In 2023, Lowbirth Games introduced the inquisitive hotel housekeeper Sophie Roy in This Bed We Made - a neo-noir third-person mystery game. It allowed players to inhabit the role of a nosey housekeeper who became entangled in a tale of love and murder. With a strong focus on era prejudices and choice and consequence, it is one of the more memorable narrative experiences in recent years.

Nearly 7 years ago, the developer House House's mischievous goose first honked into our lives and delivered a humorous indie gem, Untitled Goose Game. Now, House House are back with a drastically different title, Big Walk, a cooperative puzzle game that the developers describe as an online walker-talker with close friends. And after playing Big Walk it's hard to argue with that description.

In a year of cinematic 2.5D platformers, Lifted separates itself from the rest by having a strong focus on trying to replicate the family friendly tone of an 80s adventure movie. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Lifted is the creation of ex-Disney imagineer Jeff Ashbrook and his studio Adventure Works.

After only five hours, Desktop Explorer is already one of those rare indie games where I'd hesitate to share many details. As the journey of discovery is a key part of what makes it tick. It's a psychological horror mystery game packed with inventive puzzles. Developed by Recurring Dream, it's an exploration of family and a puzzle game in the guise of a functioning 90s PC.

When thinking of train games, you think of simulators, not the out of the box concept Denshattack! created by Barcelona based studio, Undercoders. Instead of slowly chugging around a realistic map, players take control of physics defying reimagined Japanese trains that zoom through Japanese locales that exude style - a throwback to the arcade era of the Sega Dreamcast.