Indie Games With Concepts AAA Studios Would Never Touch

For AAA developers, it’s often all about the biggest franchises, the safest sequels. We have industry auteurs like Suda 51, whose eccentricity shines through in their games, but even they are sometimes reined in by publishers. Indie game makers, on the other hand, have much more liberty to experiment.

2025 was a fantastic year for indie games, with a wide range of unique ideas representing all kinds of genres. It’s been indicative of a gaming space that has always been very creative, without the enormous budgets. That same creativity, though, has allowed for some very strange concepts at times; ones fans are unlikely to see in AAA titles.

Mewgenics

A Cat-Breeding Roguelike With Lots Of Poop

Edmund McMillen is another game designer who likes to take a walk on the more peculiar side. His upcoming Mewgenics is scheduled to launch in February 2026, and true to form, it’s not quite like anything else out there. The visual style of McMillen’s games is unmistakable, as is the gross-out sense of humor and the completely bizarre take on a familiar genre. Mewgenics is all about breeding cats to be the most devastating feline fighting machines they can be, tackling quests, breeding more cats, tackling more quests, and so on.

A constant stream is needed because each squad member can’t take multiple trips, but there’s also a hub world in between that your warriors can serve in when they’re done. Battles are an excellent mix of strategic and chaotic, with different elemental and status effects setting off unexpected things in the environments and combining with each other to potentially doom friend and foe alike. There’s a lot of stat-building and strategy to be had, and while a lot of virtual pet games have explored the breeding idea over the years, the whole concept of genetic traits and conditions, and their associated effects, is fascinating.

The Longing

The Waiting Game (Literally)

Many of us like to make the very most we can of our gaming time, as it’s in very short supply with all the adult responsibilities we need to juggle. Even if we can only fit in the off half an hour or so, we want to know that we’re making some progress. If that’s the case for you, the intriguing, infuriating The Longing probably won’t be a fit.

Now, point and click games can often be quite meandering, as you accrue an inventory full of items and try to figure out what to do next. In The Longing, there really isn’t anything to do next. Not for a long, long time, anyway. The crux of the experience is that you’re a small, miserable-looking creature called a Shade. You’re the guardian of a legendary king, who is in no hurry to make his appearance. He’ll do so in 400 days, and that’s 400 real-world days. To pass the time, the Shade can shuffle very slowly through dingy corridors, read a book in their quarters, and that’s largely it. If you’re really dedicated, there are ways to speed up the in-game time, in order to reach the glorious denouement; many probably won’t stick around to see his Highness’s return. A truly novel release from Studio Seufz, and one of the most niche ones around.

Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator

Not The Most Moral Business Sim Around

AAA developers, of course, have been known to bring us all kinds of sci-fi horror experiences. The Dead Space series alone contains a lifetime’s worth. In that universe, there’d probably be an evil outer-space black market trading in organ parts, but we can’t say for sure. What we can say is that Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator is absolutely a real thing, introduced by Strange Scaffold in 2021. The team has done an excellent job of keeping things deeply unsettling, but also adding a touch of macabre humor to ensure it never becomes outright horrifying.

The green and black artwork lends a sort of grimy touch to the whole experience, which is nicely fitting. The aim is to out-profit and outlast other dealers, through the simple concept of buying different types of organs cheaply and selling for as much profit as possible. Though it’s quite simple and largely plays out through a series of menus, it’s got a horribly gripping aesthetic, matched by the plot playing out through thinly-veiled threats and offers from rivals. There are also layers of strategy in taking advantage of special effects some organs have, keeping track of their condition and how it affects pricing, and so on.

Little Inferno

As Adorable As It Is Disturbing

Tomorrow Corporation has a way of making things seem cute and charming, but also ensuring that there’s always that undercurrent of menace and things not being quite what they seem. That’s exactly the case with Little Inferno. It’s far from the only video game with a fireplace, but to use it as the primary means of gameplay was an ingenious idea.

The gameplay loop is as simple as could be: Purchase items from a catalog, await their delivery, throw them into the fire, pick up coins, and continue doing so. New catalogs will be acquired with new items, and particular combinations can be burnt at once to unlock combos. Against this backdrop, though, there’s a narrative ticking away, discussing the freezing weather outside and what it might mean for the residents. A thought-provoking experience sure to leave you with more questions than answers, it’ll keep those determined to figure out every item combo playing for considerably longer than its brief runtime.

Graveyard Keeper

Another Sim With A Ghastly Twist

Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator, then, allows players to make their fortune through whichever body parts are valuable on the interstellar market at that moment. If that’s the sort of thing you want to be a part of, what about the rest of the body? Fortunately, that’s very well represented in Graveyard Keeper.

Lazy Bear Games has created what is essentially a sinister take on Stardew Valley, in which the player manages not a farm but a Medieval-era cemetery. There are a lot of parallels between the two titles in terms of progression of your land, quest-tackling, and developing relationships with others, and Graveyard Keeper also keeps a grim sense of humor to keep it on the tongue-in-cheek side of dark. Later DLC offerings helped to speed up the often-criticised pace of the game, with zombie helpers that can perform certain jobs for you automatically.

Inscryption

A Wide Array Of Disturbing Mechanics Rolled Into One

Inscryption‘s teeth-pulling mechanic isn’t entirely without parallel in AAA games. In one episode of Resident Evil 7‘s DLC, for instance, the player engages in a particularly horrifying game of cards with fingers on the line. What Inscryption does, though, is combine a range of horrifying concepts and ideas, never being too overt with any of them. It’s what’s barely seen, what lingers in the shadows, that sticks with the player the most.

This is a deck-building roguelike, which is one of the most saturated and tiresome genres for many. However, nobody has pulled it off quite like Daniel Mullins Games. There’s a good reason why fans often suggest that newcomers should come into the game knowing as little as possible, and unlike a lot of roguelikes, it has a fascinating and utterly disturbing story. It’s the way that disparate elements come together so well (the design of the mini-bosses, the map screen, the ability to tackle puzzles around the room that are entirely separate from the ongoing progress in the core card game). As with something like Undertale, every element of the game is unique, and it’s constantly adding new twists and surprises for players looking to hunt them down.

​​​Carrion

It’s Fun To Be A Villain

It’s quite difficult to say what you’re actually playing as in Carrion. What’s important, though, is that it’s furious, it’s deadly, and the puny humans all around can barely even slow it down. If there’s one thing we’ve all learned from horror movies, it’s that keeping horrific creatures contained rarely ends well, because they will break out and escape at the most inopportune moment. In the game, Relith Science discovers just how quickly life can come at you when The Creature does just that in their facility.

Absorbing new powers and becoming larger and more grotesque as it does so, The Creature must find its way through the mysterious lab, meeting increasingly stringent opposition along the way. It feels weighty and kind of horrible to control, which is surely just as intended, and it’s nice to spread your wings (or your awful red pustule-covered appendages) and take the monster role for once. The developers call this a reverse horror game, and it’s not something you see every day.

I Am Bread

Watch Out, It’ll Fall Butter Side Down

There are some legendary video game protagonists that we just revel in taking control of. Mario, Lara Croft, Master Chief, Link, and so very many more. They’re safe picks who sell games simply by their presence, just like an A-list actor on a movie poster. One of the more unique and intriguing video game stars in recent years, though, is a humble slice of bread.

Bossa Studios’ I Am Bread has the silliest concept since Goat Simulator: As a slice of bread, the player walks around the environments, knocking things from shelves, gaining higher ground through any means necessary, and so on. The objective is to get yourself toasted (properly on both sides, naturally) however you can, such as by the flaming exhaust of a toy rocket that you’ve launched off a shelf. In the background of this madcap sandbox title is the tragic tale of Mr. Murton, who is attending sessions with a therapist who isn’t at all convinced by his assertions of walking slices of bread.

Before Your Eyes

A Touching Tale Told Through A Unique Medium

Sometimes, a unique idea doesn’t quite have the technology behind it to back it up. Nintendo’s infamous Virtual Boy, for instance. Some have questioned the accuracy and reliability of Before Your Eyes‘ webcam controls, but there’s no question at all of the heartstring-plucking emotional power of Benjamin Brynn’s story.

There are several games, such as the beloved Spiritfarer, that explore the concept of taking those who have passed away onwards to their final resting place. Along the way, they often discuss the lives they led and their memories. Before Your Eyes does this with Benjamin, but the crowning touch is the fact that the game is controlled through the movements of the player’s eyes. Co-creator Graham Parkes explained to The Escapist:

“It’s a sort of short narrative game which … has you playing as a character in the afterlife who has died and is … reliving their life. And the hook of the game is that your life will literally flash before your eyes. So you’re playing through these memories, and your web camera is watching your eyes, and every time you blink, the story is going to jump forward.”

It’s an incredibly touching and affecting journey, in which, for example, small scenes from a photograph in a scrapbook will briefly come to life as Benjamin reminisces. A very different way to approach one of humanity’s biggest issues to grapple with.

Flower

Serenity With Hidden Depth

There really is something for everyone in gaming. Maybe you’re in need of a quick blast of relentless action, in a game of pure aggressive combat. Instead, or as a palette-cleanser afterwards, completely flip the script with something like Thatgamecompany’s 2009 hit Flower. The goal here is largely to blow flower petals around the environments as the wind, causing reactions with other flowers, gathering more, and enjoying the freedom and serenity.

There are secret flowers hidden in each stage to collect, and though the stages aren’t particularly large and it’s not too much of a challenge to find them all, this is more meant as a bit of guidance and structure than anything else. The joy of Flower is in simply enjoying the uplifting music and movement, and the wonder of bringing light and color to the world.