Generally speaking, I’d much prefer to celebrate a video game than tear one down, especially when it comes to indies. But we’re also here to offer critical insights, which is why this list includes several indie visions that looked good on paper but failed to impress us this year.
9 Indie Game Flops That Deserve A Second Chance
Just off the beaten path, these nine indie games are ready for their redemption arc.
Whether they had a unique premise, a stunning visual aesthetic, or leaned into the retro fandom, these are indies that we absolutely cannot recommend.
Remember that, unlike most lists, this one is reversed. It starts with the most tolerable of the bunch and ends with the worst indie of the year.
10Parry Nightmare
Dream a Little Nightmare
Phoenixx Inc.
Bullet Hell
Release Date
June 20, 2025
Parry Nightmare is like the crazed love child of the tower defense and bullet hell genres. In it, you play the subconscious of the main character, who’s trapped in a dream and is aided by a demonic ally named Honno-Chan.
They provide the muscle, but it’s your job to “parry” enemy attacks and present openings for Honno to exploit.
Though the game does feature limited power-ups, the majority of the Parry Nightmare experience involves walking carefully around the stage while avoiding massive, neverending swarms of foes.
You start with very limited visibility, and by the end of the level, get a brilliant snapshot into just how many nightmares are coming after you.
While you don’t have to defeat them all, you do have to beat enough to fill up the meter and end the level. That all sounds fine in theory, but the game starts incredibly hard and just gets more difficult as you progress.
Combined with an unforgiving enemy design and waves of foes that can be tricky to see in time, Parry Nightmare failed to provide a dreamy escape.
9The Dark Cave
Retro Darkness
Tactical RPG
August 10, 2025
There are a lot of amazing tactical RPGs and rogue-like adventures that have saturated the market. Sadly, The Dark Cave is not one of them.
Published by 2P Games and developed by Leaves Games, it was clearly stylistically inspired by old-school adventures. And while the art style won’t win any awards, it’s relatively inoffensive.
The problem with the game comes from how it balances the tactical role-playing elements of the game. You have a limited grid to maneuver around, dodging enemy attacks and retaliating with your own. The issue is that you have limited amounts of moves before every move costs your health.
The other issue is that all your attacks have a cooldown, meaning you may’t ever go off on the enemy in any real way, and are constantly trying to utilize a limited pool of attacks. Combined with poor translation and a non-existent plot, you have an RPG that should have stayed in the retro era.
8Forgotten Mines
There’s Goblins in Them Mines!
Ishtar Games
Tactical RPG, rogue-like
June 23, 2025
Unlike The Dark Cave, Forgotten Mines could have made something of itself. It had quirky, albeit simple graphics and a rousing tale about dwarves, vengeance, stolen ancestral mines, and filthy goblins. The problem was that it utterly lacked sufficient gameplay balance.
This is a game where you muster a team of 3 to get through as many floors as you can before you inevitably perish. You don’t automatically get healed between floors, and it only takes a few solid hits for your team to become corpses.
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Once you start cashing in rare ore to upgrade your team and facilities, you would think the game gets easier. But even after spending several hours with the game and unlocking a ton, the game still rips your guts out with glee.
Here’s hoping Ishtar Games and developer Cannibal Goose can put their heads together and make a more balanced sequel.
7Spirit Mancer
Beautiful Bimbo
Spirit Mancer
As a fan of both platformers and deckbuilders, I really wanted Spirit Mancer to be good. It tells a mostly incoherent tale about demons versus humans, a magical gate, and ensuing mischief.
Despite that, the game married two great genres and featured a pretty stellar visual style courtesy of Sunny Syrup Studio.
Spirit Mancer’s problem was that it simply tried to wear too many hats, and none of them fit. The platforming was generic and clunky, the deckbuilding (which involved summoning enemies via magical cards) was practically an afterthought, and the game just felt boring from the get-go.
While there is plenty to do in the game, including side missions, activities like fishing, and more, it fails to fix what’s inherently broken in the main game experience.
6Magical Delicacy
Not Magically Delicious
Magical Delicacy
Much like Spirit Mancer, Magical Delicacy is a stunningly attractive adventure, which is always a great start. It even features two genres that never get combined - cooking sim and Metroidvania.
Throw in a story about growing up, witchcraft, and more; you would hope it all came together in a rich and hearty stew. While I won’t say it’s spoiled, this is a meal few will find palatable.
While thecooking simulation part of the game is fine enough, the Metroidvania elements didn’t really come together. For one thing, there’s no combat whatsoever, and while that’s not strictly necessary, it is pretty standard. For another, the game’s UI is clunky and hard to use at the best of times.
More than anything,Magical Delicacyhad the elements it might have needed to be delicious, but they came together in a random, haphazard fashion that will leave many disappointed.
5Broken Roads
Australian Apocalypse Now
Broken Roads
On paper, Broken Roads should be incredible. It takes place in post-apocalyptic Australia and has very open-ended systems to satisfy a variety of gamers. Yet, in execution, it proved to be one of the most dull, disappointing games I’ve played in quite a while.
For one thing, the game suffers from incredibly bloated and hard-to-parse systems, all of which are required just to play.
For another, the branching dialogue trees in the game are divorced from emotion. You’ll hear about characters dying in a hail of gunfire, only to wonder where you’ll find your next mission prompt.
Worst of all, the combat inBroken Roadsis just uninspired and feels like an old pen-and-paper RPG without modern conventions. Even though I’ve played and enjoyed plenty of games inspired by pen and paper, this is the first one that made me frustrated instead of immersed in this fictional world.
4Mars 2120
PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
QUByte Interactive
Metroidvania
July 11, 2025 (Switch)
A lot of amazing games have come from Brazilian development teams, but Mars 2120 wasn’t one of them. It looks fine, even on the Switch, where it was most recently released. But any Metroidvania lives or dies on the gameplay, and that’s where it all falls apart.
Mars 2120 has you running around the red planet, investigating what happened on a station and avoiding deadly alien threats.
As you progress, you’ll gain new weapons and traversal powers, and that’s fine. The problem is that actually platforming and fighting are a pain.
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Though you have unlimited bullets, your gun has a very narrow range of fire, and many foes exploit that, dancing around and pestering you with projectiles.
Worse are the game’s overpowered bosses, which love to corner and rampage you into a puddle. Combined with hard-to-utilize upgrade features, you have a red planet that’s best avoided.
Mega Man It’s Not
PC, Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X|S
Playtonic Games
Platformer, Rogue-like
August 09, 2025
Believe it or not, there have been some amazing rogue-like platformers, such as the incredible 30XX. You might have hoped Elsie would be another. But sadly, this rogue-like adventure from Knight Shift Games and Playtonic Games was colorful on the outside, and drab on the inside.
Though the game is clearly inspired by Mega Man, it fails the key test of any good Mega Man game. Namely, easy and fun platforming, and a solid challenge.
Elsie is overwhelming, with bullet hell aspects and a hard-to-utilize dodge and parry mechanic.
You might hope the boss battles are able to save the game, but those are more of the same. It’s really unfortunate since the candy-coated exterior and engaging story should have made this an indie game of the year.
A Puzzling Disaster
Inti Creates
August 16, 2025
As someone who’s played pretty much every game developed by Inti Creates, I’d love to tell you that PuzzMiX might just be worth your time.
I would love to say that, but it would be a lie because this puzzling little game is just a complete whiff by a team that usually throws strikes.
The basic gameplay revolves around matching Lola spheres of the same shape together, fusing them into progressively larger shapes.
The problem is, that’s literally all there is to the game. Making matches until you run out of space. There’s only one level, and all you unlock is a small sampling of music by playing.
That’s it; that’s the entire game. You can beat it in 5 minutes if you so choose, and there’s no reason to come back to it. If you expected Inti Creates' trademark challenge or ingenuity, look elsewhere.
1Umbraclaw
Unlucky Black Cat
I take no joy in this last entry. As stated earlier, Inti Creates puts out a lot of amazing video games, most of which I have played and enjoyed. And I was truly exuberant to try out Umbraclaw.
Developed by the same team behind the Blaster Master Zero games, it’s a platformer with some rogue-like mechanics about a black cat trying to escape the Soulplane and return to her owner.
The game also includes fantastic artwork and some unique mechanics, such as Anima Revive, which brings Kuon the black cat back with a new animal power when she falls in battle.
Despite all that, though, the game proved to be a slog. It lacked balance, and upgrading your skills took far too many resources.
Even thoughUmbraclawis focused on exploration and combat, the former isn’t that satisfying, and the latter can be overwhelming—especially the massively overpowered bosses, which put your dodging skills severely to the test.
As a fan of cats and platformers, I wanted to love this adventure. But sadly, it just fell short.
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