still early in development, with no release date yet, but… very keen.