Quirky Indie Video games We’re Crushing On: Indie Selects for February

Each Wednesday, dive into the Indie Choose Hub — your gateway to a contemporary, curated indie assortment plus 4 themed spotlights that rotate weekly! You’ll be able to at all times discover this assortment hub within the Xbox Retailer and on Xbox.com/IndieSelects.

The ID@Xbox group felt February’s peculiar sparkle within the air, so we curated 6 offbeat adventures that match that delightfully unusual attraction. From a hand‑drawn British comedy to a psychological race in opposition to time to avoid wasting a plague‑stricken city, this slate delivers daring hooks for each temper. Battle fairytale capitalism, settle right into a magical farming life, courageous a dread‑tinged fishing odyssey, or command a retro JRPG occasion by dungeon‑delving motion. Whether or not you crave calm, comedy, chaos, or a combat for survival, we’ve acquired one thing uniquely – and unexpectedly – excellent for you this month (in no explicit order):

Humor in video video games is notoriously troublesome to tug off, however the group at Panic could have cracked the code with Thank Goodness You’re Right here! a comedy journey sport that lands joke after joke with exceptional confidence and impeccable timing.

Thank Goodness You’re Right here! is a energetic, hand-drawn comedy journey sport within the artwork fashion harking back to Terry Gilliam’s Monty Python’s and different surreal British animation from the Sixties and 70s, and it pairs this visible with sharp distinctly British humor. The result’s a sport that seems crude on the floor, however it’s clearly nicely designed with genuinely laugh-out-loud moments. 

From the opening cutscene, the sport establishes its weird premise and barely lets up. You play as a small, principally silent salesman wandering the fictional Northern English city of Barnsworth. Progress is pushed fully by interplay: poking, pulling, slapping, and entering into more and more absurd and unusual conditions. The sport rewards curiosity, timing, and the willingness to lean into the absurd.

The voice appearing is excellent, together with the unmistakable presence of Matt Berry who delivers the sport’s tone completely. Thank Goodness You’re Right here! trusts you to search out the humor with out over-explaining and handing you the management to let the comedic timing do the work.

Charming, unusual, assured in its personal silliness, and by no means overstaying its welcome, Thank Goodness You’re Right here! stands out as one of the memorable comedy video games in recent times. Ta-ta for now. – Oscar Polanco

Pathologic 3 is a sport that lingers lengthy after you set the controller down. The cult-classic psychological survival collection from Ice-Decide Lodge returns with a brand new entry that reimagines its haunting world for contemporary {hardware}, whereas staying true to what makes Pathologic so distinct. This isn’t survival-horror constructed on reflexes or worry alone. It’s about strain — the sort that builds quietly as time strikes ahead and the city refuses to attend for you. From the second you arrive, the world feels hostile in refined methods. Conversations are uneasy. Info is fragmented. Even easy selections really feel loaded. Enjoying Pathologic 3, I used to be always conscious that each alternative — the place I went, who I helped, what I ignored — carried penalties I wouldn’t totally perceive till a lot later.

You play as a health care provider navigating a plague that may’t merely be cured. Sources are scarce, and the city’s residents really feel much less like quest-givers and extra like folks attempting to outlive alongside you. Saving one life typically meant neglecting one other, and there have been moments the place doing “the correct factor” solely made the state of affairs worse. Fight will not be the main focus right here. Survival comes from managing starvation, exhaustion, an infection, and belief, each your individual and the city’s. The stress doesn’t spike; it simmers. Greater than as soon as, I discovered myself hesitating earlier than making a call, realizing the sport wouldn’t cease me from making a mistake — it could simply bear in mind it.

On Xbox Sequence X|S, Pathologic 3 advantages from sooner load instances and enhanced lighting and environmental element, retaining the expertise uninterrupted and deeply immersive. The city feels oppressive, alive, and uncomfortably shut. Pathologic 3 is a sport that trusts gamers to take a seat with discomfort, ambiguity, and consequence. The plague is again on Xbox — and it’s watching the way you select to face it. – Steven Allen

Escape from Ever After is a comfy, whimsical expertise that proudly wears its inspirations on its sleeve. What begins as an atypical hero-goes-to-slay-the-dragon story shortly shifts right into a buddy-cop-esque journey about capitalism, evil conglomerates, and climbing the company ladder to destroy an organization from inside. It’s very unserious and foolish — but in some way probably the most genius factor I’ve performed shortly.

The premise is centered round hero Flynt Buckler, villain Tinder the Dragon, and their non permanent truce to thwart Ever After Inc. — a “real-world” conglomerate bent on infiltrating beloved fairytales and folklore to farm sources and characters for labor. Consequently, you’ll discover Pinocchio working a desk job, Purple Driving Hood manning a receptionist’s desk, the Three Little Pigs as an evil development firm, and Dracula as a… tailor. You’ll additionally see issues like printers as save factors, gold cash known as “wages,” and low as your mana pool. I really like how a lot it performs into the theme of the company world mixing into fantasy, and it left me desirous to see what tales can be included and the way they’ve been impacted by Ever After.

As for the core gameplay, it’s an approachable RPG with platforming, puzzles, and exploration balanced into the combo. The fight is turn-based however leverages timing-based mini video games to reinforce actions. Traditionally, I’ve by no means actually been an enormous turn-based RPG individual, so this helped preserve the fight partaking and positively felt satisfying to tug off. There’s additionally a little bit of occasion administration as you recruit characters from completely different tales, a leveling system, skills to unlock, and gentle customization by costumes and such.

This sport is superior, and I had an absolute blast taking part in it. By way of its story, gameplay selection, and approachability, this looks like a sport I can simply suggest to anybody. – Deron Mann

Wylde Flowers is a standout farming life sim that breaks from style norms with its totally voice‑acted solid and story‑pushed method. As a substitute of making your individual avatar from scratch, you step into the sneakers of Tara, who returns to her quiet island hometown after twenty years to assist look after her grandmother’s farm. It doesn’t take lengthy earlier than Tara learns that her grandmother is definitely a witch and that she may very well share the identical skills.

The gameplay blends farming, every day chores, witchcraft, and socializing with the townsfolk, delivering a satisfying loop that stays approachable however rewarding. You’ll harvest sources, improve instruments, craft sensible and magical parts, and unlock new potions and spells. One particularly intelligent design alternative is the best way seasons advance: they don’t run on a timer however as a substitute shift solely once you resolve. That small twist removes loads of strain, supplying you with on a regular basis it is advisable to collect supplies and end duties earlier than shifting on.

However the actual magic of the sport lies in its solid of distinctive characters. The city is stuffed with on a regular basis villagers in addition to a couple of supernatural‑leaning residents, all of whom initially see you as an outsider which suggests you’ll have to win them over. Every character has distinct tales, quirks, secrets and techniques, and requests, and the extra time you spend with them, the extra your relationships deepen, with some even blossoming into romance. These connections aren’t simply non-obligatory aspect taste; they actively push the story ahead as you piece collectively what’s really occurring locally and who’s genuinely in your aspect.

Should you’re an Animal Crossing fan craving one thing with richer narrative layers wrapped in cozy farming gameplay, this one is totally value your time. – Raymond Estrada

Fairly probably probably the most indie sport to ever indie with out being in voxels or 2D, in Mortgage Shark you play as a tragic sack fisherman who owes some huge cash to a mortgage shark simply ready onshore to do severe injury to you and your family members for those who don’t meet the cost deadline. To make a dent in a seemingly unattainable debt ceiling, you simply must preserve fishing like your life relies on it… as a result of it does. As a result of it is a horror fishing sport.

As a hapless fisherman determined to repay a debt, you’ll must fish, fish, fish stuff out of the ocean out of your ramshackle boat, intestine your catch, and toss it in a chest for a cost that slowly chips away at an unlimited invoice you’ve racked up with the native crime-lord-slash-loan-shark. The waters are darkish, the visuals are murky in a PS2 type of manner, and the controls are each easy and clunky on the identical time. Don’t dive into this one anticipating to marvel over technical gymnastics or pristine presentation – it is a sport about making selections, being accountable for them, and naturally, a creepy speaking fish who gives you some doubtlessly simple solutions (which can be a alternative so that you can make). And that’s actually it. Every run lasts round 45-ish minutes and, relying on the way you deal with your self, may end up in very completely different endings. I don’t actually wish to dish out any extra information to be able to keep away from spoilers, as you type of have to enter this one with an open thoughts, a willingness to stick with little to no steering, and a strong creativeness (to make up for these technical tough edges). However please do, fish away!

This sport hits me with all of the nostalgia dopamine. Late‑’90s and early‑2000s flip‑based mostly JRPGs have been completely my factor, and Hero Seekers takes that traditional method and elevates it with a intelligent premise, sturdy characters, and trendy presentation. Reminiscence drives each the story and gameplay: you awaken in a world the place people have been enslaved by demons, and main historic occasions have been rewritten. You’re the one one who remembers the true previous, and it’s as much as you to recuperate forgotten heroes, restore what was erased, and save humanity.

Fight is flip‑based mostly and constructed round sensible occasion selections and useful resource administration. You’ll be able to discipline as much as 5 distinctive heroes, and whereas most battles are simple, more durable enemies and standing results sometimes demand extra technique. Routine encounters could be dealt with robotically.

The place the sport actually shines is in its hero assortment. You acquire entry to a large roster early on, encouraging experimentation as you combine and match characters, construct distinctive events, and optimize expertise in order that they complement each other. Alongside the best way, you’ll meet a number of standout heroes with distinct backstories that unfold as you assist them reclaim their recollections.

Hero Seekers scratches that outdated‑faculty JRPG itch with intuitive gameplay and robust presentation, whereas including its personal twist by its hero‑gathering focus and reminiscence‑pushed narrative. I’d suggest it to anybody who loves memorable, traditional‑fashion JRPGs. – Raymond Estrada