Despite Palworld's triumphant 1.0 launch this year, John Buckley, head of publishing at Pocketpair, says there's another, much lower profile indie game contending for the category's top spot this year.
"100% Combolands. I strongly recommend you guys check it out on Steam, even if you think you won't like it," Buckley wrote on Twitter of his new indie obsession. "I haven't played a game more addictive since Balatro. Perhaps the best indie of the year in my opinion! Simply a 10/10!"
Combolands is described on its Steam page as "a mini citybuilding roguelike" where you "place buildings, stack combos, and master deep strategy in short bursts to create a tiny thriving metropolis!" The gameplay loop involves placing buildings to open up new synergies and "cascading combos," unlocking new guilds with distinct advantages and disadvantages as you go, and hopefully transforming your fledgling settlement into a bustling economy.
100% Combolands. I strongly recommend you guys check it out on Steam, even if you think you won’t like it. I haven’t played a game more addictive since Balatro. Perhaps the best indie of the year in my opinion! Simply a 10/10! pic.twitter.com/jN9EcywRv4September 23, 2026
Indie developer Crux Games, a tiny team made up of just two people, says the mash-up of roguelike, deckbuilder, and roguelike conventions culminates in "strategic depth and a 'number-go-up' rush in satisfying 30 minute bursts." And satisfying it is, according to not only Buckley, but hundreds of positive Steam reviews. As of the time of writing, 97% of Combolands reviews on Steam are positive, awarding the game the coveted 'Overwhelmingly Positive' rating.
Of course, despite my framing Combolands as a Palworld competitor in the indie space earlier in this story, that really isn't a fair comparison at all. As stated, Crux Games is a two-person team while Pocketpair is an established developer and publisher with about 100 employees according to Street Insider. Still, it's always good to see independent game developers support each other, and although I'm generally allergic to roguelikes and deckbuilders, Buckley's emphatic recommendation and appeal to genre skeptics like me make me want to give Combolands a shot.
