best upcoming indie games 2020

Top 7 Upcoming Indie Games in 2020

Seven indie games you can’t miss in 2020.

The decorations are down and the hangover’s finally lifted, we’re back to work and well into the new beginning that is 2020. While things might not be going so well already on the outside world, you can be safe in the knowledge that inside your cozy gaming den you’ve got some fantastic indie experiences to look for over the next 12 months.

From interstellar space travel to Scandinavian forests, you’ll be playing as everything from deer to spirit assisting ferrymen, and that’s only the very beginning of the top upcoming indie games of 2020. Planning out your year of gaming is a big task, so we’ve done some of the heavy lifting and added seven games you absolutely can’t miss to your list.


7. Röki

Siblings Tove and Lars are off on a terrifying adventure after a monster destroys their home in this Scandinavian folklore-inspired, point and click-esque puzzler. Polygon Treehouse will introduce you to a cast of cute and creepy critters and characters along the way as you desperately figure out how to defeat the monster that brought their life down around them.

It’s a classic ‘two kids against larger forces’ narrative that we found to be expertly weaved through dialogue and environmental storytelling during our own time with an early build.


6. Way To The Woods

The abstract indie survival adventure, Way To The Woods, had its debut onstage with Xbox and the world fell in love with its two lone deer traversing the natural world around them. All we know so far is that two deer find themselves in a mysteriously abandoned forest, and while they are first and foremost trying to find their way home, it’s the minutae of survival that will form the bulk of gameplay.

Perhaps even more impressive than the gorgeous game world we’ve already seen is the fact that the entire experience is currently in development by a single developer, Anthony Tan, and due out in 2020.


5. Spiritfarer

Another child of an Xbox conference, Spiritfarer promises to envelop us in a “cosy management game about dying.” As intriguing as such a premise is, the expanded concept of a ferryman escorting the spirits of the deceased to the afterlife is a particularly novel starting point for game that takes crafting, resource management, and farming as its primary mechanics.

We’re already in love with the hand-drawn art style and the strangely soothing tone of each new trailer, plus there’s even two-player co-operative options in the form of Daffodil the cat. Taking such a mellow approach to the usual be-all-and-end-all of a video game, death, will surely delight in 2020.


4. 12 Minutes

Time loops are fashionable now. We’ve seen the mechanic in a few games, but none look set to hit as hard as 12 Minutes in 2020. After a husband settles down to enjoy a romantic evening with his wife, an unexplained series of catastrophic events ensue. By the end of it, his wife stands accused of murder and you, the husband, are dead at the hands of a police detective who has just barged into your home. Then you find yourself opening the front door to it all over again.

Presumably, we’ll find out far more about this story with every loop of time, and we’re certainly chomping at the bit to find out more about this bizarre evening.


3. Eastward

It feels like we’ve been waiting for Eastward for a while, but that’s only because we were so excited by its initial trailers we can think of little else besides it. Eastward has been in demo runs for a while now, and if you’ve been lucky enough to get your hands on it so far you’ll know how charming it can be. Part Zelda, part every other fantastic GameBoy RPG you’ve been longing for over the last 15 years.

You find yourself in a city surrounded by strange creatures intent on your downfall, the same way many other citizens have found themselves in the world of Eastward. The human population is being squeezed out of existence by mysterious forces, and it’s down to you and a strange child you find in an underground base to put an end to it all.


2. Sable

So far, Sable looks like a graphic novel. It looks like a damn fine graphic novel, though, which is what has sparked so much attention since its announcement. The gorgeously rendered alien desert plays host to a coming of age tale concerning the titular hooded, masked hero. As she wanders through each lovingly created locale, her understanding of the world around her intensifies, along with her recognition of her own place in this bizarre environment.

While we’ve played coming of age mystery adventures by the dozen at this point in indie gaming history, something feels distinctly different about what Sable is propositioning, so we’re hyped to get our hands on it properly in 2020.


1. Kerbal Space Program 2

Kerbal Space Program became a phenomenon that pretty much transcended gaming in its own right. So the sequel is going to be a heavy hitter on release this year. We’ve been promised a completely redesigned experience that builds on the core space exploration features fans fell in love with during our initial adventures but also enters the next generation of space travel simulation.

You’ll be building and flying your spacecraft and mining your resources as much as you like, but with enhanced new features and a whole roster of new parts, colonies, and abilities for interstellar travel.


2020 is choc-full of exciting indie games that look set to take the industry in exciting new directions. We’ve only skimmed the top of what the year holds, with plenty of the year’s best titles still probably unannounced. Get ready for a great year of games, and if you’re curious about what the last year held for us, check out our list of the best indie games of 2019.