Started playing a few indie titles on PC, or at least titles that I would not normally be able to find without digging a bit (Sea of Stars, Hollow Knight, Garden Story, etc). Finding games that are made by smaller studios is a little (not much, but a little) harder than finding “Top Sellers” on Steam. I have tried Steam’s “niche” Recommender, which has helped find some cool titles.
However, I am wondering if there is something that would be equivalent to what E3 was, but for Indie titles? Either some online showcase that doesn’t rely on the Steam Curator system, or even something hosted in person with actual demos like E3. Does anything like this exist?
EDIT: Thank you for the answers! Steam Next Fest, the YouTubers listed below (thank you again!), gamescom, and itch.io all work great for what I was looking for.
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Steam does a next fest pretty regularly now to showcase indie games
I had no idea that was what it was. I just looked at February’s Next Fest, and it is awesome. Thanks for the recommendation!
Steam Next Fest. SkillUp tends to do pretty good rundowns of his favorites. Below is his latest in one.
I am glad I finally know what the Steam Next Fest actually is. Thank you!
Youtube channel “Second Wind” has excellent indie game coverage.
They do “Bytesized” for short reviews of new games. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUBKwq0XD0uesOmUb2GTsc6rVp0mILcOY&si=lB8ZOIy3hraaMyG6
Also they have “Hidden Gem” where they stream an older indie game that went under their radar.
Plus most of their other stuff is pretty on the indie pulse.
I just go to itch.io usually and play new games there. Might not be what you’re looking for, but as far as indie titles go, I find a lot of weird ideas on there.
By far some of the most interesting and bizarre games I have ever seen. Thanks!
I tend to watch Clemmy Games to see what indie games are coming up. There are a lot of duds, but then you come across a diamond in the rough. Clemmy does a great job for me, releasing videos almost every day and I would recommend giving the channel a go!
Thank you! The hardest part for me was finding a consolidated source of upcoming ones, and this fits that need well.
For weird/horror games I follow alpha beta gamer on YouTube, so my suggestion is finding a YouTuber focused on indie games you like. As another user wrote you can browse itch.io featured page to find some hidden gems.
Not exactly what you’re asking for but you can check out Wanderbots on youtube dude plays almost exclusively indie games. Don’t expecte play throughs almost never finishes the games but it’s not a bad way find niche games.
Thank you! I appreciate watching the beginning of a game anyways, that way I can experience the rest if it looks interesting. Definitely has a TON of playthroughs.
or even something hosted in person with actual demos like E3. Does anything like this exist?
The GamesCom in Germany always hosts the Indie Arena Booth, which has tons of indie devs densely packed in tiny booths, where you can play demos.
Since the pandemic, they’ve also had an online offering, where during the GamesCom, you can explore a virtual space with virtual booths, which will then also link to playable demos that you can download from Steam.
I wish they had something for the US, but I am glad they hook it up virtually now. Thank you!
