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Six upcoming indie games prove 2026 still has plenty of strange ideas left
The blockbuster calendar is going to get loud over the next few months, but several smaller games are approaching with ideas that are much harder to mistake for one another. Nomori bends gravity, Nivalis Nights builds a life beneath neon towers, and At Fate's End turns family conflict into both story and progression.
By Kader 
Woodo — September 16
Woodo is the quietest game here. Tiny Monks Tales has built its puzzle adventure around tactile-looking wooden dioramas, asking players to examine individual pieces and find where they belong as each scene gradually comes together.
Those little constructions follow Foxy during a summer in the countryside and her friendship with Ben the Frog. The project itself had a difficult path, including a period when development had to stop, but its digital release is now set for September 16.
Graveyard Keeper 2 — September 22
Graveyard Keeper 2 is substantially less interested in keeping things small. Cemetery management, resource gathering and automation return, but Lazy Bear Games has expanded the job into rebuilding a town and defending it from an undead catastrophe.
The newly promoted Grand Inquisitor can construct fortifications, craft weapons and armour and train zombie troops. Graveyard Keeper has therefore reached the logical point where the person responsible for burying bodies also commands an army made from them.
Nomori — September 23
Enchanted Works' Nomori asks players to stop trusting basic assumptions about which direction the floor should be facing.
Kiko can place and rotate portals that change the direction of gravity, manipulate the flow of time and combine Spirit Powers to solve physics-based environmental puzzles. Returning to older areas with new abilities reveals additional routes through its four seasonal domains.
Nomori is scheduled for September 23 on PC and Xbox, with Xbox Play Anywhere and Smart Delivery support.
Nivalis Nights — September 29
Nivalis Nights is the game previously known simply as Nivalis. ION LANDS announced the new name alongside its September 29 release date after resolving a legal matter that had kept the team quiet for months.
The cyberpunk city is being used for a life sim rather than another combat-heavy dystopia. Players start with a noodle stand, then expand into restaurants and nightclubs while managing staff, sourcing ingredients and deciding how to spend each day.
The wider simulation includes homes, decorating, fishing, boats, weather and relationships with more than 100 voiced characters. CorpSec crackdowns, a serial killer and a citywide curfew keep the atmosphere from becoming entirely comfortable.
End of Abyss — October 1
Section 9 Interactive was founded by former Tarsier Studios developers whose previous work included Little Nightmares. End of Abyss carries some of that oppressive visual instinct into a very different type of game.
Cel explores a vast underground compound filled with abandoned machinery and distorted creatures. She is not helpless: combat uses twin-stick shooting, an energy pistol, limited-ammo weapons, grenades and upgrades, while a scanner and new tools gradually open previously inaccessible paths.
That makes End of Abyss part shooter, part Metroidvania and part industrial nightmare. It launches October 1 on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
At Fate's End — still due in 2026
Thunder Lotus has not given At Fate's End an exact release date, but the Spiritfarer studio still lists the game for 2026 on PC, PS5 and Xbox, including Game Pass.
Shan wields the legendary God Sword Aesus and eventually has to confront her estranged siblings. Those encounters combine sword fighting with tactical conversations in which understanding family history and personal secrets can become a weapon of its own.
The game's progression takes the family theme unusually literally. Thunder Lotus describes the family tree as the skill tree: defeating or reconciling with siblings changes Shan's abilities and the future of the clan, while seven swords of power expand her combat options.
The dates
- September 16: Woodo - September 22: Graveyard Keeper 2 - September 23: Nomori - September 29: Nivalis Nights - October 1: End of Abyss - 2026, exact date TBA: At Fate's End
There is no clean genre tying these projects together, which is precisely the appeal. One is about carefully completing a wooden scene. Another gives you grenades in a subterranean nightmare. A third wants family therapy to involve legendary swords.