Here I Am With a New Indie Showcase featuring cool RPGs you should follow.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to publish the July Indie Showcase before the month ended, I only managed to post it today. In any case, July’s Indie Turn-Based RPGs are rolling out in August, but that hardly changes anything.
For newcomers or anyone who’s stumbled onto my blog by chance, this series gathers some of the most interesting Indie RPGs I’ve covered over the past days. This installment is packed with great projects, 15 in total.
These titles span from the classic, deeply-layered RPGs that guarantee 30–50 hours of gameplay across main quests and side content, to the more immediate experiences often labeled Roguelites.
Let me open this showcase with Synchro. It’s a roguelite RPG featuring 2D combat arenas and a timeline mechanic that lets you plot your moves by previewing exactly how the enemy will move and strike.
Developed by indie studio Komisoft, Synchro throws you into a post-apocalyptic future where a ruthless corporation conducts inhumane experiments. I don’t expect much from the story, but I have high hopes for its combat system.
The next title on the list is Malys, developed by Summerfall Studios, and it’s already available in Early Access on Steam.
In this card-driven roguelite, you step into the shoes of Noah, a demon hunter performing exorcisms to cleanse the spirits of unlucky souls.
Burn cards to light candles, then spend that sacred flame to unleash holy and arcane powers, all while managing Noah’s dwindling Will. Every run pits you against ever-mutating fiends, each with unique abilities and cunning tactics, and forces you to make gut-wrenching choices about which cards to sacrifice and which to play.
Between encounters, you’ll collect Faith to expand and refine your deck, acquire powerful Curios, and chart branching paths that shape both your strategy and the city’s fate.
What struck me most about this title is its art style, but judging by the reviews so far, it’s not just eye candy.
Now let’s move into a genre I love: Fire Emblem–style SRPGs. Enter Curse of Dominion, a truly indie project from TAR Games that promises dozens upon dozens of hours of strategic, grid-based combat.
The combat system delivers everything you’d expect from this genre: square-grid maps, an attack-preview feature showing exactly how your strike will land, a variety of weapon types each with their own pros and cons, and a bond-building mechanic to deepen relationships between party members, so far, all standard fare.
Where Curse of Dominion breaks the mold is by tasking you not only with tactical skirmishes but also with capturing and holding territories, layering in elements straight out of a grand-strategy game. Not bad for an indie title. You can try the demo on Steam now, while the full release is slated for 2027.
When I introduced Runa on TBL last month, I called it an ambitious RPG aiming to fuse Final Fantasy X with the Persona series, because that’s exactly the experiment Fennec Studio is undertaking.
Its visuals couldn’t look less like a grassroots indie, evoking the polish of Square’s tenth mainline installment, while its social and romance mechanics draw straight from Persona’s playbook.
As for the combat, Runa stays true to the genre: you can swap in a reserve party member without losing your turn, chain powerful group attacks, and leverage the Elemental Break System to shatter enemy defenses in just a few rounds.
It’s definitely one of my most anticipated titles. For now, you’ll have to make do with the details on its official page or check out the Kickstarter campaign, which, unsurprisingly, smashed its funding goals. It’s headed to PC and consoles, though no release date has been announced yet.
Now let’s turn to a deep-space roguelike by Deniz K., titled Those Far Stars. I’ve been following this talented developer for a while. Back in 2024, they debuted with the fantasy roguelike Terra Randoma.
In Those Far Stars, you’ll explore planets, trade goods, and engage in tactical, traditional roguelike combat, all through the lens of your own modular starship.
The standout feature is a reputation system with both human and alien factions, which you’ll build up or tear down by completing missions, uncovering artifacts, and more. In my book, it’s a project to keep an eye on, though you’ll have to wait a bit, as the launch window is set for Q2 2026.
If you can’t wait to dive into something new, check out Paradigm Island, a brand-new isometric RPG from End-all Entertainment that just launched on Steam a few hours ago.
You step into the boots of Mike, a young mercenary who’s up against a challenge far tougher than any monster or armed foe: real life itself. Paradigm Island channels Disco Elysium-style storytelling, resting its entire narrative on your choices and the personality you forge for your alter ego.
With its vibrant, inspired art style, it’s a standout you’ll want to experience firsthand. In this Indie Showcase, we’ve never had more titles already playable or just around the corner, like the next one I’m about to introduce.
Next up is Varlet, a brand-new JRPG from the team behind Monark, an indie hit from a few years back.
In a nutshell, Varlet channels Persona: you’ll attend school courses, forge bonds with classmates and NPCs, then venture into the game world’s dark underbelly, known as the Glitch, to battle impostor monsters that’ve replaced academy peers.
Its combat system revolves around a Timeline you can manipulate by exploiting weaknesses and chaining skills, plus you can choose to fight as a supportive Leader or a more offense-driven Ruler.
It’s yet another Atlus-inspired take on the formula. When Varlet launches on August 27th for PC, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch, we’ll see if it carves out its own space and brings something fresh to the table.
Speaking of fresh things to the table, Mythswayer from Angry Cat Studios might just be the most original pick yet. This tactical RPG puts you in the shoes of a hero with a truly unique power: the ability to wield magical ink to reshape the very environments you explore.
Need to scale a cliff? Just ink some columns into existence and climb. Want to topple an unsuspecting foe? Erase the ground beneath them and watch gravity do the rest. And that’s only scratching the surface.
Visually, it’s absolutely charming, and its combat system is deeply tactical, letting you develop your hero freely, beyond any rigid class restrictions. A demo is already live so that you can dive in and toy with Mythswayer’s mechanics right now. As for the full release, you’ll have to wait a little longer.
Another Early Access debut on Steam is Death Ring: Second Impact, a tactical roguelite that puts you in the cockpit of a super-mega robot to tackle a mutant menace.
Developed by Rouge Mecha, Death Ring delivers deep mech customization: you’ll outfit your assigned units with modules, weapons, and gear that all impact your battlefield performance.
Missions kick off with emergency distress calls, and you’ll scramble across grid-based maps to answer them against the clock. Though it’ll stay in Early Access for a while, there’s already plenty of content to keep you entertained.
Now, let me show you something both visually striking and truly original: Wretch: Divine Ascent, from Ogopogo. At its core, it’s an inventory-management system wrapped inside a fighting game.
Set in gritty, medieval arenas, every 1v1 PvP clash hinges on your character’s loadout, and your choice of gear directly shapes the skills and combos you can pull off. A demo’s already live, letting you pick from three distinct fighters and dive into the game’s mechanics. Full launch is slated for Q4 2025 on PC.
Let’s shift gears to Tuoni, a traditional roguelike from indie developer Old Dog.
In this RPG, you’ll venture through wildlands soaked in Finnish culture and myth, enjoying a completely open character progression system. Mix and match between brute-force physical builds, shamanic magic, and elemental enchantments, all while you explore procedurally generated maps and fight to survive.
The release window is currently set for 2026, though there’s a chance a demo will surface later this year.
Next on the list is Crux Diaries, a CRPG-inspired project that aims to marry Disco Elysium’s rich, branching narrative with the tactical combat that, let’s be honest, any true RPG fan sees as non-negotiable.
Developer Kravtology drops you into an alternate Eastern Europe on the brink of civil war. Expect deep quests, rival factions, a host of NPCs to engage with, and a turn-based combat system that’ll feel immediately familiar if you’ve ever spent time in the wastelands of Fallout.
Crux Diaries was only just announced, so details on its release date and playable builds are still forthcoming.
And now here I am, to one of my most anticipated: The Severed Gods. This JRPG-inspired gem boasts a multi-layered combat system, monsters you face have distinct body parts, and it’s on you to decide which to strike to avert counterattacks or disable their most devastating moves.
Visually, it’s reminiscent of Octopath Traveler, but it plays like a roguelite: each defeat sends you back to square one, armed with new insights and abilities unlocked by developing the game’s various villages. I think this project from the Vietnamese team Topebox is extremely promising, with a target release in 2026.
And here we are, closing in on the end of this Indie Showcase. I’ve got two games left to introduce. First up is another JRPG-inspired standout, notable for both its gameplay dynamics and its art style: Beckoned, from Zade Studios.
This is a meticulously hand-crafted RPG built by two brothers working around the clock on the project. They’ve even released a companion comic book to help set up the game’s narrative and give us some extra context.
In Beckoned, you’ll step into the shoes of Taujh on a quest for a crystal pendant. It blends survival mechanics with a dynamic combat system that lets you dodge enemy strikes and even interrupt an opponent’s turn to land a counterattack.
To me, this one’s definitely worth keeping on your radar, and there’s already a prototype demo you can try on Steam.
And we’ll wrap up with a title and series that arguably needs no introduction in the indie scene: Avernum. Jeff Vogel’s Spiderweb Software just announced a remake of the series’ fourth chapter, aptly subtitled Greed and Glory.
True to form, you’ll sink countless hours scouring the sprawling underground of Avernum. Expect an avalanche of quests, warring factions, bizarre creatures, and the trademark tactical combat that will put your party-building skills to the test. It’s set to launch in October 2025.
That’s everything I’ve got for this Indie RPG Showcase! I’ll be back later this month with a roundup of upcoming titles. Let me know what you think of this lineup, and catch me across all my social channels. See you there, ciao
