Tactics and tilling highlight the top new indie.io games this August

Convinced the August 2025 release calendar is looking a little sparse? Well, you're maybe only looking at the big publisher picture, and indie.io is here to change that. Turn your attention to the tiny studios working just as hard and you'll find dozens of new adventures and experiences to pull you out of the triple-A rut. Publisher indie.io brings vital visibility to some of these under-the-radar gems.

This year has continued a recent revival of strategy and tactics games, and we've got another to add to your list. Valiant Tactics dropped just last week, bringing a bit of turn-based tactics to Steam. It's far from a simple fantasy squad simulator. This roguelite take on traditional tabletop tactics sees you lead a tiny team of your five favorites.

Gamble with the lives of your soldiers and you'll only have yourself to blame when they perish, as there are no % chance or luck-based modifiers here. Instead, it sees you focus purely on orchestrating the perfect strike. Precision execution and positioning are all that matter here. Learn from your mistakes when you dive into your next run and those lessons learned, perks held, and new classes unlocked might just make the difference. Unless you decide to throw caution to the wind and take your chances with a random event.

If that's too much stress for you, take a load off with some soft pastels. This very day (yes, just a week after indie.io's last release) marks the launch of Firefly Village. Designed for bite-sized gameplay sessions, let the charm of the town's characters decide whether it's a bedtime wind-down or a day-long marathon. There's village sweetheart Tilly; mischievous wizard Celia; Odin, the town's wandering mystery hunk; and plenty more people to pass the time with.

This soft, whimsical throwback to the Gameboy Color years is a pocket paradise that lets you get on with your day however you see fit. Whether that's fishing up a storm, cultivating a veritable feast from your farm, or simply wiling away your days with the locals, there's plenty of tasks to tick off.

Think two new titles is enough for one month? indie.io is focused on giving every small team its much-deserved day in the spotlight. August 12 marks the full release of Shields of Loyalty, a moody, hex-based strategy game that's been riding the waves of early access for over four years. If you like a bit of luck with your strategy, this one is for you.

As with any early access adventure, 1.0 marks the culmination of a player-first approach to game development. Recognized as a spiritual successor to genre classic Fantasy General, Shields of Loyalty comes from seven-person team Mosaic Mask Studio in Hanover, Germany. It started life with just the Noble Knight faction and the single island of Duskwood punctuating the larger Mantaria landscape. All that changes on August 12.

The full release includes over 160 units across the factions of the Empire, Warlords, and the Highpriests, with each controllable leader heralding their own flavor of tactical supremacy for you to practice. There's also the new fronts of the Eternal Ice and Lava Desert, presenting multiple battlefields to carve out during your conquest as the theatre of war expands across the continent.

But indie.io isn't all about dropping a metric ton of games on you all at once. Oh no. Ever looking toward the future, the team wants you to know that another title, the GBA-inspired roguelite ARPG Rogue Labyrinth, is right around the corner. Turn everything into a projectile and make friends out of your enemies as you attempt to fight the colonial regime of a twisted billionaire.

Set to launch on September 1 (and with wishlists available already), you don't need to take our word for it. If you're set to descend upon Gamescom this month, you can be among the first to go hands-on with the game at the indie.io booth. It's just one of five new indie titles you'll get to test drive at Hall 10.2, Stand F-11 on the showfloor.

Got an idea you're working on? Can you picture yourself showing off your magnum opus on the frantic floors of Europe's biggest games convention this time next year?

Whether in-person at the event or through its online channels, a quick chat with the indie.io team could be all it takes to turn your dreams of game development into a reality. The publisher helps dozens of tiny teams with ideation, marketing, management, release, and distribution. The indie scene is making waves yet again, and your passion project could be the next big success story.