Not-a-review: 5 Interesting Indies For the End of September
September 2025 has been an interesting month for indie games. Apparently there was some sort of hotly-anticipated release which dropped with short notice at the start of the month, but here at IndieLoupe we’ve had a keen eye on a few of September’s more modest titles: those which might’ve been somewhat overshadowed. From last week’s release, Henry Halfhead, to my unexpected personal favourite game of the month, Heroes of the Seven Islands (review coming next week!), there’s – as always – been a tonne of games worth looking at.
Today we’re bringing you some that came out in the last few days: three of those delayed their release for… reasons, and three of them are Early Access titles (there’s one title that falls into both categories), but all five have been sitting on IndieLoupe.com’s radar for some time, and all of them are – we think – worthy of a little look.
N.B.: This article was originally written as a video, which can be found at the bottom of this page.
Image: Toukana Interactive / kurzgesagt
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Developer: Toukana Interactive
Publisher: Toukana Interactive, kurzgesagt
Release: 2026 (Early Access: 10 September 2025)
Early Access Price (Steam): 19,99€/$19.99/£16.75
Star Birds is a collaboration between two Germany-based companies with bird mascots: developers Toukana Interactive and… that YouTube channel with the difficult-to-pronounce name. It’s been out (in early access) for a little while longer than the other games on today’s list, the rest of which arrived on Steam at some point this week. Toukana’s previous game, Dorfromantik, was, to be honest, not my cup of tea: it was supposed to be a chill and relaxing experience, but I always found it weirdly stressful trying to ensure I put my tiles in the best place possible.
Astroid-mining simulator Star Birds feels a lot more in my lane, and though it currently boasts significantly less content than it aims to have when its full release rolls around, about a year from now, there already seems to be a fair amount to get your teeth – or beak – sunk into. Players are tasked with gathering valuable minerals from increasingly-complex asteroids and completing missions to upgrade their space stations. There’s something that looks inherently satisfying about building bases on a tiny sphere, spinning your asteroid around once you’ve filled it to the brim with factories, pipes, and industry. My early impressions are that it’s more of a puzzle game than a vast base-builder akin to the likes of Factorio or Satisfactory, and, to be honest, that makes me a lot more excited for it once its 1.0 release in 2026.
Image: Pixelsplit / Sidekick Publishing
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Developer: Pixelsplit
Publisher: Sidekick Publishing
Release: 2026 (Early Access: 22 September 2025)
Early Access Price (Steam): 14,99€/$14.99/£12.99
I played a healthy chunk of Pixelsplit’s Deadly Days, a zombie-slaying roguelike where you’d drive your busload of uninfected little pixel-people to various locations, looking for other survivors and useful weapons, tools and resources to haul back to your gated safehouse. You’d level everything up over the course of your playthrough and, once suitably prepared, ending the apocalypse for good.
Its spin-off, Deadly Days: Roadtrip, marks – quite literally – a departure from that: instead of returning to your base at the end of each excursion, this time you’re travelling across a procedurally-generated land as a lone survivor, dealing with zombies in ways that appear a hell of a lot more animated than in the previous game, more akin to a Survivors-like than the comparatively tame original. It’s also had a 2.5D facelift, with the environments looking far crisper than in its predecessor, and further mechanical changes, including an inventory management system as a key component of the game’s strategy.
It’s one of those that’s currently in early access – at the moment it has five playable characters, but upon its full release next year intends to have more of everything: from those playable characters to additional items, maps, bosses, and more.
Image: Cuzzillo, Foddy & Boch / Devolver Digital
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Developers: Gabe Cuzzillo, Bennett Foddy & Maxi Boch
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Release: 22 September 2025
Retail Price (Steam): 19,99€/$19.99/£16.99
The same team behind 2019’s Ape Out – Gabe Cuzzillo, Maxi Boch and Bennett Foddy – returned this week with their newest title, Baby Steps. Without detracting from the work they all do, one of those names is probably more well-recognised than the others, and Baby Steps, on the surface, feels significantly closer to Getting Over it with Bennett Foddy and Foddy’s earlier title, QWOP, than a top-down gorilla-based smash-’em-up.
Baby Steps is the next step (ha) on that evolution, from awkward physics-based side-scroller where you try to run in a straight line, to awkward physics-based side-scroller where you try to climb a mountain, to awkward, physics-based walking simulator where you try to climb a mountain. Here, you’re controlling your movement with what can only be described as too much precision, independently managing each leg with a different thumbstick.
A parody of open-world triple-A titles, it comes complete with fully-VA’d (and fully-improvised) cutscenes, voiced exclusively by – from what I gather – the game’s developers. Other key features include a fully dynamic onesie soilage system, which the developers are, understandably, very proud of.
It’s perhaps the best-known of the games on the list, and probably one of those where you can tell immediately whether it’s going to be your sort of thing or not.
Image: moi rai games / offbrand games
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Developer: moi rai games
Publisher: offbrand games
Release: 2026 (Early Access: 23 September 2025)
Early Access Price (Steam): 21,99€/$21.99/£18.48
From the game I’ve heard the most about to the one I’d heard least about; Aethermancer also arrived on the 23rd. The final of three early-access titles, moi rai are readopting their tried-and-tested formula of taking monster taming and adding it to another genre: they described their previous game, Monster Sanctuary, as “monster taming meets metroidvania,” and now it’s the turn of the ever-present roguelite.
While I know that game has its fans, in terms of art and appearance, my humble opinion is that this one looks infinitely better, with a much more unique style in place of the more generic pixel art that Monster Sanctuary offered. Of the games covered today, this is also probably the most complex in terms of concept: it’s a little more difficult to provide a succinct explanation of Aethermancer, but, simplified, it’s a party based RPG where your characters are monsters you’ve caught during your playthrough.
Of the three early-access titles I’d say this one is currently the most fleshed-out, though that’s not to say the developers don’t intend to add a lot more. According to them, right now it’s the cheapest it’ll ever be (sales excluded,), with a couple of price increases planned between now and its 1.0 release as more content is added. From the brief amount I’ve played of the demo that’s currently available I’m already quite impressed, so with some valuable community feedback and further additions, it looks like it could shape out to be something quite special. Perhaps one that’s worth picking up early, and I’ll be sure to keep an eye on it.
Image: Panik Arcade / Future Friends Games
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Developer: Toukana Interactive
Publisher: Toukana Interactive, kurzgesagt
Release: 26 September 2025
Early Access Price (Steam): 8,99€/$19.99/£16.75
The final game came out, well, today, if you’re reading this on the day it was published. My first impressions of CloverPit were that it looked like Luck Be A Landlord with the grunge of a Mike Klubnika game, and it turns out its developers would probably agree with me, as they describe it as “the demonic lovechild” of Balatro – a game inspired by Luck be a Landlord – and Klubnika’s Buckshot Roulette.
Again, it’s one whose demo I dabbled in, and I can definitely see the inspiration from both games they’ve mentioned, but it’s also distinct enough from either that it does feel fresh where, at least to me, many other Balatro-inspired games don’t. I could see this one being a huge time sink for anyone who does pick it up, because what something as addictive as Balatro really needed was a slot machine thrown into the mix.
For those who’ve heard me talk about Balatro before: if you’re wondering, I’ve continued to avoid it out of fear of getting hooked, and – in the nicest way possible – CloverPit might be another one I need to steer clear of if I want to have time for anything else. Whether the slot machine mechanic will allow for quite as much variation remains to be seen – perhaps it might struggle to make runs feel unique in the long-term, but my instincts are that there’s a lot to see here before you’d need to hop to another game.
Image: IndieLoupe.com
I mentioned that developers of these games are working together to promote one another, and I think each has their merits: it’s not easy to pick a favourite here. At the time of publication all five are available as a bundle – while it’s active, it can be found here, in case you need an excuse to flesh out your Steam library with this quintuple of games, for pretty much the same price as you’d pay for a decent – or perhaps a not-so-decent – AAA title. That bundle will only remain a thing until the 29th September, so you’re in luck if you’re watching this before then but if not, hopefully there’s a game or two there that still might be of interest.
