Gaming

tinyBuild's 15th Anniversary Showcase Proves Weird Games Win

By Omar aka Crypt0 · Sep 15, 2026

While the industry's biggest publishers clear the calendar for Grand Theft Auto 6, tinyBuild threw a party. The indie publisher's tinyBuild Connect 2026 showcase, streamed September 14 from Seattle, debuted trailers and announcements for 16 games to mark 15 years in business. The lineup is gloriously strange, and that is exactly the point.

The headliner is Kingmakers, the game built on one of gaming's greatest what ifs: what happens when you bring a modern arsenal to a medieval battlefield. A new 10 minute gameplay deep dive showed third person combat with guns, vehicles and air support dropped into 1403, where players help Owain Glyndwr turn a Welsh rebellion into an empire, then zoom out to command massive armies, siege castles and build outposts in real time strategy. It plays solo or in four player cooperative, and it is heading to Steam Early Access soon, with playtest signups open now.

The new reveals lean into the weird. The Crab is Walking, from Hypnohead, the team behind The King is Watching, is a roguelite kingdom builder and autobattler set on the back of a giant walking crab. Players merge buildings, unlock upgrades and reshape their settlement while traversing a post apocalyptic wasteland, with more than 100 unit types to command. Road to Jukai, previously known as Silent Road, is a psychological night shift taxi driving horror game set in Japan, coming in 2027 with a playtest available on Steam right now.

The catalog updates show a publisher playing the long game with its franchises. Graveyard Keeper 2 got a brand new demo ahead of its September 22 launch on PC and consoles, with demo progress carrying over to the full game. The Lift premiered a story trailer for its 2027 release. Hozy is coming to Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch later this year. Dinosaur survival shooter Ferocious launched on consoles. Hull Rupture dated November 4, cyberpunk shop sim Probably Stolen dated October 28 with a demo out now, and open world RPG Of Ash and Steel announced console ports plus a Shattered Faith expansion. ReStory celebrated 500,000 copies sold with a free update landing September 21.

The strategy underneath is the real story. Mid size publishers are thriving by doing what the giants shy away from: betting on odd ideas, shipping demos and playtests instead of hype cycles, and building franchises over years rather than quarters. Every announcement in the showcase came with something playable or a date, a discipline the AAA marketing machine could learn from. In a year when the industry's biggest release has everyone else hiding, tinyBuild scheduled its biggest showcase yet.

For players wading through a September packed with blockbusters, the indie shelf is the palate cleanser. The Crab is Walking alone justifies keeping an eye on the weird corner of the store. The demo era is the best thing to happen to game discovery in years: try the strange ones, keep the ones that click, and let the blockbusters wait their turn. Weird wins.

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