How I Find Indie Games Nobody Is Talking About Yet.
Sep 22
How I Find Games Nobody Is Talking About Yet
How do you discover interesting games before an algorithm, review score, or viral trailer tells you what deserves your attention?
In this solo episode of The Summoning Hour, Joe Belousek breaks down the method he uses to find unusual games, investigate the developers behind them, and turn a single discovery into a much larger trail of creative ideas, production lessons, and potential conversations.
This isn't a countdown of the "best hidden indie games," and obscurity isn't treated as a sign of quality. Instead, Joe looks at discovery as a research process: What caught your attention? Who made it? What problem were they trying to solve? What can demos, devlogs, update histories, previous projects, professional profiles, showcase rosters, communities, and interviews tell you that a storefront capsule can't?
Using games including Crystal Project, Hexistance, Pigeon: A Love Story, Skills and Raids, VOIN, and War Fantasy, Joe explores how he uses Steam, itch.io, showcases, professional networks, GitHub, communities, and better search queries to follow the trail beyond the game itself.
He also shares five questions he uses to decide whether a discovery is worth investigating further:
Is there a clear creative thesis? Is there an interesting constraint? Did something difficult happen—and how did the developer respond? Does the developer communicate thoughtfully? Can the audience learn something useful even without playing the game?
Finally, Joe explains an important distinction for The Summoning Hour: a game worth mentioning isn't automatically a developer worth interviewing. Finding a compelling project is only the beginning.
Because good game discovery shouldn't end with a wishlist.
It should branch.
GAMES & CREATORS MENTIONED
Crystal Project - Steam
Hexistence - Steam
Pigeon: A Love Story - Steam
FACEMINER - Steam
Skills & Raids - Steam
VOIN - Steam
War Fantasy - Steam
Steam Next Fest
