May is upon us, and with the likes of 007 First Light, Forza Horizon 6, and Mixtape hitting this month, there’s already plenty to look forward to. However, there’s a veritable indie game explosion happening just under the surface! Keep an eye out here at GameObserver for a ton of indie game reviews this month. In the meantime, add these promising games to your wishlist now!
Forbidden Solitaire
Forbidden Solitaire is all but guaranteed to please due to the pedigree of the studio; Night Studio Entertainment is the same crew that brought you Home Safety Hotline, and they’re working with indie solitaire royalty Grey Alien Games. This fourth-wall-breaking horror game is a deckbuilder where players must solve the mystery of a cursed CD-ROM in 1995. Fans of Inscryption will feel right at home. A friendly eye watches you from the wall, offering upgrades to aid you in your quest to break the cosmic horror that has settled upon you. With a 97% on Steam across over 1,000 reviews, there’s pretty much no excuse to grab it right now.
Luna Abyss
You are a prisoner, trapped in the center of the false moon called Luna. You are tasked with exploring it to the end of your days, recovering forgotten tech from the ancient times and maybe unearthing the secret of the lost colony it consumed. Your robotic prison guard, Aylin, watches your every move. Be prepared for intense FPS action, grotesque creatures, wondrous worlds, and a whole lotta bullets. This narrative-driven bullet hell shooter from British studio Kwalee Labs should be a perfect fit for fans of Housemarque’s games: Saros and Returnal.
Inkonbini: One Store, Many Stories
For those not familiar, konbini are a wonderful type of convenience store exclusive to East Asia, but found on every single city corner in Korea and Japan. Clean and cheap with fresh food made on demand and daily, it really doesn’t get more convenient. You’ll play as Marako Hayawaka, a college student working a summer job at a konbini in early 1990s Japan. This management simulator is light on management, and more concentrated on running the business well. Stock the shelves, clean up, serve customers, and talk to the regulars. Japanese indie studio Nagai Industries has crafted a cozy game perfect for those who relax by tidying up.
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Crashout Crew
I don’t think I need to work too hard to sell this one: a new friendslop game from the developers of Peak is arriving on Steam on May 28! Crashout Crew puts you and three friends in charge of controlling forklifts that must fulfill increasingly insane orders in a warehouse based in a real-physics simulation. There are no safety standards, no rules, and no regrets here. Each player will speak in-game with real-time mouth movement just like in Peak, drifting and racing forklifts around while trying to solve physics puzzles without your friends making you want to log off. Just get those orders filled or say goodbye to your cushy job as a forklift!
Burden Street Station
As per usual, I’ve saved the weirdest for last! In this hyper-surreal world, there are only three things that you know to be true: You are a shapeshifter, human memories are extracted into sentient books, and God has gone missing. Use your powers to shapeshift into others, choosing physical traits to best get different characters to aid you in different ways. Speak kindly, and people will be more inclined to help. If you’re a rude boy, you’re out of luck. This abstract detective game’s 2D hand-drawn art should communicate that it is not for the faint of heart. Fans of Paradise Killer will probably find a lot to love as they navigate their way through this narrative puzzle game.
What indie games are you grabbing this month? Any we missed? Let us know in the comments below!
