This overview highlights recent activity in the independent gaming sector. Late in the year, multiple games have launched just beyond prime awards consideration, alongside fresh insights into forthcoming releases, including a debut schedule for the vibrant arena shooter Don’t Stop, Girlypop.
One prominent independent title arriving on consoles and PC this week is Marvel Cosmic Invasion, developed by Tribute Games and published by Dotemu—the same team behind Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge. The game follows a similar formula as a nostalgic side-scrolling brawler, styled after the 1990s Marvel animated series.
The title delivers solid entertainment, thanks to its diverse roster of playable heroes and their distinct mechanics. Captain America stands out as a top pick, with his secondary ability—a shield toss—requiring no resources or delays, allowing endless use to clear foes from the battlefield.
She-Hulk offers another engaging option, using her special move to seize enemies and hurl them. She can even launch them skyward, then bound up with impressive agility for a finishing kick that scatters groups. The setup lets each player select two characters for seamless switching, reminiscent of tag-team fighters, and cooperative play integrates smoothly.
While Marvel Cosmic Invasion lacks extensive layers, its visuals and audio capture the era perfectly. It’s currently available on Steam, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S at $30, and accessible via Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.
After 13 years since its reveal, the survival horror game Routine from Lunar Software and Raw Fury has finally launched on Steam, the Xbox PC app, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox Cloud, including Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.
Routine immerses players in eerie, transitional environments blended with 1980s-inspired retro-futuristic design, imagining a moon base through that decade’s technological lens using analog devices.
Players investigate the facility to uncover its fate. To enhance immersion, the experience avoids on-screen guides or interfaces; instead, a handheld data device links to base networks, delivering objective updates at key spots.
Another anticipated horror entry, Sleep Awake, explores nocturnal disturbances in a first-person psychedelic format. A entity known as The HUSH causes sleepers to disappear, prompting protagonist Katja and survivors in Earth’s final city to combat drowsiness, though exhaustion’s toll becomes unavoidable.
Developed by Eyes Out—founded by Spec Ops: The Line’s Cory Davis and Nine Inch Nails’ Robin Finck—and published by Blumhouse Games, Sleep Awake is now on Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S for $30.
Wrapping up the horror selections for now, Tingus Goose has intrigued with its bizarre premise. Described as a relaxed idle game infused with body horror, it involves sowing seeds in subjects, managing infant care for earnings, and progressing through odd realms to build wealth.
The promotional video defies easy explanation, showing a goose bursting from a person’s body, extending a massive neck, and sprouting human-like digits—it’s utterly peculiar, yet appealing in its oddity.
Tingus Goose comes from SweatyChair, alongside publishers Playsaurus and UltraPlayers, and is on Steam at $5.94 through December 8, rising to $7 thereafter.
Effulgence RPG presents a unique take with its team-oriented role-playing structure and distinctive 3D text-based graphics. Combat yields superior equipment to advance.
Solo creator Andrei Fomin launched Effulgence RPG in early access on Steam this week for $10, targeting a complete edition by June, with ongoing expansions and usability enhancements planned.
For a calmer alternative, Log Away by The-Mark Entertainment lets players construct woodland retreats across diverse settings, customizing with assorted furnishings and even adopting a companion animal, marking it as this period’s pet-inclusive title.
Hands-on time reveals its calming vibe, a gentle respite from high-energy action like Cosmic Invasion. It’s available on Steam for $10, with a $1 discount and free holiday expansion if purchased before December 11.
A fervent fan of Sayonara Wild Hearts and an admirer of Simogo’s Lorelai and the Laser Eyes—despite brief playtime—the studio’s prior works now beckon. The Simogo Legacy Collection remasters their initial seven mobile titles, such as Year Walk and Device 6, into one package for Steam, Nintendo Switch, and Switch 2 at $15, discounted 15 percent until December 12, ideal for seasonal exploration.
Anticipation builds for Don’t Stop, Girlypop, a fast-paced arena shooter emphasizing mobility with early-2000s flair, reimagining intense titles like Doom Eternal through an anti-corporate, energetic pop lens.
The trial version impresses with its enjoyment, and a firm date has arrived for this Funny Fintan Softworks project from publisher Kwalee: Steam launch on January 29.
Limbot appears primed for social gatherings, playable solo but best with three companions, where each controls a limb of a paper-crafted robot to navigate a handmade landscape, tackling accurate challenges that could spark lighthearted disputes akin to chaotic kitchen sims.
This simulation-driven experience from Ionized Studios heads to Steam, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S sometime between April and June next year.
Zlin City: Arch Moderna by Polyperfect draws from 1930s and 1940s history and the Czech town of Zlin’s architecture in its miniature urban simulator. Techniques like 3D printing, image-based modeling, and scanning shaped its detailed assets, yielding a visually striking outcome on initial view.
No specific launch timeline exists yet for Zlin City: Arch Moderna, but it will appear on Steam.