Just like in the Victoria series from Paradox Interactive, you command a chosen nation, guiding it through diplomacy, industrialization, and warfare to achieve global dominance. The game’s world is alive and interactive, letting you place cities, railways, and buildings anywhere on the map, shaping your nation’s growth with precision.

Hooded Horse CEO Tim Bender stated: “We love grand strategy games, and Gilded Destiny is shaping up to be one of the most exciting titles in the genre.” Aquila co-founder Kenneth Mei added: “Partnering with Hooded Horse will gild the road ahead, helping us realize our vision for a living world with deep military and economic systems.”

Funded by a Kickstarter campaign that raised over $150,000 from 2,300 backers, Gilded Destiny is targeting an Early Access launch in late 2026.

The post Grand Strategy Gilded Destiny To Be Published By Hooded Horse first appeared on IndieGames.

The action in Bullets & Brains never stops, constantly forcing you to dodge zombies while wielding a variety of weapons. As you defeat enemies, they drop resources like brains and energy. You collect these to unlock upgrades, improve your gear, or unleash powerful special attacks. With unique characters offering different abilities and starting weapons, you can choose diverse playstyles and build strategic teams.

Cooperative gameplay is a big deal in Bullets & Brains, making it great for playing with friends. It supports two-player local co-op and sharing resources and using defensive tools together is crucial for survival when enemies overwhelm the screen. Teamwork does indeed add the needed depth, encouraging planning and communication to tackle the hardest challenges.

The post Kooperativna pucačina sa zombijima Bullets & Brains izlazi sljedeći tjedan za PC i konzole first appeared on IndieGames.

I was surprised by how much fun Guards II: Chaos in Hell is. It brings something new to turn-based strategy genre, forcing you to move your characters around a grid to activate their abilities and attacks. You’ll assemble a squad of four heroes from eight unlockable options (like a wizard, monk, or dark priest), which you earn by progressing through the campaign. Your goal is to defeat demons, but the game is not without its flaws.

Core mechanics are easy to understand

The game start with a brief tutorial that teaches you the core mechanic: to activate a hero’s ability, you must strategically swap them around a 7×3 grid. However, only the first two rows are actively used by the player. The second row holds your three attacking heroes, while the single position in the first row is for healing and activating abilities when you move a hero out of it.

This is a really cool and interesting idea that keeps evolving. Each hero has unique attack methods: short-range, long-range, or elemental attacks. They also have second stances, for example, a wind elementalist mage can switch to a more powerful fire stance, unleashing special meteor fireballs. Healing is crucial too, and swapping a character from the back row is highly recommended.

After the tutorial, you’ll start playing through a campaign that takes you through five distinct circles of Hell, each inspired by myths from various cultures, and every unlocks a new heroe. You’ll face a variety of enemies: they start weak, like simple mummies and grotesque creatures, but quickly become more deadly, throwing shurikens, attacking multiple times, and multiplying each level, making all biomes much harder to clear. My biggest bonus feature is the speed-up button. This lets you quickly complete playthroughs and levels in about six minutes, but it still keeping the strategic thinking fun and fast-paced.

“You’ll face a variety of enemies: they start weak, but quickly become more deadly.”

You can experiment with heroes and their talent trees

Every enemy in Guards II is weak to something, whether it’s fire or physical attacks, making them easier to defeat with the right strike. After clearing a level, you can use demon essence (earned from completing levels) to get temporary boosts to stats like attack or health. Each circle of Hell has about 4-5 levels. However, a frustrating aspect is that to advance to the next level, you often have to replay previous ones within the terittory. This means clearing the same content again just to progress. This design choice was likely made to extend the game’s length and ensure you have enough time and resources for upgrades.

All heroes have their own talent or upgrade tree, allowing you to buff their attacks, abilities, and boost their health and power, with multiple upgrade tiers available. You upgrade them using gems earned by completing levels and each level also offers higher difficulty settings, from easy to extreme, keeping the game fun and challenging. Additionally, you can unlock extra skills with feathers, such as heroes recovering more health in the back row or earning more demon essence after each level.

There’s ability to conjure certain items for one-time or limited use during battle, like reviving a fallen hero (since it’s an instant game over if one dies) or dealing extra damage. But my biggest issue with Guards II is that it plays too safe with its content, offering not so much variety. While some heroes have unique stances, like the alchemist’s gun, most simply shift into a fiery form that’s often even weaker than their initial one.

“All heroes have their own talent or upgrade tree.”

Fast-paced and fun, you won’t be dissapointed

It’s also unclear how many gems you’ve saved for each hero, since each character has their own separate pool for upgrades. While Guards II: Chaos in Hell boasts nice pixel graphics, they are too pixelated. This makes ability information, on-screen numbers, and even the initial tutorial text very difficult to read. Most enemies have distinctive looks and there’s a good variety, but bosses surprisingly don’t stand out. They lack unique characteristics, feeling more like regular enemies.

However, despite these visual drawbacks, the game’s fast-paced turn-based strategy, combined with each biome introducing unique tactics and new heroes, makes it a really solid choice if you enjoy this genre. There’s even a special “hell mode” at the end for an extra challenge. I can highly recommend this title. With 80 levels to beat and a flexible systems, you’ll constantly experiment with your heroes and use them strategically, which is a big plus.

Review copy provided by the publisher

4

The post Guards II: Chaos in Hell – Turn-Based Strategy with a Unique Spin first appeared on IndieGames.

Commandos: Origins marks the return of the iconic real-time tactics (RTT) series after a nearly two-decade hiatus since Commandos 3 in 2003. As a prequel, it dives into the origins of the elite WWII commando squad, featuring familiar characters like Jack O’Hara (Green Beret), Thomas Hancock (Sapper), Francis Woolridge (Sniper), Samuel Brooklyn (Driver), James Blackwood (Marine), and Rene Duchamp (Spy). With a focus on stealth-oriented gameplay, Commandos: Origins aims to blend the series’ classic formula with modern upgrade.

As a newcomer to the Commandos series but a huge stealth fan, I find these games incredibly tense and strategic. Despite the occasionally weird AI patterns, they’re consistently fun, making you lose track of time. Each game brings something unique despite their similarities, and Commandos: Origins is no exception. It’s challenging, far from easy, and absolutely worth it for fans of the genre or the earlier entries. Three difficulty levels (Recruit, Regular, and Veteran) adjust enemy detection speed and mission complexity, with Veteran mode being especially brutal for series veterans.

Real-time tactics and Command mode

In Commandos: Origins, you’ll navigate large, intricate maps set in diverse WWII environments, from Arctic tundras to African deserts. The core gameplay revolves around planning, trial-and-error experimentation, and executing synchronized actions to complete objectives like sabotage, rescues, or raids. So, expect a lot of saving and loading. The game doesn’t waste your time in that regard; need to reload or change difficulty? It’s all easily accessible.

The game’s isometric perspective provides a top-down view of detailed maps, filled with enemies whose vision cones dictate safe movement. Unlike turn-based tactics games, Commandos: Origins demands split-second decisions while managing multiple characters. Command Mode helps immensely here, allowing you to pause the game to let you queue simultaneous actions for your squad. For example, you can have the Green Beret choke a guard while the Marine distracts another and the Spy delivers a silenced shot.

However, from the start, this mode was a mess. Sometimes it wouldn’t commit to a command, for example, to throw a grenade and you can only do one action at a time. If you need to shoot multiple times with your gun, you have to repeat the command yourself as enemies often require multiple bullets to be killed. Characters also moved strangely sometimes and can get stuck inside enemies. Yes, there are bugs.

“Commandos: Origins demands split-second decisions while managing multiple characters.”

You’re free to explore the map in your own way

The open-ended level design encourages creative solutions. For example, you can lure enemies with a radio, have the Green Beret bury himself in dirt for an ambush, or use the Marine’s throwing knife to clear a path. With so many options, you can complete levels or missions without killing every enemy. But, the game’s reliance on trial-and-error can test your patience, as small misclicks or unpredictable enemy behavior often require quick-loading. Additionally, the game offers a two-player cooperative multiplayer mode, letting you tackle missions together either online or via local split-screen.

Each commando’s unique toolkit adds depth to the tactical sandbox. For instance, the Sapper sets traps or uses explosives, the Sniper takes out enemies with long-range silent kills, and the Spy disguises himself to infiltrate enemy ranks. Plus, there are plenty of side objectives and collectibles which boost replayability. I personally loved the moments of complete chaos control; you don’t always have to play it safe, but poor planning can definitely get you into trouble.

The controls on PC are intuitive, featuring customizable keybindings and a streamlined hotkey menu for tools and unit selection, while the isometric camera is fully rotatable and zoomable. The minimalistic UI, with unit portraits and a clean minimap, avoids clutter. Despite these strengths, my worst experience was when enemies sometimes detected commandos in bushes they’d already left or entered a permanent alert state, which disrupted my stealth plans.

“Each commando’s unique toolkit adds depth to the tactical sandbox.”

Worth it if you know what to expect

Commandos: Origins offers a visual upgrade over its predecessors, with more detailed environments that capture the charm of WWII settings. The game’s biomes are beautifully rendered too with realistic lighting, shadows, and explosions. Character models stand out with unique animations for each commando, though cutscenes have minor graphical flaws and repetitive dialogue.

The campaign in Commandos: Origins offers around thirty hours of gameplay, and with a little exploration, you can find collectibles scattered across the map. I love how unique each map feels, which keeps things fresh and makes experimenting with different approaches genuinely fun, giving you plenty of freedom. However, even a month after release, the game still has some noticeable bugs and technical issues – nothing game-breaking though. If you enjoyed the earlier Commandos games, you’ll likely love this one too, especially since you can now play with a friend. It’s a bit pricey, but worth it if you know what to expect.

Review copy provided by the publisher

4

The post Commandos: Origins – The Series Returns first appeared on IndieGames.

In Never’s End, you play as an immortal warrior, reincarnated as a being of living metal. You wield the power of fire, water, wind, earth, and your mission is to protect the last human settlement from the Never, an apocalyptic force spawning grotesque creatures like undead wights, monstrous bats, and demon squid goats.

The turn-based combat is anything but static. Every battlefield is a dynamic playground where your elemental magic can reshape the environment. In other words, you can drain rivers to strand enemies, summon fog to obscure their vision, or hurl them off cliffs with gusts of wind. You can also freeze foes, set them ablaze, or melt the ground into deadly lava, making each encounter a unique puzzle to solve.

Beyond the battlefield, Never’s End offers an open world where you lead a band of possessed warriors to reclaim a shattered empire. You’ll upgrade towns, temples, and outposts, fostering businesses and trade routes while recruiting new companions to join your fight. Additionally, restoring ancient temples unlocks new elemental spells, each a versatile tool that persists through your warrior’s endless cycle of death and rebirth.

The post Tactical RPG Never’s End Announced at The MIX Showcase first appeared on IndieGames.

In this strategic game, you manage a kingdom by constructing buildings, planting and harvesting crops, and gathering key resources to strengthen and upgrade. The game offers dynamic gameplay where each run is different, forcing you to adapt your strategies while defending your kingdom from waves of enemies.

However, it features a rather complex system of production chains and strategies; you’ll trade resources with villages to craft rare materials or unlock ancient spells. Additionally, fortifying your castle with stone walls and tactically positioning various types of troops is crucial. Each biome you encounter brings new challenges, making the roguelite concept work perfectly in this game.

The post The King Is Watching, a roguelite where you build your own kingdom, awaits us in July first appeared on IndieGames.

Thinky Games, which started as a Discord community back in 2018 by Alan Hazelden of Draknek & Friends, is a place for fans of puzzles, logic, and strategy. Since launching their website in 2022, they’ve been on a mission to spotlight games that prioritize brainpower over quick reflexes, ranging from detective mysteries to Sokoban-style challenges.

The Thinky Direct event will bring together big names like Akupara Games, and Wholesome Games, alongside various indie titles to show off what’s coming next. Last year’s event impressed over 300,000 viewers with reveals like City of Voices, a deduction-driven puzzle mystery, and Parallel Experiment, which actually launched on June 5, 2024. This time around, expect fresh trailers for titles such as Spooky Express or Draknek’s spooky train-routing puzzler.

On the other side, The Cerebral Puzzle Showcase offers discounts on hundreds of games and demos for upcoming titles. Last year it featured games like Blue Prince and Animal Well. The 2025 lineup promises even more, with teasers for games like Kiko’s Apple Adventure, a cozy bear-led quest, and Trails, a sand-ship routing puzzle.

The post Thinky Direct 2025 To Showcase Puzzle Games Next Week first appeared on IndieGames.

The primary reason for its success is its endless replayability. With over 400 cards, 10 pilots, and interesting Chrono Tokens that let you rewind time, it cleverly blends elements from Space Invaders, Slay the Spire, and Into the Breach for endless fun. We had a chance to chat with the lead designer of StarVaders who revealed more about the game, its unexpected success, challenges they faced and what they think of the gaming industry in general.

You can also read our detailed review here. Additionally, don’t forget to support the devs by checking the game on Steam.

Can you introduce your studio and share how long StarVaders has been in development? 

Our team started out as friends long before we formed Pengonauts. We’ve worked on a slew of projects together in the form of game jams, discarded prototypes, and abandoned ideas before we decided to commit to StarVaders as our first commercial project.

StarVaders was started as a side project for all of us while we worked our regular day jobs. But thanks to the momentum it organically picked up, we were fortunate enough to be able to make the leap to full-time development in 2023.

Have you ever struggled while playtesting StarVaders, and what was the toughest challenge for you personally? 

It takes a lot of time to playtest. Especially in a game as varied with as many combinations as ours – there are more combinations of card pools than we can realistically play. What helped us a lot is having a large and dedicated group of beta testers help us refine the game.

What’s your vision for the ideal roguelite deckbuilder, and how close did StarVaders come to that goal? 

StarVaders completes the goal for us. We set out to create what we wanted to see in the genre, and there is nothing that was left on the cutting floor or that we couldn’t implement.

What inspired StarVaders’ concept, and how did you balance its difficulty levels to keep them challenging yet fair? 

The original concept was inspired by two boardgames, Bullet and Under Falling Skies. Balance – no idea honestly, it is very hard to balance a game and we kinda just went by feeling and intuition most of the time.

Can you share a key moment in StarVaders’ development where the team overcame a major obstacle? 

We had a lot of trouble marketing the game – it was tough to showcase how interesting the gameplay is without getting players hands on it. So we really focused on promoting and creating a very extensive demo for players.

With around 400 cards and artifacts in StarVaders, how did you brainstorm and design their unique effects? 

The sheer power of time, working almost 3 years on the project gives a lot of time to come up with ideas and effects. I always try to think of the wackiest effects we could add in the game, and then try it out to see if it’s possible.

Do you have data on which mech or character is the most popular among players? 

It’s hard to say at the moment because the characters unlock at different times during a playthrough – Roxy will be the most played pilot because she is the first one. I know many players love Stinger because of the melee ninja fantasy. Noel is also a fan favorite because of the characterization.

The Chrono Token mechanic feels unique, when was it added, and what inspired its inclusion? 

Very very early, we wanted a way to mitigate all forms of input randomness, for the player to have extra control over it. One of the worst feelings in a deck builder is when the “RNG” deals you a bad hand or gives you bad options, so we wanted players to have a resource to control that system.

How replayable is StarVaders, and what elements drive players to keep coming back? 

There are thousands and thousands of synergies and combos to discover in the game. Every time I play the game I still discover new synergies I hadn’t thought of before, even though I’m the lead designer and have played thousands of runs already. There’s a creative sandbox that allows players who want to explore the intricacies of the mechanics to really thrive.

What updates or content can players expect from StarVaders after its launch? 

We are working on new content, but nothing confirmed at the moment.

Do you view StarVaders as a success for your studio, and why? 

It has always been a success for us, but it’s really been amazing to see the reception from our playerbase, after release it has been a much bigger success than we could have ever originally imagined.

What’s your take on the gaming industry today, especially the indie game scene? 

It’s really really tough. I see a lot of studios just like us, with their first games, putting their passion and soul into their games and coming out with nothing. Even though our game is doing well, it could easily have been a financial failure if the players didn’t connect with it at the current level. It feels like, to succeed, you must be an exception or an outlier, and you can never really bet on that. Though maybe it always did take a little delusion and risk to make games.

The post Why StarVaders Succeeded? Lead Designer Shares Insights first appeared on IndieGames.

Back when Thronefall first hit Early Access in 2023, it was one of those games that felt like it was doing something different and was just fun to play. Then, when it fully launched in 2024 with tons of new stuff and improvements, it became a game you really couldn’t miss. So, it’s no surprise that other games are starting to take inspiration from it, and that’s where Rift Riff comes in. This is a tower defense game that keeps things simple. You play as this mysterious, cloaked character called a rifter, and your job is to jump through these spacetime rifts to collect this valuable “juice” while strategically placing towers to fight off waves of monsters.

Surprisingly chill for a tower defense game

The game has two main parts. First, there’s a hub world where you pick which levels you want to jump into, what towers you want to use, and what upgrades you want to buy. Then, you jump into the combat part where you have to defend your base called Extractor. You build towers on specific spots that are marked on the map. There are different kinds of towers you can choose from, you’ve got your basic turrets that just shoot at enemies, but also more specialized ones that can lure monsters in different directions.

The monsters themselves act in different ways. Some will just charge straight for your Extractor, while others will try to take out your towers first. And some can even be tricked into going to certain spots on the map, so you have to be smart about where you put your towers to control where they go. You collect cores called “bits” during the waves of enemies, and that’s what you use to build and upgrade your towers. Then there are things called “prisms” that you get for surviving a rift, and those unlock new rifts to explore, different towers to build, companions to help you, and even more upgrades.

Rift Riff is a surprisingly chill for a tower defense game. They’ve made it really easy to experiment on spot. If you put down a tower and it’s not working out, you can just sell it back for the full price – no penalty. Plus, if a tower gets destroyed, it comes back at the start of the next wave. And even if you die, you just respawn with all your towers still in place, so you can quickly try a different strategy without having to start the whole level over. This really takes away a lot of the usual frustration and makes you feel more comfortable trying out different tower setups.

“Rift Riff easily forgives mistakes”

Rift Riff has a really enjoyable core gameplay loop

Each level in Rift Riff usually throws about three to five waves of monsters at you. Sometimes, there are even alternate versions of the same level that mix up the enemies to make it harder or give you special challenges, like not being allowed to use certain types of towers or trying to stop any enemies from getting too close to your base. You can also build new towers and upgrade the ones you have in real-time while the fight is going on. However, the game doesn’t have a huge number of different towers to choose from and there aren’t really any special combinations you can pull off between towers or any hero characters to use.

To put it simply, Rift Riff has a really enjoyable core gameplay loop that keeps getting better as you play, so you’re not stuck with the same basic stuff the whole time. There are a good number of different maps and enemy types to keep things interesting. And while I did enjoy trying out all the different towers, I sadly found myself often going back to the same few that just seemed the most effective, even though the game does give you suggestions on which towers might be good for a specific level. Some towers just feel really underpowered, like the sniper tower that takes forever to shoot and only targets one enemy.

There’s this little extra thing you can do in the levels, collecting flowers for bonus “bits” which adds a tiny bit of exploration. The main campaign has over 20 levels, plus those alternate versions and special challenges, so there’s a decent amount of content to play through. However, if you’re looking for a deep story or some kind of endless mode after you beat the campaign, you won’t find it here.

“If you’re looking for some kind of endless mode after you beat the campaign, you won’t find it here.”

Really clean and simple design

What does make you want to play again is that the waves of enemies are different each time, and those challenge tasks can really test you. The alternate levels with tougher enemy combinations also crank up the difficulty. But once you’ve unlocked everything, there’s not a whole lot of long-term progression to keep you hooked. The developers have mentioned they might add more content later on, so that could definitely help with the replayability down the line.

The worlds you jump into in Rift Riff, like desert canyons, forest ruins, and snowy valleys, all have detailed pixel art style that almost looks like a pop-up book. Even though the maps aren’t huge, they’re designed really well, with bright colors and small details to see like portals and old ruins that add a bit of mystery. Your main character kind of a clumsy hero, stumbling through the rifts with goofy animations and funny mouth noises that remind me a bit of Hidden Folks.

The towers you build are easy to understand and do their job well, and the little animations when you upgrade them add a nice touch. The game has a really clean and simple design, so you can always see what’s going on, and it’s easy to follow where the enemies are going. However, the backgrounds don’t really do much, and there aren’t any environmental dangers besides the portals, which feels like a missed chance to make things more interesting. The game has this charming mix of old-school pixel art with a modern, polished feel, but compared to how detailed and minimalist Thronefall looks, it feels a bit basic.

“The waves of enemies are different each time, and those challenge tasks can really test you.”

For its price, it’s absolutely worth it

Overall, Rift Riff is a really charming and simple take on tower defense, letting you really control where the enemies go and being super forgiving if you mess up. Its colorful pixel art, the quick, engaging action, and the funny, quirky feel of your character make it a game that Thronefall fans should definitely check out.

However, the main story is pretty short, and there aren’t a ton of different towers to play with. It feels like a really polished and fun experience, but it’s also a bit brief. At its price point, it’s a great little indie gem that casual players and anyone who enjoys tower defense games should jump into for its easy-to-pick-up gameplay and charm. But if you’re a hardcore strategy fan looking for something really deep and complex, you might want to consider if it offers enough for you.

Review copy provided by the publisher

4

The post Rift Riff – Tower defense obrat inspiriran Thronefallom first appeared on IndieGames.

In Flamecraft, you play as Flamekeepers in a fantasy town where artisan dragons craft extraordinary goods for shopkeepers. The goal is to earn the most reputation points to claim the title of Master of Flamecraft, as you strategically place dragon artisans in the town’s bustling shops to gather resources like iron, bread, or potions, which are used to cast enchantments that trigger powerful ability combos.

Befriending Fancy Dragons unlocks unique abilities, boosting reputation through one-time effects or end-game scoring opportunities. Every decision shapes the path to victory, with randomized dragon and shop appearances ensuring varied playthroughs. The game also offers diverse modes, including singleplayer against AI, relaxing custom games for friends for up to five players, and solo mode featuring a heartwarming story that expands the game’s lore. With over 70 animated dragons and 30 unique shops, the 3D town comes alive with visuals based on Sandara Tang’s illustrations.

The post From board to digital game, cozy strategy title Flamecraft is coming to Steam first appeared on IndieGames.