May 6, 2026
Indie Selects for May 2026: Big Moments, Bold Games
Each Wednesday, dive into the Indie Choose Hub — your gateway to a recent, curated indie assortment plus 4 themed spotlights that rotate weekly! You may all the time discover this assortment hub within the Xbox Retailer and on Xbox.com/IndieSelects.
We hope you’re prepared for some “go large or go dwelling” video games this month, as a result of the ID@Xbox workforce handpicked a daring, genre-hopping lineup the place nothing performs it protected. Blast by means of a hand-drawn cartoon first-person shooter, dish out completely timed, spice-fueled assaults, and chase web fame in a co-op horror expertise the place each scare could possibly be your final shot at virality. If that’s not placing a chord, take the stage in a musical RPG the place battles change into performances, dive right into a sharp-witted inventory market satire with pint-sized merchants and struggle to outlive in a shattered world wealthy with hazard and discovery. Nonetheless you play it, May Selects are all about large swings and unforgettable moments — bounce in now and uncover your subsequent favourite indie (in no specific order):

Mouse P.I. For Hire
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Mouse: P.I. for Rent doesn’t really feel such as you’re taking part in a sport a lot as stepping inside a cartoon that refuses to sit down nonetheless. Developed by Fumi Games, this first-person shooter drops you right into a black-and-white, rubber-hose world the place every little thing strikes with an exaggerated life. Buildings stretch, enemies snap into movement, and even the smallest interactions really feel animated with intention. It’s not only a visible fashion — it’s the language of your complete expertise.
You tackle the position of a non-public investigator navigating a metropolis that feels equal components charming and harmful. As I moved by means of its streets, what stood out wasn’t simply the motion, however how naturally the mechanics assist the chaos. Fight is quick and responsive, constructed round fluid motion, fast weapon swapping, and staying always on the transfer. Encounters reward consciousness — dodging incoming assaults, repositioning, and utilizing your surroundings to remain one step forward.
Weapons lean into creativity as a lot as operate, giving every firefight a barely completely different rhythm. Some moments really feel exact and managed, whereas others unfold in bursts of animated mayhem. Past fight, there’s gentle exploration woven in, encouraging you to scan your environment, uncover hidden paths, and piece collectively the bigger thriller driving the story ahead. There’s a continuing sense of movement — just like the world is pushing you forward. Enemies don’t simply seem; they burst into the scene. Fight performs out like a sequence from a classic animated quick, solely with you on the heart of it.
On Xbox Sequence X|S, clean efficiency and visible readability preserve that momentum uninterrupted, permitting the animation-driven world to completely take over. Mouse: P.I. for Rent doesn’t simply ask you to play — it invitations you in, palms you the lead position, and lets the lights, digital camera, motion unfold round you.
– Steve Allen
Dosa Divas

Dosa Divas playfully means that saving the world would possibly come right down to a wonderfully cooked meal. At its coronary heart, it’s a story, turn-based RPG that weaves collectively exploration, cooking, and considerate technique in a manner that feels each recent and deeply human.
Gamers observe sisters Samara and Amani as they journey in a customizable spirit mech, confronting a corrupt fast-food empire whereas rebuilding connections between fractured communities — one shared meal at a time. Cooking isn’t only a charming aspect exercise right here; it’s central to the expertise. The meals you put together immediately form fight outcomes, therapeutic, and even relationships, making each selection within the kitchen matter simply as a lot as these on the battlefield.
What actually stood out throughout my time with Dosa Divas wasn’t solely how easily these methods work collectively, however the coronary heart behind them. The rhythm between exploration, serving to villagers, cooking, and fight feels intentional and rewarding, creating moments the place small actions carry actual emotional weight.
Followers of video games like Octopath Traveler or Bravely Default will acknowledge the acquainted turn-based basis, however Dosa Divas builds on it with a playful, flavor-based twist that provides the style its personal character. I’ve frolicked in its world, and it’s the sort of sport that lightly pulls you in and stays with you — particularly in case you’re drawn to story-driven RPGs that deal with meals not simply as gas, however as a significant type of connection.
– Jessica Ronnell
Content Warning

Content material Warning is a co‑op survival horror sport, besides it’s been possessed by the unholy spirit of influencer tradition. You and your folks aren’t trekking into creepy depths of an deserted historic world to unearth untold secrets and techniques or save the world. You’re there for the clips. The clicks. The clout. In fact, all of that solely counts in case you truly survive lengthy sufficient to add it. It sounds fully ridiculous on paper, however let’s be sincere, it’s uncomfortably correct.
The setup is straightforward and wildly unpredictable. You could have three days to movie scary moments, rack up views, and win. Squad up, gear up, customise your digital faces, and descend through diving bell into the “Outdated World”: procedurally generated underground ruins filled with bizarre artifacts, misplaced loot, and loads of monsters. When you’re down there, it’s showtime. The digital camera holder decides what will get filmed, even switching to selfie mode whereas working for their life. Shut calls, and precise deaths, increase views, so don’t save your folks, save the footage. You may respawn them later.
Views earn advert income, which you’ll spend on higher gear for extra views and a barely improved probability of surviving. If at the very least one among you escapes with the digital camera, you reap the rewards and may even watch the footage again collectively, full with viewer feedback. If everybody dies, no worries… you’ll be able to all the time return to retrieve the digital camera in your subsequent run.
The sport is straightforward, however absolute chaos. Content material Warning thrives on pals goofing round and committing to the influencer bit, leading to snicker‑till‑it‑hurts moments. You may play solo, however it actually shines with different folks, so I extremely suggest squadding up with pals or leaping in with randoms. Additionally, in‑sport chat and a encompass‑sound headset really feel important. If I hear a scream behind me, I instantly know which solution to run and the place to intention the digital camera.
– Raymond Estrada
People of Note

Folks of Notice is a shiny and daring character-driven expertise that blends narrative, music, and turn-based gameplay into one thing that feels unmistakably Annapurna. The sport is centered round a solid of expressive, deeply human characters, delivered to life by means of a distinguished artwork fashion and sharp, punchy dialogue that carries actual character in each interplay.
Folks of Notice channels that very same “hit the beat, really feel the movement” vitality that followers of Hello-Fi Rush loved, however interprets it into turn-based ways by means of tempo home windows and music-synced capacity play. The sport performs like a turn-based RPG with a twist. Fight and development are tightly tied to music, with characters whose talents and roles mirror distinct musical identities. Timing, rhythm, and synergy matter, turning every encounter right into a efficiency as a lot as a strategic puzzle. The soundtrack is an integral a part of the gameplay mechanics, shaping the tempo of play and reinforcing the emotional beats of the story.
For those who love video games the place music is a part of the play, not simply the vibe, Folks of Notice is a straightforward one to like. It’s a classy, character-driven, turn-based RPG the place every celebration member’s musical id reveals up of their talents and the way they match into your workforce. Fight takes on a recent twist by means of real-time, tempo-based talents layered on high of the flip construction, so timing and rhythm change into a part of your determination making, not an afterthought.
– Chloe Giusti
Space Warlord Baby Trading Simulator

“Purchase low, promote excessive, and quick a complete universe of infants on this arcade inventory market sim set on the planet of House Warlord Organ Buying and selling Simulator.” That’s the creator’s description of the sport and I’m actually undecided what extra I can add, actually. It’s extra like playing on these infants’ randomized ups and downs over the course of their lives, from cradle to grave. As somebody who’s by no means been thinking about both real-world playing or inventory buying and selling in anyway, I wasn’t fairly ready for what a wildly unhinged expertise it unfurls the minute you enter right into a day of shopping for and promoting (and shorting) predictive shares based mostly on the fast-paced life occasions/selections of some alien child’s complete arc of existence, however right here we’re.
Your objective is to make as a lot revenue as attainable, and also you’ll achieve this by coming into a “day” of buying and selling that traces your chosen alien’s multi-year lifecycle. That alien’s life ping pongs between successes and large failures, whereas inventory costs spike and tumble to mirror these occasions, and also you’ll scramble to purchase and promote in response to them earlier than your topic dies. Add in several modifiers resembling hiring consultants for a reduce of income, who can provide various insights like fluctuating accuracy on each child’s life span or share of excellent/unhealthy life occasions… This sport has plenty of completely different variables that may take newbies (like myself) a while to completely grasp. However when you do, there’s a freefall rollercoaster really feel to what’s on provide right here.
It’s completely not for everybody – from the customarily squirrelly button UI to the throwback visuals and even, the gallows-style sense of absurdist humor – however there’s no denying that its quick, breakneck tempo will elicit laughs, cries, and a few severe pounding on tables when a child alien’s life takes a whiplash flip for the higher (and also you revenue) or the more severe (while you tank your account). Proceed with warning or wild abandon – the selection is yours.
Icarus: Console Edition

There’s a sure sort of panic that solely Icarus: Console Version can create. The type the place a peaceable useful resource runs abruptly turns right into a dash by means of a lightning storm whereas your fastidiously crafted picket cabin catches fireplace behind you. And actually? That pressure is precisely what makes it so exhausting to place down.
From the creator of DayZ, Icarus drops gamers onto a hostile alien world the place survival isn’t nearly preventing wildlife — it’s about surviving the planet itself. Poisonous climate methods, brutal storms, aggressive predators, and the fixed stress to organize for the following expedition make each mission really feel significant. Whether or not you’re taking part in solo or teaming up with pals in co-op, there’s this fixed push and pull between exploration and pure survival intuition.
What stunned me most was how shortly easy duties spiraled into full-blown survival tales. One second I used to be calmly mining ore and organizing provides, and the following I used to be desperately making an attempt to outrun a bear whereas my oxygen reserves had been working dangerously low. The sport thrives on these “effectively… this went horribly unsuitable” moments that someway change into your favourite recollections afterward.
Mechanically, Icarus blends deep crafting methods with mission-based development and open-world exploration. Constructing shelters, researching know-how, looking for meals, and making ready for more and more harmful drops provides the expertise a satisfying sense of progress. The included New Frontiers enlargement additionally provides much more maps, creatures, and alternatives to check your survival abilities.
For those who take pleasure in survival video games that always preserve you on edge — the type the place preparation issues simply as a lot as fight — Icarus delivers an expertise that feels rewarding, unpredictable, and sometimes downright merciless in the easiest way attainable.
– Steven Allen
The submit Indie Selects for May 2026: Big Moments, Bold Games appeared first on Xbox Wire.
