Game Review
20 Best Upcoming Indie Games to Wishlist on Steam (2026)
By Ocellus · April 7, 2026
Co-opChaoticFunnyMultiplayerIndie
Steam's wishlist feature exists for a reason. These 21 upcoming indie games are exactly why — from co-op chaos and tornado survival to gnome burglary and a sentient elevator that wants to eat you.
There's a specific feeling you get when you stumble across an indie game on Steam that hasn't come out yet and you just know. The concept is weird enough to be interesting, the screenshots look genuinely fun, and the dev is clearly passionate. That feeling is exactly what wishlisting is for.
2026 has been a surprisingly stacked year for upcoming indie games across every genre — co-op shooters, horror sandbox games, cozy hangout experiences, dungeon crawlers, zombie survival, and a few things that genuinely don't fit into any category. Here are 21 of the best ones currently sitting on our wishlist.
1. Burglin' Gnomes
The buzz around this one is real. You and up to five friends are tiny gnomes breaking into the homes of unsuspecting humans, stealing valuables, wrecking things, and completing tasks for your boss, the High-Gnome. The homeowner will actively hunt you down and murder you in creative ways. PC Gamer called it "the next great friend-slop game" and described it as having all the ingredients for an R.E.P.O.-level explosion. The free demo has been pulling huge numbers. A free demo is live right now — try it before the full game launches.
2. Far Far West
Robot cowboys. Magic spells. Monster bounties. Far Far West is a 1–4 player co-op extraction shooter from Evil Raptor (the team behind Pumpkin Jack) where you drop into supernatural Western maps to complete objectives, blast skeleton creatures, and extract safely. The demo made the top 5 most played during Steam Next Fest and sits at 98% positive reviews. Kotaku compared it to Helldivers 2 with a cowboy twist, which is as good a description as any. This one is going to be huge when it fully launches.
3. Funnel Runners
Trapped in a doomed city with an F5 tornado bearing down on you and up to 7 friends, your van broken down, and a whole town to scavenge for parts before the storm tears everything apart. Funnel Runners is a first-person co-op survival game built around total environmental destruction and a punishing time limit. The storm doesn't wait. Buildings that contain items you need will be gone if you take too long. It's Twister meets Lethal Company and it's one of the most original co-op concepts in a long time.
4. We Gotta Go
A co-op horror comedy about desperately needing to find the bathroom in a haunted mansion before your bowels betray you. This is not a joke. The premise is that fear, stress, and bad food choices push your gut closer to disaster, and you need to navigate ghostly halls and survive supernatural encounters to reach the toilet before it's too late. The free demo is available now, it's ridiculous, and it's exactly the kind of unhinged concept that goes viral. Publisher Mad Mushroom is behind it, which is a good sign.
5. Sledding Game
One solo developer. His first game ever. An absolute banger of a concept. Sledding Game is a multiplayer snowsports hangout game with proximity chat — you sled down hills, build ramps, race friends, have snowball fights, make snowmen, play minigames, drink hot chocolate by the cabin fire, and occasionally get punted back onto the course by a yeti. It's cozy, funny, and completely charming. VICE called it "the most adorable little game to exist" and the demo earned overwhelmingly positive reviews. Easy wishlist.
6. Gamble With Your Friends
A 1–6 player co-op "casino crawler" where everyone shares one bank account and one massive debt to a loan shark. You climb a casino tower, gambling and buying sketchy items to hit the daily quota. It's basically Lethal Company if the moons were replaced with blackjack tables and the entities were financial consequences. The concept is immediately understandable to anyone who's ever played co-op horror games and thought "what if the quota mechanic was more stressful and also gambling."
7. Gang of Frogs
Outlaw frogs. Sailing through the galaxy. Fighting hordes of monstrous bugs. Gang of Frogs is a 1–4 player co-op roguelite shooter where you plunder loot, upgrade weapons, eat flies, and battle your way through space as frog pirates. The playtest has been live and getting strong community reception. The art style is vibrant, the concept is endlessly fun to say out loud, and this is exactly the kind of weird indie game that builds a devoted following before it even officially releases.
8. BunkerZ
Stylized WWI trenches. Zombies. An arsenal of era-specific weapons including shovels and flamethrowers. BunkerZ drops you and your squad into WWI-themed undead survival where you hold the bunker as a Rifleman, Medic, Engineer, or Machine Gunner, blasting the undead sky-high with grenades and explosives. The combination of a genuinely unique historical setting with co-op horde survival makes this one stand out in a crowded genre. Role-based gameplay always creates better co-op moments too.
9. Rebels of the Realm
A vibrant, low-poly co-op RPG about conquering dungeons with friends, with enough goofy charm to offset the strategic depth. You pick from Fighters, Mages, Rogues, and Paladins, swap class whenever you're in town, and work through ever-changing dungeons toward boss fights. The standout mechanic: when you die, ragdoll physics send your body flying anywhere in the arena, and teammates can revive you — but they have to actually go find you first. That alone creates more memorable moments than most dungeon crawlers manage.
10. My Pet Hooligan
A 1–4 player co-op third-person shooter where you play as cartoon rabbits liberating a city from Zuck Corp — an obviously fictional corporation run by an obviously fictional CEO — using gadgets, roguelite perks, and cartoon weapons including toilet plungers and flamethrowers. Skateboard between objectives, destroy everything, upgrade your rabbit. It's satirical, visually chaotic, and genuinely funny in a way that usually requires a bigger budget. Targeting Q2 2026 for full release.
11. Deep Dish Dungeon
From the makers of Knights of Pen & Paper and published by Raw Fury, Deep Dish Dungeon is a survival exploration game set in a handcrafted dungeon with Metroidvania progression and crafting elements. You navigate puzzles, uncover secrets, and survive — solo or in online co-op. The demo launched during Steam Next Fest and the response has been warm. It's methodical, atmospheric, and scratches a very specific itch that most co-op dungeon games don't bother with.
12. MineGeon: Renegades
A co-op roguelite bullet-hell on a dying planet called Paimo, combining resource gathering with intense combat. You and friends descend, fight, gather, and upgrade together. The bullet-hell angle on top of a mining/resource loop is an unusual combination that creates its own flavor of chaos — you're dodging projectiles while also trying to actually accomplish something. A demo is available, and it's been building quiet momentum with the roguelite crowd.
13. Zeverland
A co-op sandbox zombie survival game set at the very start of the apocalypse — not the aftermath, not year 10, literally minute one. The water's still running. You and friends can choose how to respond: build a rocket, find a cure, build a tower the zombies can't climb, or just do whatever. No rails, no prescribed path. It's the kind of open-ended zombie survival sandbox that feels overdue, and the stylized cartoon visuals keep it from taking itself too seriously.
14. Barbarian
Built entirely by a solo developer, Barbarian is an open-world survival crafting RPG with brutal boss fights, skill-based combat with independent hand controls (strike with one hand, parry with the other), base building, and seamless multiplayer. The scope for a solo dev project is genuinely impressive, and the combat system's physical approach gives it a feel unlike most games in the genre. One to watch.
15. Lay of the Land
A sandbox adventure set in a fantasy world where everything is physically simulated. Explore, fight, loot, and build your way through mysterious lands using the environment to your advantage. Released April 8th. The physical simulation angle means every playthrough generates emergent moments that scripted games can't replicate — things fall, break, bounce, and interact in ways the developer didn't program directly. Always interesting in a sandbox context.
16. Soul Maze
A 2–4 player online co-op maze game with a fantastic twist: if your team fails to recover enough soul fragments before time runs out, the team votes on which teammate becomes the enemy for the next round. That one mechanic creates an entirely different social dynamic than any other co-op game. Suddenly everyone's invested in performance in a very different way — not just because losing is bad, but because someone specific is going to pay for it.
17. Dead Rush
A fast-paced FPS arcade zombie shooter with stylized visuals and relentless waves of undead. Collect weapons, adapt using perks and upgrades, and keep moving — constant movement is the key mechanic. Simple enough that anyone can jump in, deep enough in its upgrade and perk systems that repeat runs feel different. Good for groups who want something immediate and high-energy without a learning curve.
18. Dungellion
A roguelite with battle royale and action-RPG elements inspired by Binding of Isaac, Enter the Gungeon, and Nuclear Throne. Up to 4 players fight in randomly generated arenas, finding unique abilities and building synergies. Survive the arena, take your loot to the next stage, and compete against the winners of other arenas. The number of stages is unlimited — the further you go, the deadlier it gets for everyone.
19. Luminleaf Chronicles
A local multiplayer game for 1–4 players blending survival, adventure, and roguelike elements. Acquire items, upgrade skills, and defeat continuously spawning bosses together. The local multiplayer focus is increasingly rare and worth celebrating — sitting next to someone and playing a roguelite survival game together hits differently than online co-op.
20. Reign of Victory
A multiplayer open-world RPG where you choose your path — villager, knight, or outlaw — and build, trade, fight, conquer, raid, or steal your way to becoming the victor. The freedom to be a productive member of the game's economy or a complete chaos agent in the same world as other players creates the kind of unpredictable stories you can't get from scripted games. Worth watching if you're into multiplayer RPGs that don't hold your hand.
The Bottom Line
Steam's wishlist button is one of the most important things you can do for a small indie developer — it directly impacts how Steam's algorithm surfaces the game. If anything on this list looked interesting, hit wishlist. It costs nothing and it genuinely helps the dev.
The standouts from this list for our money: Burglin' Gnomes and Far Far West are the two most likely to have a viral moment when they fully launch. Funnel Runners is the wildcard that could genuinely surprise everyone. And Sledding Game is one of the most charming upcoming indie projects on all of Steam, full stop.
Check back as more of these drop — 2026 is shaping up to be a great year for indie gaming.
All games listed are available to wishlist on Steam. Release dates are subject to change.