Who needs AAA games when you could play these hidden gems from Gamescom?

Domagoj Belancic

25.8.2025

Translation: Katherine Martin

Co-author: Philipp Rüegg

At Gamescom, smaller games and indie titles often excite us more than the big AAA blockbusters. And this year is no exception. Here are our «secret» highlights.

At this year’s Gamescom, Phil, Michelle, Samuel and I played or saw almost 70 games. Alongside the blockbusters by major publishers, we also tried out a host of smaller titles.

Here are some hidden gems from Gamescom 2025 that we think deserve more attention.

Domagoj: Denshattack

What happens if you combine Jet Set Radio with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and Subway Surfers? Well, you get a Denshattack, an utterly bonkers game by Spanish indie studio Undercoders.

In the game, you’re in control of a Japanese train, which you drive over tracks, drift and grind. You can also jump, perform tricks and drive on walls. The controls work perfectly – even though nobody tells you what to do, which makes it a bit confusing at first. The linear levels are a mix of ultra-fast obstacle courses and rollercoaster rides where you can smash the high scores if you perfect your timing. As you race through this spectacle at breakneck speed, you’re accompanied by a Japanese-inspired, upbeat, electro soundtrack. I can’t wait to play even more of it.

When: 2026
Where: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC

Domagoj: Shadow of the Road

Shadow of the Road is a tactical role-playing game set in a feudal Japan full of magical monsters known as («Yōkai») and brutish steampunk machines. Civil war has broken out, and you’re fighting for survival with a total of seven characters. Your decisions are supposed to significantly impact the course of the story and the fate of these seven characters.

At first glance, the turn-based, strategic gameplay looks very similar to titles such as Xcom. However, the developers say it’s less frustrating; since there are no vague percentage displays, there are no annoying misses. I find it interesting that there are no traditional turns. Instead, the attack sequence is displayed as a continuous timeline at the top of the screen. It can be manipulated with magic attacks, opening up a number of exciting strategic options. Between battles, you can explore the game’s beautiful world.

When: 2026
Where: PC

Domagoj: Monsters are Coming! Rock & Road

I adore strange genre combinations, so I’m really excited by French indie studio Ludogram’s latest title, which combines Vampire Survivors and tower defence.

The roguelike sees you escort a moving city through ever-growing hordes of monsters. While you’re killing said monsters, you gather resources that you can use to buy upgrades. However, it’s not just your character that gets these upgrades – it’s the moving city too. By positioning cannons, ice bombs and fire-breathing dragon statues around your settlement, you can fend off nasty beasts. It’s only your city that has to survive. If your character dies, a new soldier’s simply sent onto the battlefield. As a punishment, however, you have to place a tombstone, which takes up valuable space for tower defence upgrades. What a brilliant idea!

When: 2026
Where: PC

Domagoj: Planet of Lana 2: Children of the Leaf

If you’ve played the first Planet of Lana game, you’ll know what the sequel has in store for you. Namely, a beautiful, narrative-driven action adventure in a 2.5D perspective. Your character feels a lot faster and more agile than in the first instalment of the game. In some passages, for instance, Lana climbs and jumps along walls, Super Mario style.

Playing the demo, I got to see several of the planet’s biomes, including a dense, overgrown jungle landscape, windswept, snowy places and, for the first time, underwater levels. Your animal buddy Nui helps you solve puzzles. The game often only gives you vague hints about what you need to do to progress. Trial and error is part and parcel of Planet of Lana 2. If you’re okay with that, you can look forward to a successful sequel. Incidentally, it’ll reportedly be about twice as long as the original.

When: 2026
Where: PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC

Domagoj: Keeper

Looking at Xbox studio Double Fine’s latest project, you’re immediately confronted with one question: how did anyone come up with such a mad idea? In the game, you take on the role of a living lighthouse who’s exploring a strange world alongside their best friend, a cute little bird.

At a hands-off preview session, my question was personally answered by gaming legend Tim Schafer and his development team. Game designer Lee Petty came up with the idea for the game during the Covid lockdown. While enjoying solitary walks through green spaces, he’d ponder the fragility of human existence. That very sense of solitude runs through the world of Keeper too. There are no people, and the story’s told with a complete absence of dialogue. The studio describes the atmosphere of the game as «weird but chill».

Gameplay-wise, it’s a mixture of relaxed exploration and puzzles that you solve with the help of your light beam and the bird. I really like the animations; the lighthouse moves like a crab, and communicates emotions despite not having a human face. This was something the development studio attached great importance to. I’m dying to get my hands on the game. And not just because I managed to bag a photo with Tim Schafer himself.

When: 2026
Where: Xbox Series X/S, PC

Philipp: No Ghosts at the Grand

Picture this: completely baffled, I glance at my companion, who’s chugging along a picturesque coastline on a boat with me. The singing I’d initially attributed to the backing track isn’t just coming from anywhere – it’s coming from her. When I respond, I end up singing my answer, like in a musical. What’s going on? A few moments earlier, the game still resembled a power wash simulator. From a first-person perspective, I’d been using magical cleaning tools to clean an old house and then a boat. Washing down old boards and then throwing them back into place, freshly varnished.

At the end of the demo, I’m stranded on a remote island. In the middle of it all, there’s a potentially haunted World War II bunker. Unfortunately, my time’s up before I get to encounter any spooks. However, I do get to decorate a cosy room, even picking the wallpaper and furniture. In the final game, I’m faced with a dilapidated English hotel waiting to be freed from ghosts and spruced up. It’s a kooky combination that I definitely won’t be missing out on.

When: 2026
Where: Xbox Series X/S, PC

Philipp: Shoe it All

Swiss games are getting better every year. One that I particularly liked at Gamescom was Shoe it All, the first non-mobile game to come out of small studio Amberbite. If you compare it to other games, it’s closest to Angry Birds in terms of gameplay. Graphics-wise, it’s based on animated films such as Into the Spider-Verse.

You use two buttons to swing back and forth on a garden swing, then use a third button to throw your shoe forward at the right moment. In mini levels, you try to smash up a vending machine, shoot an apple off the head of a Segway rider and set fire to a mountain of rubbish barrels. For that last task, you use burning shoes. The physics-based game looks great, you can grasp the principle of it immediately and there’s a good dose of humour.

When: 2025
Where: PC

Philipp: Wanderburg

This is yet another game involving a moving building, again using Vampire Survivors as a template. Unlike in Domagoj’s recommendation, Monsters Are Coming!, however, you control the castle itself, and not a playable character. Before you get started, you pick your armaments, such as cannons for the sides of the castle or a battering ram for the front. You also need a commander who can bring certain bonuses to the table.

Driving your castle on wheels across a pretty, low-poly battlefield, you dodge arrow attacks from archers, then suck them up, vacuum cleaner style. You use your cannons to target larger opponents. Defeating enemies earns you gold coins, which you use to buy new upgrades, such as a tower for your archers or even bigger cannons. As a result, your castle gets bigger and more powerful. Even so, you’ll still be a small fish compared to the bosses that show up regularly. When they appear, skilful dodging manoeuvres and well-timed attacks are the name of the game. The design’s wonderfully creative and the gameplay’s addictive from the word go. In my view, the game’s an absolute must-buy.

When: 2026
Where: PC

Philipp: Rue Valley

My final Gamescom hidden gem was also made with a clear template in mind: Disco Elysium. Rue Valley’s graphical style immediately reminds me of the exceptional adventure game from 2019. However, there’s enough originality in it, both graphically and in terms of gameplay, to set it apart from ZA/UM’s masterpiece.

You play as Mr Harrow, who’s trapped in a time loop. But it’s not just this temporal anomaly you need to overcome – it’s also the devil on Mr Harrow’s shoulder. Like the detective from Disco Elysium, Mr Harrow seems to have a self-destructive nature. His personality develops over the course of the game, influencing the dialogue and your progress. As is so often the case in time loop games, you’re constantly learning new things that’ll help you in the next loop. For instance, a lightning strike at a particular moment promises interesting solutions.

When: 11 November 2025
Where: PC

Check out our pick of the major titles at Gamescom here:

Domagoj Belancic

Senior Editor

Domagoj.Belancic@digitecgalaxus.ch

My love of video games was unleashed at the tender age of five by the original Gameboy. Over the years, it's grown in leaps and bounds.

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