LVL UP Expo 2026 brought major indie titles from the Wishlisted Showcase, and various indies partnered with The MIX.
I was both overwhelmed and glad by the number of indie titles featured at LVL UP Expo 2026. This year’s expo brought two major playable areas of indie titles. THE MIX (Media Indie Exchange) was filled with various indie titles, some featured from well-known publishers like Devolver Digital and Blumhouse Games. The second demo area highlighted games that were part of the Wishlisted Showcase 2026, with several under the Mad Mushroom banner. Both sides had an amazing assortment of indie games to check out, a mix of unreleased and recently released titles.
You may have recently heard of We Gotta Go—the latest co-op, horror-comedy game—which was published under Mad Mushroom. I was able to test out some of the recently released titles, along with trying out some demos for games coming out soon. Here is my list of the best indie games showcased at LVL UP Expo 2026.
1. The Dungeon Experience
Description: The Dungeon Experience is a comedy first-person adventure about a low-level mudcrab chasing his dream of helping YOU experience the true bliss of Financial Freedom*.
Developer: Jacob Janerka, Simon Boxer, Bone Assembly
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Impressions: The comedy was so unnecessarily off the rails, and I loved it. It reminded me of The Stanley Parable‘s comedy and ability to have a story like Everything Everywhere All at Once. The gameplay was straightforward with its point-and-click mechanics. The guide on this adventure experience was a talking crab that runs this pseudo-ride dungeon experience. Ultimately, I enjoyed the deeper layers of comedy, mixed with the different art styles to play on the comedy too. I was laughing out loud, making other LVL UP Expo attendees give stares. I feel like that alone was a success because then people looked interested in the game.
2. Wanderburg
Description: Drive your Castle on Wheels into battle in this minimalist medieval roguelike of roaming fortresses! Devour entire villages, build your modular arsenal of siege weapons and arcane machinery as you grow with every stronghold you crush.
Developer: Randwerk
Publisher: Sidekick Publishing
Impressions: Wanderburg was up my alley with its medieval aesthetics. If you have read or watched Mortal Engines, this felt like that. But instead of the post-apocalyptic-looking cities, this game had cannons, archers, and mortars in a castle on wheels. Does that not sound as ridiculous as it sounds cool? Sounds like something the Fast and the Furious franchise would showcase. The art style reminded me of Clash Royale/Clash of Clans. The chaos that ensues during the later stages of a run went super crazy, but super fun to try to dodge a billion things on my screen. It proved how the game was able to handle a large number of moving projectiles across the screen.
3. Cursemark
Description: Hack, slash, and cast your way through a haunted kingdom brimming with secrets where no two builds are ever the same. As a cursed mage-knight, you will unlock devastating spells, equip ability-transforming runes, and reforge your curse on the path to victory or death in this fantasy action roguelite. A highly-anticipated dark-fantasy experience, through and through.
Developer: CLYDE Games
Publisher: Mad Mushroom
Impressions: Cursemark offers a fantastic-feeling action-roguelite experience, set against some beautiful art that reminded me of Castlevania from a top-down view. The game played quite smoothly and felt intuitive, like playing Hades. The spellbuilding came with more playtime, and reading what chains together. The “cursemark” system reminded me of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor‘s NEMESIS system, which rewarded players for essentially killing their rivals/NPC that killed the player. In Cursemark, it was great for high-risk, high-reward opportunities.
4. Bubsy 4D
Description: The infamous, wise-cracking bobcat has returned to 3D in a new platforming adventure. Bubsy is back with new challenges, new moves, and even more purrsonality. Run, jump, glide, and roll across alien planets, battle robotic sheep, and collect tons and tons of yarn. What could possibly go wrong?
Developer: Fabraz
Publisher: Atari
Impressions: I have never played a Bubsy game, but now I wish I did! The platforming reminded me of Astro Bot, with the intuitive button combo moves/attacks. Even though I was only able to play one level at LVL UP Expo, it was enough to give me the satisfaction of reminding me of all the great platformers I played as a kid/teenager. The hairball mechanic felt natural for a character rolling through a map, so they nailed the new mechanic for this sequel. Time for me to brush up on my Bubsy games!
5. Grave Seasons
Description: Grave Seasons is a narrative farming sim with a terrifying twist – someone in the town is a supernatural serial killer. Farm, romance, and investigate your way through the unsettling town of Ashenridge.
Developer: Perfect Garbage
Publisher: Blumhouse Games
Impressions: This was everything I had expected from the game after Blumhouse Games revealed it in their slate back in 2024. While this was a very small taste of the game, I liked everything that was possible to do mechanics-wise. I am sure I barely scratched the surface too. I was able to check out some of the farming, talk with locals, and investigate my first murder in the game. Witnessing the murder was appalling, watching the person in town get murdered.
The character designs during dialogue were stunning, with all their characters. I appreciate the diverse cast of characters. For those looking for a genre mashup of cozy farm sim and murder-mystery, this is an intriguing one to check out.
Conventions like LVL UP Expo are great showcases for these indies, and The MIX and Wishlisted are great platforms to find these spotlighted titles. Much like how Toronto has the Toronto Game Expo, I hope to see more opportunities for indie devs to get more wishlists. There were a ton more games at the Expo, be sure to check them all out!
