April is here, bringing with it a bounty of brand new indie games to get excited about. It’s a stacked month, as always — the 16th alone sees four promising titles dropping on the very same day. I hope this guide will help you decide what to play and maybe put a few new titles on your radar. Check out the video version here to see the games in motion, and hit me up at john at gaminginthewild dot com if you have a tip for next month’s list.
April 2nd: Cursed Words (Steam)
Fans of word games and Balatro-likes, take note — Cursed Words might just be your new favourite game. It’s a Scrabble-based roguelike in which you’re given a grid of letters and a target score to hit, and then between rounds you start powering up tiles — doubling scores, adding multipliers, discovering synergies, and gradually building a satisfying point-generating machine. The initial release doesn’t have controller support, which seems wild in the age of the Steam Deck — so the fun is confined to your desk for now.
April 2nd: Fishbowl (PlayStation, Steam)
Also launching on the 2nd is Fishbowl, a cosy visual novel-style game that tackles some surprisingly heavy themes. You play as Alo, a video editor navigating a familiar-sounding global upheaval that means she’s housebound, along with everyone else. Suddenly stuck at home, she has to balance remote work, home life, and the loss of her grandmother via a series of narrative beats and mini-games, from organising video timelines to taking calls to sorting through old belongings. It’s an intimate tale, with some surreal touches.
April 7th: People of Note (PlayStation, Steam, Switch 2, Xbox)
In this third-person musical RPG you play as Cadence, an aspiring singer building a band as she journeys across a musical kingdom. The world looks vibrant and varied, with different regions tied to distinct musical genres, and the turn-based combat plays out through musical attacks like warbling vocal solos, drum fills, and synth blasts, dynamically shaping the soundtrack as you go. It’s a cool concept, and how the audio, world-building, and combat gel together will be interesting to see.
April 8th: Subversive Memories (Steam)
A dark, atmospheric survival horror game set against the backdrop of a real-life Brazilian dictatorship, this game is about a woman called Renata who has some suspicious holes in her memory. The game is the story of her locating and exploring a creepy abandoned military research base that might hold the answers. The visual style is reminiscent of Signalis, with a top-down perspective and a slow, deliberate pace and some excellent use of light — Renata’s torch casts dynamic shadows for a moody, X-Files feel. It’s relatively short at around 2–3 hours but promises narrative rewards for multiple playthroughs.
April 13th: Gunboat God (Playstation, Steam, Xbox)
I had a great time with this one at last year’s London Games Festival. It’s a modern shoot ’em up in which you control a small boat skimming across silhouetted 2D levels. You move with one stick and aim with the other – but unlike the space control and mob management of most twin-stick shooters, this game is also about speedy traversal. The boost meter is banked by killing enemies, then unleashed to jump over obstacles and dive under barricades. It’s a manic, engrossing take on twin-stick gameplay that demands full concentration to succeed.
April 13th: Moves of the Diamond Hand (Most-hype pick; Steam; early access)
Indie game auteur Cosmo D returns with Moves of the Diamond Hand, and if you’ve played his Seamus McNally Grand Prize winner Betrayal at Club Low, you’ll know what kind of strange magic to expect. Returning to Off-Peak City during a mayoral election, it blends exploration, dice-based skill check gameplay, and an engaging cast of street freaks and alleyway weirdos. Cosmo says it’s their biggest game yet, and it’s launching into early access with only two of the mooted five chapters available — but even so, it’s my most hyped game of the month.
April 13th: Dosa Divas (PlayStation, Steam, Switch 1 & 2, Xbox)
Outerloop Games (Falcon Age, Thirsty Suitors) return with their most ambitious adventure to date. It’s a vibrant RPG featuring turn-based mech combat (with Clair Obscur-style perfect parries) and a story about an estranged family working together to take down an evil fast food corporation. Its colourful Asian-futurist aesthetic is refreshing — it’s nice to see an RPG break away from fantasy and post-apocalyptic tropes — and its breezy run time of <15 hours is a breath of fresh air for the genre, too.
April 14th: REPLACED (PC, Xbox)
The much-delayed REPLACED finally arrives on April 14th, bringing its moody 2D cyberpunk action to PC and Xbox. The big draw here is the presentation, with detailed pixel art, cinematic framing, and a gritty, neon Night City vibe. The gameplay mixes counter-based melee combat with platforming and stealth — but, I have to say, the demo had frustratingly sluggish controls that took the fun out of the gameplay, for me at least. So the jury is out for now — but it remains one of the most visually striking releases of the month.
April 16th: Mouse: P.I. For Hire (PlayStation, Steam, Switch 2, Xbox)
April 16th is the biggest day of the month for indie games, starting with Mouse: P.I. For Hire. You’ve probably seen it around in showcases over the years, with its distinctive mix of Steamboat Willie-style visuals and fast-paced FPS gameplay — think Cuphead meets DOOM. Previews suggest there’s more to it than shooting, with side quests and character interactions breaking up the action, so I’m hoping the story can match its eye-catching style.
April 16th: The Amusement (Steam VR, Meta Quest)
A VR exploration game set in an abandoned 1920s theme park, The Amusement tells the tale of someone sent to uncover what happened to their deceased father. It has a mix of exploration and light interaction and supports different movement systems to help ease any VR-related motion sickness. I don’t play a ton of VR these days, but this one might be enough to make me dust off the headset.
April 16th: OPUS: Prism Peak (Steam, Switch 1 & 2)
A story-forward game with a reflective tone, OPUS: Prism Peak casts you as a photographer escorting an amnesiac child through a post-human world. You document the journey through photos and journalling, creating a quiet, wistful quality reminiscent of the underrated Season: A Letter to the Future. It’s one to watch for lovers of slow, dreamy, narrative-driven experiences — exactly my cup of tea.
April 16th: Gecko Gods (PlayStation, Steam, Switch)
Rounding out a blockbuster day of releases, Gecko Gods is a charming exploration game set across a puzzle-filled archipelago. Playing as a tiny gecko means you can climb walls effortlessly, traverse ceilings, fall from great heights, and slip through tight spaces. The Next Fest demo was a hit, and it’s easy to see why — it’s a good-vibes, curiosity-driven game with light puzzles and a unique perspective.
April 21st: Vampire Crawlers (PlayStation, Steam, Switch, Xbox)
We’ve all been wondering what Poncle would produce after the runaway success of Vampire Survivors, and now we know – it’s a first-person dungeon-crawling card battler. You’ll recognise some classic weapons from the original, deployed this time in a roguelike format with upgrades, bosses, and a village hub to expand. The demo was fun, if a little familiar-feeling — it remains to be seen if Crawlers has the compulsive appeal of its predecessor.
April 22nd: Tides of Tomorrow (PlayStation, Steam, Xbox)
Coming from the same developers as Road 96, Tides of Tomorrow is another attempt to freshen up choice-based storytelling. Set in a colourful, flooded world, it introduces a new “Strand-like” system where you can see the decisions made by other players, helping to inform your own; your decisions then echo into future players’ games, continuing the cycle. It’s an intriguing idea that I’ll be curious to try in practice.
April 27th: Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth (Steam, Switch)
As a long-time Moomins fan and an enjoyer of 2024’s Snufkin: Memories of Moominvalley, I was happy to hear about this second entry in the series. This time we play as Moomintroll, who wakes up early from hibernation to spend a lonely winter season in Moominvalley. Expect gentle exploration, light puzzles, and a strong dose of Tove Jansson’s sharp humour and earthy wisdom.
April 28th: WILL: Follow The Light (PlayStation, Steam, Xbox)
This melancholy adventure puts you in the role of a sailor navigating a cold archipelago in search of his son. The sailing has a simulation edge, with jibs to manage and changing winds; it’s broken up when you dock at various remote islands to explore, solve puzzles, and find clues. The demo had some rough edges, but the atmosphere is strong, with an isolated, wind-whipped vibe that recalls the walking sim classic Dear Esther.
April 30th: inKONBINI (PlayStation, Steam, Switch, Xbox)
A nostalgic management sim set in a ‘90s Japanese convenience store, inKONBINI features a mixture of cosy shop work and getting to know your regular customers. The aesthetic looks spot-on — the store is packed with crazy drinks, Manga comics, odd confectionery, and gacha machines that’ll give anyone who’s been in a real-life konbini a welcome flashback.
April 30th: Adorable Adventures (PlayStation, Steam, Xbox)
Finally we have Adorable Adventures — an unfortunate name for a lovely-looking game. We play as a baby boar who becomes separated from its family after a forest fire and must navigate the woods alone and catch their scent to reunite with them. It’s a low-stakes, combat-free exploration game with a menagerie of animals to meet and beautiful environments inspired by a real-life French national park.
