10 picks from gamescom to wishlist today

Hey folks! Hope your week is going well.

I am just about recovered from gamescom (and PokémonXP, then gamescom again!) after spending a couple of days with my family back in the UK, but there's no rest for the wicked! I'm heading straight to Seattle to attend PAX West. If you're going to the show, you can find me at The MIX and on the show floor checking out the indies for future issues of LFG. I'll also be hosting The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Songs of the Past panel on Sunday at 2 PM PT in the Main Theatre. Come on by, it's going to be a fun time.

I'll be publishing some hands-on impressions of the wonderful games I got to play at gamescom over the next couple of weeks, but to kick off my coverage, I thought I'd do a quick rundown of all the titles that caught my eye across Opening Night Live, gamescom Awesome Indies, and the Future Games Show at gamescom 2026. There were originally many, many more than just 10, but hey, that just gives me an excuse to write about them in the future.

Here are 10 awesome indie games from the gamescom showcases to keep an eye on!

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Opening Night Live

The week kicked off with Opening Night Live hosted by Geoff Keighley (hey, I know that guy!) and Sjokz, with Kyle Bosman hosting the pre-show. Along with fresh looks at Final Fantasy VII Revelation, Ontos, and Silent Hill: Townfall, we got the reveal of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered (I am ready to spend 150 hours+ with Geralt all over again), LEGO Skylines, and many, many others. Here are the ones that I immediately popped onto my ever-growing wishlist.

Acornia: Mirror Worlds

Acornia: Mirror Worlds is the follow up to 2022's Pikmin-like tinykin, which I absolutely adored. There was something about the movement in that game that felt so dang good that I hold it as the gold standard* in slipping and sliding about. I'm hoping Acornia will have the same smooth bopping around as we traverse dimensions as a squirrel who runs a dessert shop by day and dungeon crawls by night. A similar genre mash up worked incredibly well for Cult of the Lamb, so I can't wait to see how this all comes together.

*Giant Bomb fans will remember that tinykin was named as having the "Best Running Around" in 2022's awards, a category I think we made up solely for the game.

Lofsöng

An exploration puzzle game that will likely earn countless comparisons to Journey, Lofsöng's trailer caught my eye, or should I say my ear, for its beautiful melancholic soundtrack. On top of its sumptuous visuals, sound plays an incredibly important role in the game and will be one of the key ways you interact with the ruins of what was once Earth, as you try and unravel its mysteries.

I'm particularly keen on the line "layers of mysteries and out-of-order clues that reward curiosity and close attention" on the game's Steam page: it's like someone saying all of my favorite words in one sentence. I'll be sure to have my notebook at the ready.

There Are No Ghosts At The Grand

I've been waiting for this one to pop back up ever since it was revealed at last year's Xbox Summer showcase.

By day, it's a cozy renovation game: you've inherited a crumbling English hotel and you need to fix it up so it's ship shape again. By night, well, let's just say, there may be something lurking at The Grand. As an Englishwoman who loves a renovation TV show and is often feeling a little homesick for the eccentricities of the UK, I'm packing up my suitcase and making for the hotel as soon as I can.

There Are No Ghosts at the Grand has a little bit of everything (Renovations! Ghosts! Puzzles! Mysteries! Musical numbers! Billy Boyd!) and it's launching into Early Access at the end of the year. There'll be more on this one from LFG very soon...

gamescom Awesome Indies

Next up, gamescom Awesome Indies! I love the way they showcased a bunch of trailers and announcements with hands-on impressions and developer interviews. It's why I love Day of the Devs so much, and I was super happy to see the format done here too. More of this, please!

GLASSHOUSE

I wish I had more time with the Glasshouse demo.

Even from my scant 30 minutes with it, it was clear that there was so much more to explore and dig my teeth into. Hell, I'd only just found the murder victims at the center of its story! A CRPG with turn-based combat that sees you sniping at your opponent with words and ideological barbs just as much as with weapons and fists, Glasshouse is looking incredibly promising already.

Inkblood

It's a great time to be a fan of detective games, and there looks to be a very exciting one on the horizon, particularly if, like me, you like a game that's got a smack of grime to it.

Inkblood from Hey Bird! and Critical Reflex has you play as an Inquisitor hot on the heels of a murderous cult, investigating crime scenes from the safety of your carriage. With a (Inquisition-issue?) magnifying glass that can peer into the past at your disposal, it's up to you to take pictures of pertinent evidence, track down the cult, and figure out just what happened to your predecessor. Inkblood is creepy and grimey and clever in equal measure, and I cannot wait to play more.

4:AM

As someone who spends the vast majority of her time indoors, light being lethal is a joke my friends definitely use to mock me (with love), so I am intrigued that light is the thing to avoid in this game.

I originally mistook 4:AM for being too much of a Limbo or Inside-like: a creepy platformer with light puzzles, but the introduction of the N.O.D.E. which allows you to copy and paste objects in the environment, and the claim that not every puzzle has a "correct" solution is certainly firing the ImSim-loving problem-solving part of my brain.

Cairn - On the Trail

Technically cheating as this is a DLC (is this cheating? I make the rules here), but Cairn is a phenomenal game and I'm so excited to return to it.

In On the Trail: Deep Water, the first of three free DLCs, there are new climbing spots to ascend and now you can even play as Marco, whose climbing style differs greatly to the main character, Aava.

If you haven't played Cairn yet, I really encourage you to do so. It's a difficult, yet powerful, journey: a story about grit and perseverance, and it's one of those games I keep thinking of, long after I reached its summit.

Future Games Show at gamescom 2026

The Future Games Show was absolutely packed with news and excellent picks (as per usual), and it was hosted by the lovely pair Nick Apostolides and Angela Sant'Albano!

Hillthorn

Publisher Raw Fury (Esoteric Ebb, Blue Prince, The Séance of Blake Manor) has been on an absolute tear recently, and they don't look to be slowing down after picking up Hillthorn.

A child has gone missing and the locals are... not exactly aiding you in your investigation. Pull at threads, combine clue cards, and get to the bottom of the mystery as quickly as you can: each action takes time, and time is not on your side. I'm downloading the demo for this one as I type.

MR. RECORDS

MR. RECORDS is a joyful game about music, with a soundtrack that's made by the development team themselves. George runs a record store by day, but by night, he listens to his favorite vinyl records and gets transported into rhythm-action sequences where he jumps, slides, and bops to the boogie in worlds inspired by the songs he's listening to.

I played MR. RECORDS back at Summer Game Fest Play Days and had a wonderful time. The gameplay loop was compelling, and the game wears its love for music proudly on its sleeve. It also features the best Beatles song that's not by The Beatles: there I said it.

Breakaway Hockey League

I'm not usually one for sports games, but I am very much one for games like Rocket League and Lúcioball in Overwatch, i.e., the ones that leave the sports, but take away the finicky simulation part. They're simple to control, tricky to master, and crucially, full of sweaty controller and punch the air moments.

Breakaway Hockey League is Raccoon Logic 's (Journey to the Savage Planet) go at bringing hockey back to PC gamers, with quick, five-minute 4-v-4 rounds that don't rely on simulations, just skill.

Thanks so much for reading!! I'll be back in a couple of days with my hands-on impressions from gamescom! Catch you then.