Evan Lahti just dropped his Tokyo Direct picks and the vibe is pure indie chaos. Tenebris Somnia drops October 16 blending retro 2D survival horror with live-action cutscenes shot by an Argentine film crew—New Blood's Dave Oshry and Airdorf hyped it up pre-show and the Steam demo's already live. Wane, the occult turn-based roguelike from Istanbul studio Metis Creative, is basically a memory labyrinth where your fading archaeologist brain becomes the dungeon, and Lahti called it his favorite for the Dishonored-Remedy-Disco Elysium art mashup. Piroker's the pirate poker autobattler with a live playtest right now—multiplayer and async, relics messing with the cards, and Lahti figured out the messy UI mid-run.
The full showcase hit 36+ games with over a dozen world premieres during the September 20 broadcast from Tokyo Game Show, but these three stood out for Lahti amid the usual Stronghold 4 and Devolver stuff. Tenebris Somnia's already got Japanese localization added on top of English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Wane's Steam page is wishlisting with no date yet. Piroker's October 8 launch window is locked in.
X and Reddit are buzzing with screenshots and Turkish/English posts calling out the same trio plus a few others like Drowned Lake, but Lahti's list feels like the one the community is actually wishlisting hardest right now. These are the hidden gems the big shows sleep on.
