We are just a few short months into 2026, and we’ve already been hit with some incredible contenders for indie game of the year, including games like Hades 2 and Super Meat Boy 3D — both of which launched on Xbox and hit Xbox Game Pass on day one.

Tiny Bookshop

Roguelikes, action games, and thousand-hour epic adventures have been really dominating recent “must-play” lists. Still, there’s something to be said about taking a break from slaying goblins and appeasing Greek gods to sell some books in a peaceful coastal setting. Developed by neoludic games and published by Skystone Games, the relaxing and cozy management simulator Tiny Bookshop lets you do just that, starting up in the fictional town of Bookstonbury with a delightful tiny bookshop by the sea.

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The people of Bookstonbury are quirky and unique, each with their own preferences for reading material. It's up to you to collect items to decorate your bookshop, recommend books that suit the locals’ requests, or take a chance and try to expand your customers’ palette with a new book you think they just might love. Tiny Bookshop is a book lover’s delight, and there are countless easter eggs and references to books and series to keep an eye out for.

You can start managing your own bookshop with Tiny Bookshop now on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and compatible handheld devices. Tiny Bookshop is an Xbox Play Anywhere title, and it is also available on Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass.

Replaced

There is hardly a more topical story to be told at this time than that of sentient AI. Replaced, developed by Sad Cat Studios and published by Thunderful Publishing, is a 2.5D cinematic action platformer set in a cyberpunk world where the sinister Phoenix Corporation has created R.E.A.C.H, a sentient AI that has been trapped in a human body against its will by its corporate overlords.

Set in an alternative version of 1980s America, the Phoenix Corporation has become a haven for corruption and human bodies have become a valuable currency. Players have to run, climb, and fight through the derelict districts of Phoenix-City as R.E.A.C.H., who is forced to reconcile with the weight of humanity as an unfamiliar AI. Retro-futurism comes to life in the cyberpunk-inspired world crafted with hand-illustrated pixel art paired with a moody synth soundtrack that perfectly encapsulates the feeling of exploring what it means to be human and to have an identity.

Replaced features fluid movement and fast, responsive combat as you battle your way through the streets of Phoenix-City, industrial wastelands, and neon alleyways as you attempt to expose the secrets of the Corporation. You can jump into Replaced on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, or Xbox Cloud Gaming right now with an Xbox or PC Game Pass subscription.

Hacked: The Streamer

If you were ever enthralled with choose-you-own-adventure books, do I have a genre for you. FMV games are a classic, offering a unique way to experience stories and games that are interactive while providing an avenue to explore and experience the potential outcomes of those stories. Developed by Button Interactive and published by NAISU, Hacked: The Streamer is a FMV game that lets you shape the story of a streamer pulled into the center of a dangerous scenario.

The streamer, named PinkyPie, and her friends find their world upside down after a mysterious chatter posts a strange message during a live stream. Players have to collect clues about PinkyPie, see her life both online and off, and help to determine who could be putting the streamer in danger. Explore her relationships with her moderators, friends and foes, and piece together everybody’s story to uncover what is really going on behind the scenes.

Hacked: The Streamer is the debut indie from Button Interactive and the first in a planned anthology for the studio. You can play it today on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, or compatible handhelds, and the game does support Xbox Play Anywhere entitlements.

Content Warning

“Get famous or die trying” is certainly an interesting tag line for a game that went unbelievably viral when it launched on PC in 2024. Content Warning, developed by a 5-person team and then published by Landfall, was an early contender in the recent revival of cooperative multiplayer games that make up the “friendslop” genre popularized by social deduction games like Among Us. Grab up to three friends and dive into an underworld filled with horrifying monsters, cursed relics, and other creepy artifacts.

Why would you want to do that? To get famous, obviously. Your group will film everything while on your adventure to the Old World — the scarier the better. Keep your friends alive in the face of the unsettling, physics-animated monsters, don’t run out of camera battery or oxygen, and make it back to the surface to upload your footage to SpöökTube. Then settle in for the watch party and hope that the views start rolling in for that sweet, sweet profit.

Content Warning features 2-4 player online co-op and Xbox cross-platform multiplayer support, which is made even better by the game supporting Xbox Play Anywhere entitlements. You can invest in your future as a SpöökTuber for just $10 on your Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, or compatible handheld.

Before I Go

The start of any good metroidvania involves an ailing planet. Before I Go, developed and published by J’s Labratory starts with that premise and then builds upon it with a compelling allegorical odyssey about accepting inevitable demise. Players become the embodiment of childhood innocence, one of the only remaining souls left untainted by an infestation that has rendered the rest of the inhabitants of the world weakened.

Before I Go is a beautiful and heart-wrenching metroidvania that gives players the chance to reflect on the natural cycle of life and experience peace in acceptance, even when confronted with reality and your biggest fear. Similar to other metroidvanias like Hollow Knight or Ori and the Blind Forest, Before I go features a breathtakingly beautiful world paired with challenging side-scrolling action-platformer mechanics. It’s as beautiful as it is challenging, and its available now on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One.

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Cole is the resident Call of Duty know-it-all and indie game enthusiast for Windows Central. She's a lifelong artist with two decades of experience in digital painting, and she will happily talk your ear off about budget pen displays.