Indieventure

• #31. Our most anticipated indie games of 2025

  Happy New Year, Indieventurers! It's 2025 and there are so many flavours of existential dread tied up in that particular statement that we have no choice but to distract ourselves for at least a couple of hours a day with lovely video games – or (we hope you make this choice, at least) with podcasts about video games! While there's a lot of uncertainty ahead, one thing we can be reasonably sure of is that there are some absolute bangers due to make their debut on the indie gaming scene this year – although as ever, we 100% support devs who put their own wellbeing first, which is why there's absolutely no hard feelings if any of the games on this list get pushed into 2026 and beyond. Settle in as we rhapsodise on the upcoming merits of Blue Prince, Citizen Sleeper 2, Demonschool, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, Metropolis 1998, Monster Prom 4: Monster Con, Morsels, Paralives (complete with bonus chat about fellow upcoming indie life sims Vivaland and Alterlife), Promise Mascot Agency, Skate Story, Strange Antiquities, Streets of Rogue 2, Tiny Bookshop, and Wanderstop. Because it's our first episode after our long Christmas break, everyone brought along a double helping of hyperfixations this week! Rebecca recommends going into zombie horror-comedy movie One Cut of the Dead knowing as little as possible, and going into Waterstone's book of the year Butter by Asako Yuzuki knowing a bit more than what's printed on the cover. Rachel is, naturally, hooked on The Traitors Season 3 (but not The Traitors Australia Season 2, thankyouverymuch) and the second season of Severance. Liam recommends checking out indie rocker Blondshell if you haven't already, and also thinks that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle might be the greatest triple-A game in years – which draws out a surprising consensus across the whole group. Our music was written and performed by Ollie Newbury! Find him on Instagram at @newbsmusic. Meanwhile, you can find us at indieventurepodcast.co.uk or wherever you listen to podcasts, and don’t forget that you can now join our dedicated Discord too!

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• EXTRA: The reality of covering indie games with Reviews Editor Ed Thorn

  This episode of Indieventure Extra is a long-awaited reunion between Liam and Ed Thorn, reviews editor at PC-focused website Rock Paper Shotgun (we've never heard of it). Ed discusses his history with games, how he became a games journalist and the challenges of balancing indie game coverage alongside more financially stable AAA content. The pair also chat about what makes a good video game review, Ed reveals his favourite indie from 2024, and there is a 5-minute section where the phrase "Beast Mode" is uttered about 45 times. It makes sense in context. Sort of. You can find Ed's good words over at Rock Paper Shotgun. Here are the Redfall and Sonic Frontiers videos mentioned in the episode. Inventory Space only lasted two episodes, but it's still worth a watch. Enjoy! Our music was written and performed by Ollie Newbury! Find him on Instagram at @newbsmusic. Meanwhile, you can find us at indieventurepodcast.co.uk or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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• #30. The Best Indie Games Of 2024

  As 2024 draws to an end, the Indieventure trio return to discuss their favourite indie games of the last 12 months. That's right, folks, it's time for our annual Game Of The Year episode! We won't spoil which games we chat about here in the description (you can find that over on our website if you're the type of person who hunts around the house looking for their Christmas presents in mid-November like a wrong 'un) but what we can say is that although we each brought along a personal list of our five favourites, we only ended up discussing 13 due to a couple of overlaps. As always we end with our hyperfixations. Liam's been playing the MySims-inspired city builder Go-Go Town! Rebecca has been rethinking her relationship with attention, and is doing something every day that makes her happy (we have no choice but to stan). Meanwhile, Rachel was put on the spot and decided to dream about the upcoming (when we recorded, anyway) open-world fashion adventure Infinity Nikki. A reminder! After this episode, we're taking a short break to drink a few buckets of gravy and have a nice long nap, but we'll be back on the 23rd of January 2025 with our usual nonsense. Thanks once again for all your support this year, we hope you have a lovely Christmas, happy holidays, or a peaceful winter break! Our music was written and performed by Ollie Newbury! Find him on Instagram at @newbsmusic. Meanwhile, you can find us at indieventurepodcast.co.uk or wherever you listen to podcasts, and don’t forget that you can join our dedicated Discord too!  

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• #29. Was 2024 a great year for indie games?

  Christmas is almost upon us, and before we ring in the New Year with our GOTY picks, it's time for us here at the Indieventure podcast to pour ourselves a generous glug of mulled wine and reflect on the year as a whole as it pertains to indie games. Has it been a good year for indies? How did it stack up against previous years – especially the wall-to-wall hit machine that was 2023? And, putting personal preferences aside (because we'll be digging into that in-depth in our next episode, don't worry) what have been the biggest indie games of the year? Naturally expect Balatro, 1000xRESIST, Hades 2, and Pacific Drive to get a lot of airtime in this one, as well as Silksong (still conspicuous in its absence as we head into 2025). We also look back over our most-anticipated games from the start of the year, checking in with what came out, what got delayed, and what landed unexpectedly (or not) from a list that included Anger Foot, Creepshow, Crow Country, Demonschool, Europa, Loco Motive, Lost Records, The Mermaid Mask (née The Mermaid's Tongue), Rise of the Golden Idol, Sucker for Love 2, Synergy, Thank Goodness You're Here!, and Tiny Bookshop. And then – just in case you thought we were going to be if anything a bit too sensible in this one – an old friend returns to deliver a self-indulgent quiz! There's really no point in outlining the premise here, just trust us when we say that it has to be heard to be believed. We end, as always, with our current hyperfixations! Rebecca has been defying gravity thanks to the Wicked movie, Rachel has been reading a stack of queer fiction (specifically Julia Armfield's Salt Slow, Eliza Clark's She's Always Hungry and Rachel Yoder's Nightbitch), while Liam has turned his attention to the skies - and the places it leads - with Mark Vanhoenacker's Imagine A City. Our music was written and performed by Ollie Newbury! Find him on Instagram at @newbsmusic. Meanwhile, you can find us at indieventurepodcast.co.uk or wherever you listen to podcasts, and don’t forget that you can now join our dedicated Discord too!

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• EXTRA: Chatting about PlayStation indies with Oscar Taylor-Kent

  It’s time for another Indieventure EXTRA, our bonus series where we interview key members of the games industry. We’re pretty PC-focused on Indieventure so in this episode, Rachel has a chat with Oscar Taylor-Kent about PlayStation indies. Oscar is the Games Editor at GamesRadar+ and previous editor of PLAY Magazine and Official PlayStation Magazine so he’s the perfect person to discuss this topic with. Have a listen if you’d like to hear us both take a trip down memory lane and have a gab about Sony’s history with indie games. You can find Oscar and his work on Twitter, BlueSky, and his GamesRadar+ profile.  Enjoy~ Our music was written and performed by Ollie Newbury! Find him on Instagram at @newbsmusic. Meanwhile, you can find us at indieventurepodcast.co.uk or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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