False Echo, Frostrail and Grindworm are my indie picks from Next Fest

Three indie games from Next Fest caught my eye: False Echo, Frostrail and Grindworm.

False Echo is a Papers, Please style job simulator on a submarine

We've been seeing a renaissance in bureaucracy simulators inspired by the excellent Papers, Please, and False Echo is another in that chain. It's a story and process-focused job simulator set aboard a military submarine. You talk to crewmates, handle paperwork and machinery, decrypt enemy communications and judge whether radar pings are enemy ships or false echoes. Expect enemy torpedoes, paranoia, betrayal and "all that Hunt for Red October stuff." The full game is coming in spring 2027, and a demo is out.

Frostrail is a co-op survival game aboard a train

I'm not a big co-op guy, but Frostrail makes me wonder if I should be. It's a first-person co-op survival game about a train rattling through a frozen post-apocalyptic world. You watch the sides of the train, clear blocked tracks and defend against ambush, then scavenge wood, food and fuel. If you have a crew you play multiplayer games with, it could be one to check out. It has a Q4 release date.

Grindworm is for fans of Iron Lung

Grindworm, from a solo developer, is another oppressive vehicle simulator, but a much more claustrophobic one. You pilot a small drilling platform that crunches through the earth like a worm, using radar because you often can't see ahead. You're investigating a mining disaster and the hostile creatures that caused the collapse. This is one for fans of games like Iron Lung, for sure.