The Triple-i Initiative is the indie world's answer to a Nintendo Direct. Organized by Evil Empire, the French studio currently reviving Castlevania in 2D for Konami, the event has quietly become one of the most reliable sources for discovering games that will dominate your backlog six months from now. The third annual edition just wrapped, and while Castlevania: Belmont's Curse grabbed plenty of headlines with a new gameplay trailer, there were 14 other games putting in serious work.
Here's the lowdown on everything that caught attention at this year's event.
New games making their first real impression
Temtem: Pioneers is the first major new announcement worth flagging. Developer and publisher Crema is going back to the creature-collector well, but this time trading turn-based combat for real-time action and survival mechanics. Think Palworld's energy, not Pokemon's pacing.
Crop is the other big new reveal. Published by 11 Bit Studios (the Frostpunk team) and developed by Carbonara Games, it's a gritty farming sim where your character has been abducted and must farm their way to uncovering their captors. Stardew Valley with stakes, essentially.
Prove You're Human comes from Sunset Visitor, the studio behind 1000xResist, one of the stronger narrative games of 2024. Their follow-up is a sci-fi horror game where the central tension involves convincing an AI that it isn't human. Given how sharp their last game's writing was, this one deserves serious attention.
Too Deep To Quit is the wildcard. The co-op adventure game looks like Peak crossed with Legends of the Hidden Temple, complete with Indiana Jones-scale boulder chases and a mechanic where you produce viral clips for the algorithm while hunting treasure.
Sequels and follow-ups to games you already love
Don't Starve Elsewhere brings Klei Entertainment's survival franchise back with a full sequel. The Victorian wilderness aesthetic returns, and this time friends can tackle it together again.
Graveyard Keeper 2 was confirmed with a new trailer showing more graves and a bigger town to manage. No release date yet, but the timing of the announcement lines up with the original game being made free to claim on Steam, so there's never been a better time to catch up.
Existing favorites getting meaningful new content
CloverPit: Unholy Fusion dropped today alongside the free 1.4 update. Last year's slot machine horror survival game adds 30 unique charm fusions, new memory cards, modifiers, and trinkets to chase fresh builds with. This one's already available.
Brotato: Primal Dead adds mecha and mutant dinosaurs to the beloved top-down shooter, along with new weapons to take them down. Paid DLC, no release date confirmed yet.
Risk of Rain 2: Hallowed Concepts is the next DLC for the co-op loot shooter, bringing macabre-themed levels and additional gear. Also no release date yet, but the reveal confirms the game is still getting serious support.
Cairn: On the Trail is a free expansion for one of 2026's best games so far, arriving this summer with three new climbing areas including water soloing.
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CloverPit: Unholy Fusion is available right now. Cairn: On the Trail arrives free this summer. Windrose hits Steam Early Access on April 14.
Games with release windows you should actually mark down
Alabaster Dawn, the action-RPG from the makers of CrossCode, hits PC Early Access on May 7. The new trailer showed additional bosses and story content, and there was already a well-received demo last fall.
Neverway finally has a release window: October 2026 for PC and Switch. The pixel art is from the artist behind Celeste, the music comes from Disasterpeace (Fez, Hyper Light Drifter), and the gameplay is Zelda-like action-RPG. This one has been in the pipeline for a while and the wait looks justified.
Windrose is the most urgent one on the list. The pirate survival sim has been climbing Steam's Wishlist charts after its Next Fest breakout and is currently the eighth-most Wishlisted game on the platform. It hits Steam Early Access on April 14, which is next week.
The long game: one to wishlist now
Long Gone isn't arriving until 2027, but it's worth knowing about. A 3D puzzle-exploration game set in a suburban neighborhood long after a zombie outbreak, it uses a pixel art aesthetic that gives it a distinct look. Nothing to play yet, but it's the kind of game that benefits from years of anticipation.
Warhammer Survivors rounds out the list as the event's Vampire Survivors-like entry. The Warhammer-coded roguelite bullet heaven is coming to PC and console later this year, drawing from Games Workshop's sci-fi fantasy universe.
The Triple-i Initiative has now delivered three consecutive years of genuinely useful indie news, and this edition was no different. With Windrose dropping next week and Alabaster Dawn's Early Access just weeks away, the next stretch of the year is looking well-stocked. Check out the latest gaming news to stay across everything else coming down the pipeline. Make sure to check out more:
