Best Indie Games, January 2025

With February in full swing, and a stacked line-up of heavy hitters from Avowed and Monster Hunter Wilds to Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, I wanted to reflect on what a quietly great month for indies January turned out to be.

We had everything from psychedelic poetry to unnerving, PSX-styled horror typing games and noir detective mysteries. It was a varied month with some incredible games that, as 2025 marches on, we shouldn’t forget. Once things quieten down, these indies deserve a spot on your backlog.

Dead Letter Dept.

I’m already certain I’ve found 2025’s Mouthwashing (which swept up a bunch of awards at TheGamer Aces). This old-school horror game has you stumbling down grimy apartment corridors to reach your dead-end office job where you transcribe the post that AI can’t read.

The liminal, ominously empty spaces reminiscent of the backrooms, and night vision-like fuzz obscuring the screen, combined with the voyeuristic feel as the mail reaches out to you directly, turns an educational typing game into a haunting back-and-forth with an unseen watcher. It’s a surreal experience I don’t want to spoil — go get typing.

Dreamcore

Speaking of the backrooms, Dreamcore embodies them like no other game I’ve ever played. Every level is a labyrinth of empty liminal spaces, like an unending suburbia, with the only goal being to get out.

The horror is in the hazy, dream-like mazes that you have to puzzle through, rather than cheap jump scares or ungainly monsters. It’s at times frustrating, as the core gameplay loop is that you get lost in a twisted visage of normalcy, but the unnerving vibes make stumbling through the dark to find an escape worth every second.

A Butterfly

This is the shortest, cheapest indie on the list, at just 89p and lasting less than an hour. From developer alienmelon, who you might know from Everything is going to be OK and Tetrageddon Games, comes A Butterfly.

It’s a beautiful if haunting poem about mourning told through the visual, interactive medium of games, where you — a butterfly — fly through a graveyard of enormous giants stretching their hands out into the sky, interspersed with retro Windows XP-style pop-ups. All of which is narrated by a crackling, disembodied voice.

Honourable Mentions: Tails Of Iron 2, Citizen Sleeper 2, Butcher’s Creek, Beyond Citadel

Cat Detective Albert Wilde

I was sold on Cat Detective Albert Wilde from the moment I saw just one screenshot — a cat, in black-and-white, framed 4:3, driving a car in what is clearly a Hitchcock-inspired shot.

The game didn’t disappoint, with its meta self-referential gags poking fun at the Telltale and point & click-style detective games it so earnestly apes, with a charming cast of animal characters. It’s Blacksad with a sprinkle of Bojack Horseman.

Helskate

After a year, Helskate has finally ollied out of early access. If you’ve not heard of this brilliant little indie, it’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater meets Hades, in which completing levels requires scoring points, while also dispatching the abominations of the underworld.

It’s not as in-depth mechanically as many of its inspirations and still feels like it might belong in early access, but if you’re a fan of skating and monster-slaying, it more than scratches both itches.

Cruel

We’re capping off this list of January gems with a boomer shooter. I’m nothing if not predictable. If Dead Letter Dept. is 2025’s Mouthwashing, then Cruel is 2025’s Mullet MadJack.

A raging fire is hot on your heels the entire time you play. If you stop for too long, you’ll get swept up in the inferno, so momentum is key — much like how in Mullet MadJack you must press forward and kill enemies to bolster the timer. However, the core gameplay loop is a little different. Rather than climbing towers, you collect soda to feed to a dog, which nets you cards that increase your mag size, slow the fire, etc.

The filthy, simplistic apartment backdrop and grizzly, Quake-like designs, with punchy weapons and a constant gush of blood, make this a nostalgic callback to the FPS golden age. But the rapid-fire pace gives it a unique edge. Each level is like a TikTok… wait, wait. Hear me out. Cruel and Mullet MadJack aren’t ‘boomer’ shooters, they’re zoomer shooters. Ey? Anyway, go play Cruel (and every other game on this list).

Steam

Brand

Valve

Original Release Date

September 12, 2003

Original MSRP (USD)

N/A