It’s warm, cozy, pretty, and primed to be the kind of game you can easily lose hundreds of hours to, yet it still has no trailer after years in development.The stress mechanic in Darkest Dungeon ties into the games Lovecraftian themes and portrays the deteriorating mental state of warriors as they encounter unknown horrors. Witchbrook is also a social sim, and you’ll have plenty of opportunities to make friends, fall in love, help out the people who live in the nearby town, and partake in various side activities like gardening and photography.

There are all the trappings you’d expect from a school sim, as you’ll be attending classes to learn the myriad skills of witchery, but there’s more to it than just schoolwork. This one comes from Starbound developer Chucklefish and sets out to create a wholesome, slice-of-life vibe. Get your wands and broomsticks ready, as Witchbrook is another game about life in a magical school. It’s the basis for an exploration of the deep parts of the human psyche and an examination of how we perceive the world around us. Despite the imminent destruction, residents are refusing to leave, and Laura wants to know why. You play as writer Laura Tanner, who arrives in the sleepy resort town of Laburnum Creek as it’s set to be destroyed by a comet. Unusually for games, it’s described as a short story.

DredgeĬontent is often key in games, whether that comes as hours’ worth of exploration or endless replay value, but We Stay Behind has different ambitions. It’s set to make the jump in a few months when it hits full release, and it’s certainly one of the biggest indie games of 2023. Despite having been in early access for over a year, Darkest Dungeon II missed our earlier wrap-up of early access games because it’s not available on Steam just yet. There are also tweaks to the combat, the addition of overworld exploration, and heaps more for fans to sink their teeth into. This decision flows through to a comprehensive overhaul of the Affinity system, so managing relationships will be more granular - and more important - this time around.

One of the most impactful is that you now have a limited roster of heroes, meaning you can’t load your party with more than one character from each class. Darkest Dungeon II is bringing back the best of what its predecessor offered while also adding a few new wrinkles. In 2015, Darkest Dungeon offered up a unique spin on the dungeon-crawler genre, with its 2D, rank-based battle system.

Indie games like darkest dungeon