One of my dreams has always been to visit a gaming expo. We’ve all seen them since the days of E3 and witnessed their evolution in recent years. However, like me, some of us aren’t lucky enough to attend one. Fortunately, ENDIX invited me to its 2025 edition. As soon as I created my avatar and stepped in, the virtual world that the organizers had created blew me away. But most importantly, its top-notch lineup surprised me. From first-person horror games to many colorful crafting experiences, this year had some of the best games, and I added many to my wishlist in a heartbeat.
For the unaware, ENDIX is a fully digitized expo. Since its first iteration, the organizers have created a virtual venue full of booths that play trailers in real-time and even send you to the game’s page to download the demo, should there be one. The 2025 edition was packed with a lot of upcoming indie titles, ranging from several crafting-oriented ones to a few haunt survival horror games. Here are the ones that stood out the most for me:
Ayasa: Shadows of Silence
One of the first games that caught my attention in ENDIX 2025 was Ayasa: Shadows of Silence. Games like Limbo and Little Nightmares heavily inspire this one, and we already had the opportunity to preview it last year. The main takeaway of Ayasa is its focus on puzzle-solving aspects while maintaining a haunting yet beautiful atmosphere with an excellent art style. It was definitely one of the highlights of the expo and one that many puzzle lovers and horror fans should watch out for.
Mortal Crux
Lately, modern ARPGs have lost their way. They drift away from systems that made the genre so memorable in favor of new features that don’t really hit the mark. But then there’s Mortal Crux, which embraces the golden era of ARPGs and brings a 2000s style to it with slick combat, excellent world design, and many things to do. On top of that, it focuses on four-player co-op, so you can bring other friends to join you in this non-linear adventure. And last but not least, this one had one of the best booths in ENDIX 2025.
Tinker Lands
Our first crafting-oriented game on this list is Tinker Lands, and boy, you’ll love it. At a glance, it already looks familiar to Stardew Valley. However, it plays a bit more like Terraria in certain aspects, mainly its combat, and the settlement management part might remind you of a toned-down version of Rimworld. The great thing about Tinker Lands is that it’s already out, so if you want to try it, it has an introductory offer right now on Steam. Also, it has a four-player co-op mode, so you can bring other explorers to help you build your small town or just go fishing for a few hours as a group.
The Knightling
If you ever wondered how Zelda would play with more focus on platforming and swapping the sword combat with a shield, that’s what The Knightling is, in a way. The Knightling changes things by removing the old sword-is-the-only-weapon-for-heroes antic and replacing it with an intricate and impactful shield combat. However, this shield will also help you with traversal, platforming, and other things the game has. Out of all the action-adventure games in the expo, this one was the most refreshing to see, and one that fans of the genre will love.
Haunted Bloodlines
As a horror fan, it is always great to see the genre standing strong thanks to titles such as Haunted Bloodlines. At first glance, you can see the production value and care in this one. The visuals are as gorgeous as they are terrifying. It plays in a first-person perspective, and it is more akin to titles like Amnesia in terms of gameplay, with some Silent Hill P.T. on the side. The interesting part is its sanity mechanic, which you need to watch out for, and its emphasis on puzzles. There’s a demo on Steam for those who want a scary taste of what awaits them.
The Alters
I’ve covered this game extensively, and it has enthralled me since my first hands-on experience, and I was glad to see it in ENDIX 2025 ahead of its release. The Alters puts you in the shoes of Jan Dolsky as he tries to survive on a perilous planet. However, instead of going down the generic survival-crafting path, it shakes things up by bringing different versions of Jan to do certain tasks. You need to create these “Alters” to craft things, explore, fix your base, and so on. However, the best thing about it is its introspective narrative that makes you wonder how your life would’ve turned out if you had chosen a slightly different path. This is one of the games where the butterfly effect is shown perfectly, and one I can’t wait to experience fully.
FIRE The First Dreamer
A few times a year, I usually see a game that gives me the feel of, “I don’t know what the heck I’m watching, but I love it.” That’s FIRE The First Dreamer. On the surface, it looks like the usual survival game. A sprawling world you need to explore to stay alive. However, it goes deeper than that. FIRE The First Dreamer places its cryptic yet intriguing narrative at the forefront and ties it together with the exploration. Furthermore, it is based on a true story that also features meaningful choices as you play. The description might seem a bit too cryptic, but there’s a demo on Steam if you want to try this game.
Esoteric EBB
My absolute favorite game of all ENDIX 2025 was Esoteric EBB. Imagine combining Dungeons & Dragons with Disco Elysium. I know it sounds extremely weird, but that’s what it is. You have a superb narrative with branching paths, but everything relies on dice rolls. Your adventure can go sideways in seconds depending on how you build your character, but that’s the beauty of it. Even as a demo, it already boasted a lot of player agency, which is rare nowadays. So, if you’ve been looking for the next big D&D thing after Baldur’s Gate 3 in a more colorful world with a unique art style, Esoteric EBB should be at the top of your wishlist.
