In what was easily one of the most exciting months for indie games of the year yet, we put together our top list of recommendations.10:00, 31 May 2026Another month, another batch of exceptional indie releases - many of which aren’t called Mina The Hollower (if you can believe it).‌Whether you’re into old-school throwbacks or completely new concepts brought lovingly to life, the indie gaming scene well and truly delivered throughout the month of May, 2026. Better yet, being away for two-and-a-half weeks and taking my Steam Deck along for the ride means there were plenty of opportunities to check out more than usual, so it’s a bumper crop of recommendations for this month’s indie game roundup.‌True, while there was plenty of AAA titles to keep you busy, 007 First Light and Forza Horizon 6 being the most obvious examples, a raft of smaller treats likely slipped you by. It’s these that I’m eager to highlight for you here. From wildly inventive platformers to cosy explore-a-thons, these are my picks for the 15 best indie games released in May, 2026 . Let’s get into it…‌Huntdown: Overtime‘80s action movie fans are sure to have great fun with the not so subtle Huntdown: Overtime, a chrome-coated run-and-gunner set in the fictional New Detroit that challenges you with endlessly laying waste to street gangs. It’s the kind of actioner that wears its influences heavily on its sleeves, then, but it backs it up with some incredibly fun shooting, ducking, and melee action that looks and feels slick.Huntdown: Overtime also being a roguelite (because of course it is) means the bullet spraying never need stop either, with various weapons and cybernetic upgrades ensuring that battling through the streets is always a riot. Huntdown: Overtime owes a great debt to the era that inspired it, and does so immensely well.Wax HeadsI never knew the term ‘cosy-punk’ existed prior to playing Wax Heads, yet it’s the perfect descriptor for this worthwhile narrative sim that involves bumping into customers and running a struggling record store. Wax Heads’ art style admittedly leans into the garish and might not be for everyone, but it’s made up for by some amazing characters, writing, poignant moments, and a genuine affection for the physical-fuelled pastime of record collecting.‌More so than anything else, though, Wax Heads absolutely nails the sense of community one feels when sharing a passion with other people. For that alone, the latest from Patattie Games is worth a look. Music is again proven to be the universal language.Clockwork AmbrosiaThere’s always time for a good Metroidvania, and luckily the indie game scene is always primed to deliver one. This month it comes in the form of the long-gestating Clockwork Ambrosia, which has ended up being worth the wait. The gimmick here is the ability to customise your weapons with a seemingly endless number of mods, transforming Iris into a run-and-gunning machine.‌Clockwork Ambrosia is the kind of indie game that doesn’t play it safe, then, actively rewarding experimenting by testing your ability to break and bend all the usual shooter tropes. It helps that holding it all together is a beautiful, GBA inspired world, one with over 100 weapon modifiers to find. There’s not quite another Metroidvania like it.Call of the Elder GodsA sequel to 2020’s Call of the Sea wasn’t something I had pegged for this year. And yet, there’s plenty to love about Call of the Elder Gods thanks to the return of inventive first-person puzzle design and exploration that now combines with a new Lovecraftian theming. What developer Out of the Blue Games has delivered this time around is a puzzler with a lot more environmental variety and one much more confident in its ideas.So much so that roaming the halls of Miskatonic University is always surprising and kept me guessing with where this surprisingly compelling narrative would go next. Sure, some of the puzzles lean a little too hard into the obtuse, but for the most part Call of the Elder Gods is a worthy successor.‌Everything is CrabEverything is crab, is it? Well, not quite. In actual fact, everything is pretty much as you’d like it to be (at least according to the laws of evolution) in this top-down roguelite battler form the folks at Odd Dreams Digital. Yes, it’s yet another riff on the familiar Vampire Survivors format, but it gives your survival action a lot more meaning thanks to the ability to take on traits of whatever creatures you manage to consume.This results in a familiar but no less fun gameplay loop that sees you transform into all kinds of wacky critters, becoming bigger, more capable, and even weirder the longer the run trolls on. In-game evolution has never been so fun or unpredictable.Lumentale: Memories of TreyA lot of clear Pokemon rip-offs that have appeared on the indie scene in recent years. Most, however, fail to understand what made those original games on the Game Boy unique. This is where Lumentale: Memories of Trey comes in, implementing an undeniably attractive HD-2D art style and a gorgeous anime aesthetic to great effect while making the act of catching and battling ‘Animon’ properly entertaining.‌You play as the titular Trey, a boy that has lost his memories but slowly manages to gain them back within the realm of an authentic monster-collecting JRPG. It’s hardly original, but Lumentale: Memories of Trey is easily the best Pokemon riff I’ve played since Cassette Beasts.Dead as DiscoI’m not sure what else I can add to the ongoing Dead as Disco conversation that hasn’t already been said, other than to heap further praise about how well it retrofits the Arkham brand of beat-em-up combat into a genuinely new format. Here, pulling off counters, dodges, and special attacks is just as important as sticking to the beat, after which you soon enter an unreal flow state that locks you into the game unlike many other modern brawlers.‌Fending off your popstar idols as the undead Charlie Disco feels like punching your way through a music video in the best way possible. Sure, Dead as Disco might be in early access, but it only promises to get better in this unique fighter where all things music and melee combine.TethergeistIn a month where Yoshi and the Mysterious Book mostly disappointed me, a far better, more inventive 2D platformer launched in the form of Tethergeist. Although heavily inspired by Celeste, it manages to provide its own spin on this well-worn genre by gifting young Mae with the rather unique ability to project her own spirit ahead of her. A skill that comes in incredibly handy when trying to tackle increasingly intricate platforming puzzles.None of this would be fun were movement not responsive and tight, of course, but Tethergiest accomplishes this with ease. It all makes for a charming and criminally overlooked 2D platformer that could easily end up being one of the best of 2026. Go play it!‌MixtapePart mini-game collection, part playable music video, Mixtape is a lot of things but above all else it serves as an oddly specific snapshot about the time in everyone’s life where you must leave the innocence of youth behind. It’s a lofty ambition and subject matter for a 3-hour long indie game, yet Mixtape manages to pull it off effortlessly thanks to its gorgeous stop-motion art style, amazing licenced soundtrack, and variety of different playstyles.Ostensibly it’s the story of three friends enjoying one last night of adventure together, but by the end winds up representing so much more. If nothing else, Mixtape is primed to tug on your heart strings John Hughes style.ElementallisThe great thing about being a fan of classic top-down Zelda games is that every month a pretty excellent tribute always releases. In the case of May it’s Elementallis that ended up filling this slot.‌Though not groundbreaking by any means, it’s a cutesy Zelda-like that manages to spin on the well-worn adventure format by seeing you unleash a series of different elemental powers alongside traditional sword-and-board combat. With a handful of temples to explore and plenty of thoughtful puzzles to complete within them too, Elementallis scratches the Zelda itch perfectly.Rugrats Retro CollectionOf all the recent retro revival compilations we’ve been treated to lately, one centred around Rugrats admittedly wasn’t high on my list. And yet, for a ‘90s kid like me, dipping into the Rugrats Retro Collection has been a delight for all the ways it reignited a previously forgotten area of my own boyhood nostalgia.How much of a kick you get out of the Rugrats Retro Collection is wholly reliant on your familiarity with the IP, but with six classic licensed games (including the great Search for Reptar), all of wildly different genres and console eras, it’s a fun collection to bounce between. Even with the ability to rewind, though, just don’t expect them all to play well by modern standards.‌Duck Side of the MoonFirst thing’s first, any game with a dedicated ‘quack’ button gets a thumbs up from me. However, with that important point out of the way, it also helps that at the core of Duck Side of the Moon is also an extremely cute and cosy space exploration game.After crashlanding your ship on an unknown rock, it isn’t long before you get to work repairing your base, finding resources to craft useful items, and helping the local alien race in order to hopefully try to get home. Duck Side of the Moon might be a simple adventure that only takes a few hours to finish, but rarely does exploring space feel as cosy as this. Absolutely quacking!‌Thick as ThievesGetting in and getting out as sneakily as possible is the name of the game in Thick as Thieves, the latest endeavour from former Thief: Deadly Shadows director Warren Spector, which gives the act of silent thieving a smart co-operative twist. Think Dishonoured but with friends! Avoiding the shadows, using tools like the grapple and smoke bombs to get around stealthily is fun in the moment, even if the two levels available in Thick as Thieves right now don’t do much to inspire replayability.That said, no heist ever quite plays out the same thanks to the different thief loadouts you can create, and it’s nice to see a stealth game capture the indie zeitgeist. Especially one as promising as this.Battlestar Galactica: Shattered HopesRegardless of whether you’re a fan of the original show or not, Shattered Hopes does an excellent job of translating its emphasis on making difficult moral choices into the shape of a compelling tactical survival roguelite. Casting you in the role of a space fleet commander, you’ll try to routinely repel the Cylon forces by making hard decisions, such as where to allocate resources, who of your crew to side with, and when to dispatch worthwhile expeditions, all while keeping as much of your fleet as possible during attacks.Article continues belowThe result is a nail-biting yet incredibly compelling take on Battlestar Galactica-esque politics that sees you move from crisis to crisis. Shattered Hopes is nerve-wracking but tough to put down.Special mention: Sektori (Nintendo Switch 2)With Housemarque trading its twin-stick shooter chops for more AAA affairs in the form of Returnal and most recently Saros, Sektori released on Nintendo Switch 2 as the perfect piece of counterprogramming this month. Having already launched on PC last year, I can’t imagine not playing this clear Geometry Wars throwback on a handheld console. It’s the perfect fit!Within a few minutes it’s easy to find yourself enraptured by Sektrori’s pulse-pounding techno soundtrack and neon-drenched visuals, both of which keep you engaged as blast and crash into enemies that take on the shape of increasingly more complex patterns. Sektori is a top-down shooter with modern sensibilities, but an undeniably old-school heart.