Though I do love covering showcases, sometimes when they are already in busy periods of the year, they are not as fun to cover. Thankfully, I got “lumped” with the showcase hosted by Aliya Will and Philip Hartshorn, the Women-Led Showcase. I did moan about production yesterday during the Wholesome Snack. All I’ll say is that you’re allowed to have the room sound; the microphone doesn’t need to sound like it is in your throat. It just doesn’t sound natural or nice to listen to with all that bass and lack of air in the sound.

Enough with me being pedantic, the first thing we saw for the Women-Led Games: TGA 2025 showcase was an update for CODE Bunny, which was released last year. With the 1.4.0 update… which was released in April, according to Steam updates. The update includes a new boss rush mode, there are new moves, and more. An odd one to open the show with in December, to say the very least.

Up next was something else that I think we’ve covered before, in Potions: A Curious Tale. A sort of adventure RPG, but with a mix of character art that feels modern and world art that feels as if it came out of early 2010s RPG Maker games. Highly praised since its release in March of 2024, this update was more about the 1.1.0.0 update and console releases, now on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and of course still on Steam. The trailer is teasing a new dungeon.

Onto something new now, and it is one of those bullet hell/bullet heavens everyone is banging on about. Simply described as “Spin. Shoot. Survive.” ROTATO sees you play as a planet, which is sick of all this space junk hitting its surface, so it evolves big guns and becomes a “fast-paced roguelite survival game,” where you shoot down hordes of other planets, aliens, asteroids, and so on. There is supposed to be a demo out now, but at the time of writing, that’s not available. However, ROTATO will be released sometime in March of 2026.

Returning to things that are already out, and that I have far too many emails about, we head now to Astral Clocktower Studios’ Kristala. Released into early access back in 2024, the 1.0 patch for this very 2000s Eastern European-looking RPG is set to come sometime in Q1 of 2026. With the release of Kristala on Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store.

I think I created a term for these games in my notes, “Desktop-mates.” Released just the other week, Studio BitDot’s Nano Neighbors is one of those ADHD desktop companion games that you sometimes interact with. Well, now Nano Neighbors is crossing over with the progenitor of the genre as well as something else, Rusty’s Retirement and Ropuka’s Idle Island. According to the Steam patch note, the latest update adds Rusty and Ropuka, who can sit around in your apartment in Nano Neighbors.

For weeks, I’ve had emails about this next one, not entirely understanding its point. Peripheral Playbox just released Drywall Eating Simulator, which we’ve seen before in one of these showcases, but the comedic adventure is out now. I don’t know that there is much else to say; it is a satirical bite at corporate life and late-stage capitalism.

After that, I got a little scared, as we received a talking-to from Digital Extremes and Warframe’s Creative Director, Rebecca Ford. Thankfully, it was one of those “You can do anything you want, girls,” which feels a touch condescending in a showcase that already features games led by women. Thankfully, we didn’t get much on Warframe itself, with Ford teasing something for The Game Awards, which Alexx is covering. Indeed, ha ha!

Up next, we got a look at something that I don’t think I understand, but I am interested nonetheless. Amberbite’s art director came to talk about Shoe it All! and its art, the art inspirations, and to tell us about the demo available now. What I couldn’t totally get from the trailer was that this is a physics-based sort of thing where you are on a playground swing and have to kick your shoe off to hit and/or destroy things. An odd little thing indeed, with a wonderful bit of art direction, and a release set to come sometime in Q2 of 2026.

Ok, everyone act surprised when I say that the next game was the first thing to make me scream I want it now. Dodo Duckie is a 2D platformer crossed with a 3D platformer. No, my notes haven’t been eaten by my pet duck, in Dodo Duckie, you platform around in 2D, but occasionally puzzles can only be solved in 3D, which help you platform in 2D, and vice-versa. What won’t surprise you if you’ve been around long enough is that my notes read: “Photomode!?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m in…”

The trailer noted that there will be a demo out in February, but there is currently a playtest available. The release is expected on Steam sometime in Q1 of 2026.

An odd little one is next up, which is a mix of Rogue-likes and Cook, Serve, Delicious. Goblin Sushi sees you making sushi for horrible little goblins in a dungeon’s restaurant. Oddly enough, however, this one isn’t just releasing on PC, but isn’t releasing on consoles. Set to release sometime in February, you’ll find Goblin Sushi on Steam, the Apple App Store, and the Google Play Store.

The next one, I might need a whole two paragraphs on, as Brave New Wonders doesn’t do itself many favors with the trailer. The concept is that of a factory sim, akin to Satisfactory or Factorio, but instead of those pesky conveyor belts, you use flying AI automatons to transport all your stuff about. “So what is the problem?” It isn’t the in-game transportation robots having an illusion to AI-based machines, but rather the next bit. Where you can generate instructions with prompts, with the quote, “AI will generate a behavior template, so you can use it next time.”

The Steam page for Brave New Wonders notes, “No illustrations, 3D models, textures, animations, sound effects, music, voice performance, or story in Brave New Wonders were generated by AI. We believe in the place human artists have had and will have in the world. We do not condone the use of generative AI that exploits human artists by denying them fair compensation or that reduces the meaning of their work.” Either the AI aspect is poorly explained, or it is (albeit limited) generative AI prompts to effectively program machines in a factory. Sounded cool until the AI bit got a bit too shaky. There is a demo out now, and no release date.

From something that explains itself poorly to something that is too simple to mess up, Bento Blocks. The first game from SOMETIMES LIMITED, Bento Blocks, sees you creating packaged Japanese take-out boxes with simple cutting motions. An idea that would have worked brilliantly in the early days of smartphones, Bento Blocks is effectively one of those “casual” puzzle games with a cozy vibe of cutting up lunch to fit into specific boxes. Bento Blocks is set to release on January 29th, 2026.

I won’t spend too much time on this, but next up was a 1000 Dreams Fund showcase and the “Content Creator of the Year” award, which the 1000 Dreams Fund is financing. We’ll put aside the fact that if you say “Content Creator” around me, you’ll end up in a grave, but a grant of $1000 to the winner feels really slim to do anything with in the current economy. Nonetheless, it went to ChellOfAGamer.

The showcase of Michelle Santos and Ritus Studio’s Neve doesn’t feel like it tells you enough about it without the prompt that we went into a horror-narrative run from here on in. The Steam description notes: “Neve is a non-linear interactive fiction in which your decisions can completely change the course of [the] story. Manage your team, race against time [,] and unravel the mysteries surrounding your ship’s crash in this suffocating retro-futuristic thriller that will have you hooked from the first second.” Trouble is, I need to be hooked now to even care about the release on February 27th, 2026.

A bit clearer, Trioskaz’s Lost in the Roots is both very creepy from the outset and very easy to describe from looking at the trailer. A 2D psychological thriller point and click adventure game, Lost in the Roots, really doesn’t hold back. From the word go, it is quite graphic and upsetting with what I’m hesitant to say are monsters because… psychological horror is always going to use graphic and monstrous imagery to depict unresolved parental issues. No release date yet, there is a playtest on Steam to join, but all we’ve got is the broad “early 2026.”

Another Eastern European sort of game, but this time in the horror vein, [Bober Bros] No Means Nothing. Very purposefully, a game about toxic relationships and being in a horrible situation, one that I might even threaten to make an illusion to Ren’s “Violet’s Tale” from the Jenny and Screech saga. So no, not a happy-go-lucky offering this one. No Means NoThing, as it is stylized in the trailer, is out now on Steam.

From horrible circumstances to literal nightmares. Supr Experience’s Yuha’s Nightmares is a dreamscape adventure thing that puts you into the nightmares of the developer and uses the world of gaming to layer in puzzles and story elements. Honestly? I don’t hate the idea, but I don’t understand this one because it doesn’t feel like something that inherently pulls me in. The intrigue for me is more in the language of games and how that’s used in Yuha’s Nightmares than in itself. Yuha’s Nightmares will be released sometime in the spring of 2026.

My note on this next one is quite literally, “Yeah, no. F[expletive]k you fella… Don’t be hanging around the entrance like that, ya creepy little [penis].” Ankoku’s Blueman is an office horror thing where salarymen are faceless drones in a creepy office. The big creepy naked woman coming out of the floor and eating the salarymen isn’t the creepy thing here, it is more the office, corporate setting. Well, Blueman is out today as this article releases, and there is a demo available at the time of writing.

From seeing something for the first time to an average Royal Mail shift in a post office with Letter Lost. Developed by FlatNine Games, this is one that I’ve had on my wishlist for a while now and is a very interesting-looking remote post office simulator. A bit more unsettling horror than “BOO!!!” but certainly something that I’m excited for nonetheless. Letter Lost will be releasing on Steam in March 2026, but if you can’t wait, there is a demo out now.

Without saying it, the game of Haifa focuses on a group of rather light-skinned folks who probably “immigrated” to the area in the Middle East and now can’t find their friend. Listen, if I have to pull out a map for you to realize a game that only references “This game tackles issues revolving around war,” in the mature content warning, for you to get what I’m saying, I think you have bigger problems. Visually, Haifa is leaps and bounds above the other hidden object puzzle games (Big Fish Games games) we often see.

However, if we were talking about the morals of the whole thing, including not acknowledging it by name, we might be here until the release on January 26th, 2026. From what little I’ve said thus far, it is more than the Steam page or trailer admits, but the history of the city of Haifa includes the Ottoman Empire and a British Mandate. If that doesn’t hammer my point home.

I think I called A Heavy Morning a depression simulator before, and of course, I repeated that in my notes, again. A Heavy Morning is a story-based puzzle game about the struggles of mental health and the struggles of getting out of bed in the morning. Visually, it is stunning, with the trailer being the game’s creator noting her original intention for A Heavy Morning to be a short film. A Heavy Morning will release on Steam sometime in Q2 of 2026.

One that seems out of place almost now, we saw Tara Kan’s Provoron either earlier this year or sometime last year, and I struggle to get excited by it. A psychological horror narrative point and click title, Provoron is a dark narrative that isn’t going to be a fun, light, jaunty skip through the meadows, but rather a depressing Eastern European adventure. There is a demo out now for Provoron, and while there is no release date given, we do know it will be sometime in “early 2026.”

From something I have no interest in to “give it to me, give it to me now!” Developed by Sunny Lab and with heavy anime art influences, The Witch’s Bakery looks stunning and sounds almost better, though it is French. We can’t have two years in a row where the best game of the year is French, that’s just not on. The Witch’s Bakery is a 2D adventure RPG where you play as a witch who runs a bakery. Get me the hot chocolate and an afternoon of The Witch’s Bakery, and I’ll be more than happy.

The Witch’s Bakery doesn’t have a release date just yet, but you can wishlist for Xbox, PS5, Switch, and of course on Steam. The latter of which notes a release window of 2026. It can’t come soon enough.

From wholesome witches to a Panic! At The Disco reference. Studio Wife’s I Write Games Not Tragedies is a narrative visual novel rhythm game set around emo/goth culture within the UK between the 2000s and early 2020s. Nearly every single word in that was aimed directly at me, and then it was a rhythm game, and I lost interest instantly. I Write Games Not Tragedies was released back in November to positive reviews, and there is a demo available now.

With that niche out of the way, let me be as broad as the side profile of a sheet of A4 by saying this next one is a Derek Acorah simulator. Ghost Cam is a paranormal investigating/ghost hunting thing that can be played like a normal game or played in VR. As an idea, I don’t hate it, and in fact, it does make me think of a funny YouTube video idea, but otherwise, I don’t see Ghost Cam standing out much. You can pick up Ghost Cam on Steam and Meta Quest systems on January 19th, 2026.

Following that, we got a look at something I got an email about before the showcase, 1TK’s Turnbound. A PvP auto battler that is releasing into early access on January 22nd, 2026. Personally, I don’t understand the auto battler thing, but I will say that I like the art style of Turnbound, which “borrows” an RPG rogue-ish Robin Hood and the Halloween store Alice costume without the over-exposed nature. One to keep an eye on, but not something that piques my interest.

I’ll hold back saying that co-op makes horror less horror for obvious reasons, but I do like the idea of Jade Meadows’ Blue Ridge Hunting. A “co-op horror game set in the Appalachian Mountains,” which can be played solo. I think it is the art style that feeds well into the horror vibe rather than an actual want to play, but if you want to check it out now, there is a demo available. With a Kickstarter set to come soon, an early 2026 access release is intended.

Humorous trailer with a United Healthcare joke in it aside, Ledgerbound is a turn-based strategy RPG set in a kingdom of bureaucracy. The trailer doesn’t really showcase the gameplay, but rather the comedy elements that could be hit or miss in this narrative-driven fantasy title. Not to say that’s entirely a bad thing, I’ve certainly wishlisted Ledgerbound for it, but balancing that could be difficult. There is a demo available now for OmniMegaSuperCorp’s upcoming title, with the trailer noting a Spring 2026 release.

SlugGlove’s next game didn’t seem like my type of thing initially, but then I saw how it deals with puzzles. Rhell: Warped Worlds & Troubled Times (I’m not writing that again) sees you playing as Rhell, as they explore a semi-open world full of puzzles that require “playing” with the world itself. Is there something behind a set of bars? Turn said bars into water and just walk through them, as seen in the trailer. I, for one, am very interested in Rhell: Warped Worlds & Troubled Times (copy-pasted) when it releases on March 19th, 2026. Though if you can’t wait that long, there is a demo out right now.

Going back to the theme that started the show, Dice Gambit is a game that’s out now, and I can’t tell beyond promoting the game why it is here. We do get an explanation from Chromatic Ink’s co-founder and art director about Dice Gambit and its influences, but I don’t know if that is what made me wishlist it or just the art direction itself. Out now, you can pick up Dice Gambit on Steam, or you can check out the demo before picking it up.

Onto the final game, given Alexx’s hyperactiveness with Llamalandia, Millionhare Studios’ Stardew Valley-like Wish Upon A Llama might do things to him, too. If you’re into that farming life sim thing, albeit with animal breeding this time, then there is nowhere else to go, as this colorful and bright adventure awaits. We didn’t get a specific date, but the trailer did note “Coming this Winter,” which is days away. However, Steam lists Q1 2026, so at least one of them is probably right.

As always, you can find the full showcase down below. Tell us, what are you most excited about from this year’s Game Awards edition of the Women-Led Games showcase?

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