Running an 1930s newspaper, foreseeing martial arts fights and other new indie games worth checking out

November 22, 2025 by Cnznews

Welcome to our latest roundup of what’s going on in the indie game sector. There have been a whole bunch of interesting games coming out over the past week or so, and we’ve got some tasty details on some upcoming projects, including one of those games. Drywall Eating Simulator (Trust me on this one).

But first, an update on a game that’s been around since 2004 and has completely flown under my radar until now. Despite this it reaches over 80,000 daily unique players and has over 4 million players overall. It seems you can do whatever you want tornWhich includes studying to become a doctor, opening a hair salon, or buying a house (this is actually a fantasy world). However, it is a place where crime is rife. This week the team behind the text-based online RPG revealed some fascinating stats to mark its 21st anniversary.

For example, 1,204 people who joined Maidan in 2004 are still active, including at least one who has been there since day one. Over 3.6 billion criminal offenses have been committed since Torn City’s founding 21 years ago and yet its justice system has only been able to hand out less than 52 million prison sentences. Since August alone, more than 4.4 million buildings have burned. Players have thrown more than 410 million strikes against each other, 12 percent of which targeted the groin.

torn Looks extremely attractive! I love that it’s been going on for so long and is still thriving. Over 31,000 players have subscribed to support the game and keep it running, although it is free to play. The developers have updates planned for the next year and beyond. I’m hoping to check it out at some point and maybe role-play as a well-heeled flower shop owner.

new releases

Publishers Twin Sails Interactive and Sparrow Knight join forces in four-strong team news towerWhich is fully ready this week after almost two years of early access. It’s a management sim that tasks you with running your own newspaper in 1930s New York.

You’ll try to turn around a struggling publication you’ve inherited from your family, after the stock market crash of 1929 and mobsters ransacked the newsroom. You will build offices and set up printing presses; hiring and managing journalists and other staff; Assemble your weekly newsletter; And deal with various groups that are vying for power and trying to influence your coverage.

i thought last year Times and GalaxyThe one that casts you in the role of a robot journalist was mostly cute, but it missed the mark on the actual news-gathering side of the equation. I did not find any such problem news tower As yet. I love how a story can change when you assign different reporters to each phase (say, one focused on crime vs. one focused on politics). They’ll find different angles, which can help you sell more copies of the paper or draw readers away from competitors when you get a special.

I’m just a short distance away news towerBut as someone who started his career in newspapers, this sounds like nonsense to me. I expect to spend a lot of time with this game. news tower 1.0 is now available on Steam. It usually costs $25, although there is a 20 percent discount through December 2nd.

forestry is a 2D martial arts roguelite from Skeleton Crew. You can practice combat encounters as often as you want, but you only have one fair shot at defeating multiple opponents in each fight. feels something like this katana zero In that regard. Succeed, and you will move on. Lose, and it’s the end of your race. If you manage to win without relying on this foresight trait, you will achieve the “final victory”.

In each race, you will choose your own path and learn new techniques. forestry, Which is published by Devolver Digital, looks interesting as it is a mix of puzzle game and action roguelite – you have to find a way to succeed in each battle and then complete it successfully in your real attempt. The game is now available on Steam for $10. It’s coming soon to Nintendo Switch.

Here is a puzzle game of a different flavour. In umami, Mimmox and co-publisher Nexting aim to create dioramas of cakes and food towers using virtual wooden blocks. You have a reference guide to work from if you want, or you can try to figure out how all the pieces fit together yourself.

It’s a lovely, relaxing experience with some relaxing tunes. umami Now available on Steam. It usually costs $14, although it’s 15 percent off through December 1st.

A pinball game that makes you crazy is a game from Azimuth Studios in the vein of rage-inducing precision platformers. Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy And Only above. The objective is to guide a person stuck in pinball to the goal using a button that controls the flippers.

Make one mistake, and you could erase a lot of progress. A press release indicated that a playthrough would take between 10 and 30 hours, which is a large range.

I myself will never be able to find out how accurate the estimated play time is, because the demo really drove me crazy and I didn’t want to play the full game, although I appreciate what the developers are going for. A pinball game that makes you crazy Available on Steam right now for $10, but a 15 percent discount brings the price down to $8.50 through November 25th.

I really like that I’m able to keep up this little tradition of including a dog sport in this roundup every week. Samurai Academy: Claws of Fury is a follow up Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank, An animated film from 2022 that I haven’t seen is apparently a “loose remake” flaming sticks” Paint me with curiosity!

It is an action-adventure game with platforming and tower defense aspects. It casts you in the role of Hank, a “dog samurai in a world full of cats.” This looks quite tempting, although it reminds me that I really need to go back and get the platinum trophy. yotei’s ghost, Samurai Academy: Claws of Fury – from developers Fishing Cactus and ZeroLife Games and publisher Maximum Entertainment – is now available on Steam, Nintendo Switch, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. A two-player co-op mode is available on all platforms, except the Switch.

upcoming

erosion is a neat-looking twin-stick action roguelike with a plot twist (Benedict Fox’s last case) and publisher Lyrical Games. Every time you die, time moves forward a decade and the state of the post-apocalyptic Wild West changes accordingly, with the decisions you make affecting the future.

In this open-world shooter, you’ll delve into dungeons filled with enemies and bosses while trying to rescue your kidnapped daughter. Often avoid death, and you may find your offspring before they reach old age. There are over 100 skills and modifiers to unlock and dozens of weapons available to help you assemble an effective build. The environment is also destructive.

I really like the voice art here, including the way the characters move up and down. erosion Early access is set to arrive on Steam, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox Cloud, and the Xbox PC app in spring 2026. It will be available on Game Pass.

Speaking of Xbox, my favorite game of last year is coming to Microsoft’s console. comedy adventure Thank God you’re here! Expected to arrive on Xbox Series X/S on December 9th. The delightfully crude and fun game of Coal Supper and Panic is already available on PC, PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch.

We’re far from done with this week’s foolishness. If you haven’t had your fill of obstacle walking sims this year since Baby Steps, may I draw your attention to this? Ultimate Grandma Simulator,

You’ll help Grandma navigate a dozen levels as she searches for her missing grandson. You’ll have to avoid everything from destroying balls to zombies, and parry projectiles like Frisbees and bombs. This is not a serious game. If you collect the hidden golden coins, you’ll also unlock some memories of Grandma. Serco, PlumpointTwo and publisher We Don’t Have a Studio are set to bring Ultimate Grandma Simulator To hit Steam on December 2nd.

Title of I Must Admit Drywall Eating Simulator Caught my attention and not in a good way. But after reading more about it and watching the trailer, I’ve become interested in this game from Peripheral Playbox.

According to the Steam page, it is a “physics-based 3D adventure carefully designed to simulate the joys of late-capitalist life.” After engaging in mind-numbing small talk and dealing with the pesky stresses of everyday life, what better way to unwind than by eating some drywall? Just don’t tell anyone about your cravings.

This game has a very strange and yet somehow deeply relatable concept. Definitely something worth chewing on. It’s coming to Steam on December 10th.