If the enormous halls of gamescom weren’t already giving indie developers enough room to show off what they’ve been working on, Awesome Indies squeezed a whole lot more of them into one 75-minute show.
Hosted by IGN on August 27th, the Gamescom Awesome Indies Show is exactly what the name suggests. It’s a showcase dedicated to indie games, with developers from around the world getting the chance to show off new trailers, gameplay, announcements, and whatever else they’ve brought with them to Cologne.
There was a lot to get through this year too, including seven rogue games.
Six are still on the way, while one is already out and ready to play, so at least you won’t have to add everything to the increasingly dangerous pile of games you’re waiting for.
Here are the seven roguelikes and roguelites that appeared during the gamescom Awesome Indies Show 2026.
Deck of Memories
Sentiment Games brought Deck of Memories to Awesome Indies, a narrative deckbuilder that swaps battling monsters for piecing together the memories of someone you’ve lost.
You play as Mina, who returns to the lighthouse where her grandfather worked and discovers a deck of cards capable of bringing his memories to life. Each one becomes a small diorama to explore, with cards used to stabilize fading memories, combine different effects, and gradually uncover more of his story.
There are trinkets to attach to cards, new ones to craft, and memory shards that can be spent on additional cards, tools, and collectibles. Interestingly, despite Steam currently carrying a roguelite tag, Sentiment Games says Deck of Memories isn’t a traditional roguelike. It’s aiming for something considerably calmer when it arrives in 2027.
Chronoscript: The Endless End
DeskWorks gave us another look at Chronoscript: The Endless End, where being asked to edit someone’s unfinished manuscript goes considerably worse than expected.
Frederick G. Muller is summoned to the mansion of an immortal vampire author, only to wake up inside a manuscript that has been writing itself for more than 1,000 years. Escaping means exploring the story and somehow finding a way to bring its seemingly endless tale to a close.
The mansion itself is presented in 3D, but jumping into manuscript pages takes you into hand-drawn 2D worlds filled with enemies, exploration, and the corrupted souls of people who died in the real world.
Chronoscript: The Endless End is currently planned for late 2026, with a demo already available on Steam if you fancy getting lost in the story early.
NINE ROUNDS RAPID
South Westerly Games used Awesome Indies to show off NINE ROUNDS RAPID, an action roguelike where dying doesn’t necessarily mean you have to live with your mistakes.
You’re trapped aboard a possessed space station, with nine procedurally generated levels and nine gatekeepers standing between you and getting out. Fortunately, you can pause, slow, and rewind time whenever things start going horribly wrong, giving you another chance to dodge an attack or rethink whatever terrible decision got you into trouble.
Weapons can be modified and abilities upgraded throughout a run, while co-op lets another player join the escape either locally or online. NINE ROUNDS RAPID is currently targeting Q3 2027. That’s quite a wait, although being able to manipulate time apparently doesn’t extend to release dates.
Dungeon Lurker
13AM Games took things back a few decades with Dungeon Lurker, a retro action roguelike built with 256 colors and plenty of things waiting underground to kill you.
You’ll descend into a cursed dungeon filled with goblins, ghouls, werewolves, and more than 30 handcrafted levels, searching for secrets and hidden routes while trying to make it back to the surface alive. There’s no procedural generation here, with the roguelike structure instead coming from repeated expeditions and the progression happening between them.
Equipment, spells, and charms can all be improved before heading down again, while the game’s old-school approach extends to a manual containing clues and secrets you’ll need to decipher yourself.
Dungeon Lurker doesn’t have a release date yet, but there’s already a demo available on Steam. It’s also received over 100,000 wishlists so far.
SATED
Forest Reges brought something considerably less appetizing to Awesome Indies with SATED, a cooking roguelike where apparently almost anything counts as an ingredient.
You’ll travel through a randomized underground network feeding the creatures living beneath a decaying megastructure, with a sentient refrigerator deciding what you have available for dinner. Ingredients include everything from human eyes and insects to batteries and industrial waste, so nobody is getting five stars for presentation here.
Modifiers can improve your chances of creating something useful, while the order ingredients are added can change the result. Get things wrong and your meal could end up moldy, cursed, or alive.
Different tram stations lead to new encounters and consequences as each run develops. SATED doesn’t have a release date yet.
Wishseeker
Wishseeker is a tactical roguelite from Meloncat that wants to solve one of co-op’s oldest problems…Waiting around while everyone else decides what they’re doing.
You’ll take a party of four into the constantly changing Hollow Vault, fighting grid-based battles where everyone can take their turn simultaneously. The whole party can be controlled solo, or up to three friends can join you without turning every encounter into a lengthy discussion about who should move first.
Each run offers different characters, skills, and artifacts to build around. Eight playable characters are currently planned, each with more than 20 unique skills, alongside at least five biomes and multiple bosses to fight your way through.
There’s no release date for Wishseeker yet, so unfortunately that’s one wait the game can’t remove.
Deadly Days: Roadtrip
Pixelsplit also brought Deadly Days: Roadtrip along to Awesome Indies, although unlike the other games on this list, you can already play this one.
The zombie roguelite entered Early Access in September 2025, mixing survivors-like combat with extraction and an inventory system where finding something useful is only the beginning. You’ll fight through hordes while searching for weapons, loot, and fuel for your bus, then decide how long you’re willing to stick around before getting out.
Everything you collect has to fit into your backpack, with careful placement creating different combinations and helping shape your build. There are multiple characters to play, plenty of items to experiment with, and more content planned on the road to 1.0.
Plenty More Indies to Discover
Awesome Indies was only 75 minutes long, but it managed to squeeze a lot into that time, and these seven games were only a small part of what was shown.
There’s a good mix for rogue fans too. We’ve got decks built around memories, time manipulation, tactical co-op, questionable cooking, zombie-filled road trips, and plenty of dungeons still waiting to kill us. Some are a little way off yet, but there are demos to try in the meantime, and Deadly Days: Roadtrip is already there if you want something new to play right now.
Gamescom still has a couple of days left, so we’re not done digging through everything Cologne has thrown at us just yet. Something tells us there are still a few more rogues waiting to be found.