Annapurna Interactive kicked of Tokyo Game Show 2025 with a brief showcase last night that highlighted three new indies joining its impressive list of published games which includes Donut County, Stray, and Lorelei and the Laser Eyes. The upcoming releases hail from a variety of teams and feature unusual genre mashups. Could one or more of them be a 2026 GOTY contender? Here’s a brief breakdown of each.
People of Note is an RPG for theater kids
I’ll admit, I usually try to stay as far away from theater kids as possible, doubly so if they start singing (which I’m allowed to say as a reformed theater kid myself). But People of Note, a musical RPG, is boasting turn-based battles and some really pretty-looking environments.
You travel around to different musically themed cities recruiting new band mates, but the real draw is the rhythm-based combat that evolves over the course of each fight as the music being played shifts. “Did you like Expedition 33? Did you like Kpop Demon Hunters? Well…” is the best pitch for it I’ve heard yet. It’s made by Iridium Studios and is coming to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC next year.
Demi and the Fractured Dream is a Zelda-like for Dungeon nerds
Okay, we’re getting a little warmer to my personal tastes with Demi and the Fractured Dream, a pretty familiar-looking riff on the classic Zelda puzzle action formula. You play as an antlered “voidsent” trying to lift a mysterious curse who travels to a bunch of different biomes to do that, including one that looks very Journey.
The draw here is the Devil May Cry sword combos and 3D dungeon exploration. There’s even a backwards flip just like in Ocarina of Time. Zelda homages are a dime a dozen at this point, but I’m as hungry as anyone else for clever 3D puzzles. It’s being made by Yarn Owl and it’s coming to Switch 1/2, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC next year.
D-topia is a cozy puzzle adventure for people terrified of the future
This is by far the game I came away from the showcase most excited to check out. D-topia takes place in a future where, instead of drowning us in meme-slop and cooking the planet’s atmosphere, highly advanced AI has actually helped to take care of humanity’s every seeming need. If there’s a grim Black Mirror-style lining to this sci-fi story, it’s not apparent from the first trailer.
Your job is to help the AI help make people’s lives better, exploring their personal relationships and unique life situations along the way. There’s logic puzzles, branching convos, and a very cute, very thick cat in the mix. It’s being made by Marumittu Games and coming to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, Switch, and PC in 2026.
