March ‘26 is another stacked month of indie game releases, with a dizzying range of genres, scenarios, art styles, and gameplay to choose from. Wanna play as a ten-year-old boy killing time at the end of the world? Check. A fallen egg trying to wobble back to the nest? Check. A genderqueer knight errant in a war-torn 1300s Italy? This month, you can do all of these things and more. If you’d like to see the games in motion, check out the video version of this guide on my YouTube channel, and feel free to hit me up with tips for next month’s article via john at gaminginthewild dot com.
2nd: The Abbess Garden
If you’ve ever daydreamed of going back to simpler times to just work in a garden, back before the existence of nanoplastics, social media, and people watching TikTok on the bus with their phone speakers on, then this might be the game for you. You’ll be restoring a desolate abbey garden, identifying seeds, learning plant preferences, and minding the ever-shifting seasons, with not a notification in sight. It’s out on Steam on the 2nd.
3rd: Esoteric Ebb (Most Hyped Pick!)
There’s an odd, long cold war going on between ZA/UM and the various spinoff studios about who’ll claim the “Disco Elysium spiritual successor” mantle—but what if it’s none of them? Esoteric Ebb does a simply brilliant job of transplanting that addictive CRPG gameplay into a vibrant fantasy environment, complete with an amnesiac protagonist with voices in their head and the ability to die from a loss of morale during failed flirting. Experience all this and more on Steam on the 3rd of the month.
3rd: Legend of Khiimori
I’m a huge fan of games that focus on traversal as an end in itself, like Death Stranding’s post-apocalyptic hiking and Jusant and Cairn’s active climbing. The Legend of Khiimori is a horseback messenger simulation set in the Mongolian wilderness, complete with hunting and survival, route planning, side quests and more. It’s very rough around the edges, but hopefully this early access period, starting on Steam on March 3rd, will get it where it needs to be.
3rd: Eternal Afternoon
The pitch for this intriguing solo-dev project sold me in a second: play as a ten-year-old boy killing twenty minutes before the world ends. You can explore the neighbourhood, see what people are doing, and replay those twenty minutes to try and uncover the secrets of your neighbourhood before the darkness washes over everything. It’s on Steam only for now—and I maybe wouldn’t hold out for a console release on this one.
5th: Homura Hime
When I think of stylish character action games, they’re usually pretty murky — like DMC, Astral Chain, and Metal Gear Revengeance. Homura Hime bucks the trend with a bright anime art style. The action looks fun, with combos, air juggling, and specials, and there’s some hook shot platforming in there too. It’s Steam only for now, with a Switch 2 version in the pipeline.
5th: Ratcheteer DX
PlayDate is a cute and interesting little handheld games system — with a screen so dark and tiny that I’d rather play games on literally anything else. That being the case, I was happy to see Ratcheteer get a glorious “DX” port to Switch and Steam. It’s a pixel Metroidvania set on an iceball earth, and you have to do repairs to stop your colony from failing. And now, on Switch or Steam, with pixels you can actually see!
5th: Planet of Lana II
The first Planet of Lana game won a lot of fans with its lush Ghibli-inspired visuals and emotional story. While the animation is beautiful, it falls into the trap of being what I call “over-animated”, meaning the controls feel sluggish because of the many animation frames unfolding onscreen. So it’s not one for me, but I wanted to flag it here anyway for fans of the original—pick it up on Steam or Xbox on the 5th.
5th: Slay The Spire 2
I have hundreds of hours in Slay the Spire, and so I was over the moon to see we have a sequel coming. The push-and-pull card combat, in which you have to keep your defences up while doing enough damage, is endlessly compelling, and the many builds and modifiers paved the way for Balatro. This sequel, surprisingly, reuses three of the original characters, adding only two new ones. I hope there’s enough freshness in the mix to tempt me into its clutches again. It’s entering early access on Steam on the 5th.
10th: Mr Sleepy Man
If you happen to sit in the Venn diagram of people who enjoyed the chaotic, mischievous gameplay of Untitled Goose Game, with a penchant for emergent sandbox fun and classic 3D platformers, this game might be a bullseye. Go forth and cause chaos, and try to tire out your insomniac protagonist and get him, finally, to sleep. Play this one on Switch & PC from the 10th.
10th: Oeuf
Egg-based platformers are, apparently, like London buses. After the streamer rage-bait of Egging On hit Game Pass last year, Oeuf is a crunchier version from indie developer Increpare, promising chill collectathon bobbling about and tense jumps to reach the next checkpoint. Steam only for now.
12th: Roadout
If you were bummed that REPLACED got bumped into April, Roadout might help scratch that cyberpunk video game itch. It’s a top-down car combat and dungeons game — like a pixel demake of Mad Max, but with fewer leather-clad cannibals and more upgrade options. It’s a multi-platform release, so pick it up on Steam or the console of your choice.
12th: Rhell: Warped Worlds And Troubled Times
Another game offering an emergent good time, this colourful puzzler offers a set of 40 runes that the player can arrange in endless groups of five for mix-and-match magical outcomes. Every puzzle has multiple solutions, and as the developers say, if you can think of it, you might just be able to do it. It’s on PC only for now, but keep your eyes peeled for ports.
12th: 1348 Ex Voto
A handsome medieval adventure game set in 1300s Italy, 1348 Ex Voto brings to mind A Plague Tale — if Amicia was old enough to wield a sword, that is. With multiple stances inspired by real-life martial arts, the combat is aiming for a crunchy and realistic feel; the voice work for the non-binary protagonist Aeta (Alby Baldwin) and their dear Bianca (Jennifer English) is outstanding. Pick it up on PC, Xbox or PS5 on the 12th.
16th: Bonnie Bear Saves Frogtime
I fell in love with the demo of this one a few Next Fests ago, and I’m happy to see it finally releasing this March. It’s a colourful, charmingly silly adventure game in which Bonny Bear decides to take down a local bully by beating him at Frogtime — a strategic frog-battling sport that you’ll be trying to master. And you can put hats on your frogs, just saying. It’s coming to PC, Switch and Xbox on March 16th.
20th: Rubato
A lot of games on this list have proclaimed themselves to be chaotic in one way or another, but few are as overtly chaotic as Rubato. It’s an experimental physics-based platformer in which our solar system has gone wrong after some kind of cosmic pool game. Playing as a long-tongued frog, it’s our job to set things right. The trailer shows a dizzying range of WarioWare-adjacent mini-games, so expect the unexpected when it hops onto Steam on the 20th.
26th: Screamer
This anime racing game promises over-the-top high-speed action and a mysterious story about an underground street racing tournament. You’ll face off against various teams who are entering, including an ex-military faction, a bunch of pop stars turned “screamers”, and some out-of-work astronauts turned racers. Expect plenty of anime melodrama and some twists and turns in both the tracks and the story. It’s coming to PC, Xbox and PS5 on the 26th.
31st: GRIME II
A Souls-like Metroidvania sequel set in a dark fantasy world, this one promises challenging combat, environmental hazards that can be employed to kill opponents (or by opponents to kill you), and the ability to absorb enemies to harness their powers. It looks like a crunchy, murky, grimdark good time, with a lot of H. P. Lovecraft energy. It’s PC only for now, but expect ports later.
31st: Aether & Iron
A stylish choice-based point-and-click set in a flying steampunk realm, Aether and Iron has a slick film-noir style, complete with trenchcoats and tommy guns, great voice acting, and a compelling art-deco style. As well as doing your private eye business, you’ll get embroiled in tactical car combat, too. So if that sounds like your kind of thing, “don’t let life pass you by, kid.” Steam(punk) only, for now.
31st: Raccoin: Coin Pusher Roguelike (Most Hyped Pick!)
If you ever went to the seaside as a kid, I’m sure you’re familiar with coin-pushing machines. Raccoin uses this retro phenomenon as the vehicle for an addictive roguelike, with quickly escalating targets to hit — just like the inimitable Balatro, with which it shares a publisher. You can also rack up a collection of magnetic, exploding, and giant coins and an array of wild abilities like summoning a UFO or a black hole to suck up every coin in sight—just like the demo sucked up five hours (and counting) of my evening game time. It’s a Steam-only release — for now.
