Literally hundreds of upcoming games got their time to shine during this year’s Summer Game Fest, which officially included both its namesake live show and 15 other online presentations, and which ran from 3 to 9 June.

You could watch every stream, or read an “Everything announced” recap for every showcase. Here, though, you’ll find a focus on interesting independent games from across the globe that received screen time during the period. There’s also our sister piece on the Xbox Games Showcase, which includes mention of big names like Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.

Crisol: Theater of Idols

In June last year, it was revealed that film production company Blumhouse, which is known for horror movies like Paranormal Activity, The Purge and more recent hits The Black Phone and Five Nights at Freddy’s, was starting up a games division to publish horror titles from indie developers. While this announcement was paired with a glimpse of Crisol: Theater of Idols, it took this year’s Future Games Show to provide a closer look at this visually striking first-person horror/action game from Spanish developers Vermila Studios.

Coming across as Resident Evil meets Lies of P, you play as soldier Gabriel, who must explore the island of Tormentosa in a twisted Steampunk reimagining of Spain. The game fuses historical events, folklore, and religious undertones (those reanimated saint statues!), and features a disturbing mechanic where your blood charges up and provides ammunition for weapons, but with an obvious cost to your vitality.

Crisol: Theater of Idols is coming to PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series consoles later in 2025.

Colorbound

Latin and South America enjoys a particularly vibrant game development scene, as revealed by their most recent regional showcase. Every genre, from survival horror to deckbuilder and metroidvania features, but it’s a puzzle platformer that excites us most.

From Chilean Panpipe Studio, and Whitethorn Games, Colorbound is a puzzle platformer that drops the player onto a canvas and tasks them with collecting and using colours to traverse each level. For example, match an obstacle’s colour to the background and it vanishes. Colorbound has a story too, as you strive to give your musician grandfather a worthy send-off by reigniting the passion of his old band. Aesthetically and aurally, the game draws inspiration from the Aymara culture of the Andes.

Colorbound is coming to PC “soon.”

Relooted

Popping up during Day of the Devs with an announcement trailer, Relooted is the second game from South African developers Nyamakop – who previously made the hella smart puzzle platformer Semblance.

This time, in Relooted, players are staging heists in an Afrofuturist setting, with a very enticing and subversive narrative hook: you’re planning, recruiting a crew, and then unleashing your impressive parkour abilities in a race against the clock to retrieve 70 African artifacts (all of which exist in real life) from the Western museums locking them away. Here are Africans using their resourcefulness to take back what’s theirs in what’s basically a reverse Tomb Raider.

Relooted is coming soon to Steam, the Epic Games Store, and Xbox Series X|S.

All Will Rise

Speaking of subversion, All Will Rise is a card battler with a difference. Despite appearing during Wholesome Direct, which celebrates cosy, feel-good games, All Will Rise comes with some serious edge, courtesy of Netherlands-based studio Speculative Agency.

Because this is a narrative courtroom deck-builder, where the fights are conversations. You’ll have to strategically choose between charm, persuasion, manipulation and intimidation to make your point; this as your lawyer stands up for environmental rights against a corrupt billionaire in the fictional Southeast Asian city of Muziris. Meanwhile, outside the courtroom, your sensitive (or not) handling of your team and witnesses will shape your rhetoric options and the overarching story.

All Will Rise is getting a Kickstarter campaign but is also already listed on Steam for PC.

All Will Rise wasn’t the only anti-authoritarian game to emerge during Summer Game Fest. Ministry of Order, which featured in the Women-Led Games Showcase, has players matching the muddled records of babies and parents in totalitarian regime, with the potential to follow mysterious leads and stir up revolution. Compensation Not Guaranteed is a dark, satirical look at Southeast Asian bureaucracy as you assume the role of a post-colonial government official approving or denying citizens’ applications in the vein of Papers, Please. Finally, there’s party game Eat the Rich, a reality TV show parody which combines mini games and Among Us player voting as billionaires feud and fight for their lives.

Out of Words

Finally, on a more cheerful note, the success of Split Fiction earlier this year has revealed a hunger for co-operative adventures (instead of multiplayer squad shooters) where paired players can share the often stressful experience. Summer Game Fest revealed that digital escape room puzzler Escape Academy is getting an open-world sequel for PC, and colourful LEGO VOYAGERS, combining platforming and building, is coming to all consoles and PC – with both games currently lacking release dates. The same goes for Haunted Paws, where gamers play two puppies, who must explore and solve spooky mysteries to find their owners.

The co-op adventure that stood out from the pack, though, is Out of Words. Made in conjunction with Danish poet Morten Søndergaard, developed by Wired Fly and Kong Orange, and published by Epic Games, Out of Words is uniquely hand-crafted, featuring puppets and stop-motion animation to bring its tale to life. That story? Just as Kurt and Karla find their feelings evolving beyond friendship, the young couple lose their voices and are plunged into a topsy-turvy wonderland that reflects the confusion of first love. Expect platforming that defies physics and demands player collaboration.

Out of Words can be played online or as couch co-op, and, like Split Fiction, will feature a Friend Pass where only one copy of the game is needed. It’s planned for 2026 release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via the Epic Games Store.