If you've been following Gamer Social Club on the website, news podcast or socials recently you will know that the UK team attended London Games Festival's New Game Plus event. It was a great event that the team hope to return to next year, Lady V has an excellent write up on the show itself if is something you're interested in attending next year. I (Mark), V and Harry also talked about their some of the show highlights on this week's news podcast.

In a new short series to finish up our coverage of the show, the four GSC contributors who attended the show will be writing up their top-5 games of the show. Many of the games featured at New Game Plus were new to us, and will likely be new to our audience too. GSC like to give spotlight to smaller indie titles, just as much as the household name franchises we all love.

We are hoping to land interviews with developers of many of the games featured in this top-5 article series so please keep checking back for more coverage of some fantastic indie titles. Please do these passionate small developers a favour and check out their webpages or Steam store listings for further details.

First up, I will give you my top-5.

Time Flies

• Developer: Playables
• Publisher: Panic
• Release date: 2025
• Platforms: PC (Steam), Nintendo Switch, PS5

Much like many of the games in this listicle, I don't think I've ever played a game like Time Flies. The game revolves around you playing as a fly with a ~80 second life. In the short time you have as the fly, you're tasked with completing a bucket list of objectives that would appear on many human's list of things to do in life - such as making friends, learning to play an instrument (by flying past a guitar to strum it), getting drunk (by landing in spilled wine) and more.

It's a very adorable small-scale adventure about our limited time on earth. In the short 15 minutes of playtime, Time Flies genuinely left me with a lasting feeling of mortality. Or, as the developer rather brashly puts it "Make the best of the time you have left, because we're all going to die."

The game will release on Steam, Nintendo Switch and PlayStation later this year. You can wishlist on Steam now.

Platypus Reclayed

• Developer: Claymatic Games
• Publisher: Claymatic Games
• Release date: 2025
• Platforms: PC (Steam), Xbox, Nintendo Switch, PS5

Many lifelong gamers have games from our childhood that were simply lost to memory. I hold my head in shame that Platypus was one of those. I owned the original on a PC CDROM, but walking in to New Game Plus I instantly recognised the stunning clay art style of the game. Speaking to the PR representative for the game on the day, the developer of this remake is the original's creator, Anthony Flack.

The game is a complete revamp of the original sidescrolling shoot-em-up, 23 years on. As you can see from the trailer, the game is built from clay, in a very Wallace and Gromit style. It is truly gorgeous and I can't imagine how many hours of painstaking building and capture it must have taken to "˜re-clay' the game.

Myself and Addy played through a few levels in couch co-op which felt fluid and rewarding. Score based gameplay and adjustable difficulties will be available at launch, we played on hard and it was a nice level of challenge and fun.

The game will release on Steam, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PlayStation later this year. You can wishlist on Steam now and find the developers on X or Bluesky, or join their Discord where the developers are sharing their progress.

Lushfoil Photography Sim

• Developer: Matt Newell
• Publisher: Annapurna Interactive
• Release date: April 15 2025
• Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5

Lushfoil was one of my games to watch before we attended LGF and it really did deliver. If the game is anything, it is absolutely beautiful and one of the best looking games I have ever seen. I spent as much time looking through photos that other event attendees had taken, as I did exploring a Japanese themed vista taking snaps of my own.

For my ten minutes of gameplay time, it felt like the tranquil and cosy experience I'd hoped it would be. I didn't get to experience the full range of areas the game has to offer - snowcapped Icelandic volcanoes, mid-West America-like range, then a Himalayan-like mountain range - but what I did see was enough to convince me I will indeed be playing the game.

I did slightly struggle to get to grips with the camera options - settings that you’d expect from a real-world professional DSLR camera – however with a full tutorial I'd be confident that everyone will be able to get to grips.

You can wishlist and download a demo on Steam now. The game is also coming to Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 in the coming days.

to a T

• Developer: uvula
• Publisher: Annapurna Interactive
• Release date: 28 May 2025
• Platforms: PC (Steam), Xbox Series X/S (including Xbox Game Pass)

I've been looking forward to to a T since it was revealed by Annapurna. Annapurna, alongside Devolver, are one of my favourite publishers for creating indie games that are "˜out there'. to a T's cute art style and characters really interested me alongside its episodic story and getting my hands on an early section of the game didn't disappoint.

to a T places players as a young character who is constantly stuck in a "˜T' position. By this, meaning their arms are constantly at full wingspan meaning the most simple of tasks are incredibly difficult - thankfully we're joined by our adorable companion and assistant dog. During the segment I played, our mutt friend helped me to brush my teeth and get dressed for school. Sounds simple and dull gameplay wise, but as you would expect from a game developed by the Katamari Demacy's creator, it was loaded with charm.

Since playing the game, I've read something about the game that made me realise it has a real social impact too. Eurogamer's article about how to a T depicts living with a disability, albeit in a lighthearted accessible way to those who live without a disability, is striking. If you're someone who, like me, believes that game have the ability to invoke real emotion and societal impact, I implore you to read Eurogamer's piece.

to a T launches on Steam and Xbox, including Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Play anywhere on 28 May 2025.

Beyond the Board

• Developer: Fragile Shapes Studio
• Publisher: Beyond the Board
• Release date: 2025
• Platforms: PC (Steam)

During the Covid-19 pandemic chess, a game typically played across the table from another, had a big resurgence. Many people took the classic table top game of outsmarting the other player to the virtual space as a way to remain socially interacted. There have been several adaptations of chess gameplay in video games since then and this is a fine example.

Whilst Beyond the Board is chess inspired, the developer says “this is (not) a chess game“. The title takes the principles of chess movement to an adventure game, where you play as a Rook who is chasing an ever-running enemy King across multiple shifting boards in a 3D realm. There are clever puzzle mechanics on the maps as you try to checkmate the King, meanwhile there are hidden areas to find which add replayability to the game.

Beyond the Board has a number of accolades on its Steam page already and with a release date still not even confirmed, the broader appeal of the game is evident. I met with one of the developers, Guilherme at the event and have since been in touch with someone who is very passionate about this project. I look forward to covering the game closer to launch.

Beyond the Board will launch on Steam later this year with a demo ahead of launch.

Conclusion to New Game Plus

London Games Fest offered much more than these five indies and what is wonderful about the industry today is the way new and fresh titles can find their way to your PC or console. Whilst we get games like Balatro which have juggernaut overnight success, there are hundreds of quality games that many will never hear of. So, if you're a fan of something different and want to give developers who really care about their games a chance, please check them out. These were my top-5 of the show and the other three UK Gamer Social Club contributors will be submitting their top-5 in the coming days.