Xbox Indie Selects March 2026, Week 1: Blood, Cash, and Color Theory

The ID@Xbox team kicked off March with six picks that range from Suda51’s bloodiest fever dream to a first-person puzzle game about painting walls. If February’s lineup leaned quirky, this month goes full contrast: ultra-violence sits next to cozy farming, and psychological horror shares shelf space with a money-laundering comedy.

Romeo Is a Dead Man

Grasshopper Manufacture’s first self-published game in years, and the first new IP from Suda51 since Travis Strikes Again. You play as Romeo Stargazer, a sheriff’s deputy who gets killed, resurrected, and recruited into the FBI’s Temporal Task Force to hunt fugitives across parallel universes.

Combat is fast, theatrical, and deliberately excessive. Finishing moves look like they belong in a stylish anime fight scene. The story makes zero effort to be grounded. It is a fever dream with a budget, and that is exactly the point. If you loved No More Heroes or Killer7, this is Suda operating at full power.

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma

A cataclysm has shattered Azuma into four seasonal villages, and you are the one rebuilding it. Farm by day, fight monsters by evening, romance villagers whenever you feel like it. Guardians of Azuma blends the cozy loop of Stardew Valley with action RPG combat that actually requires skill.

Sacred treasure weapons give each fight a unique feel, and the interconnected village system means your choices in one season ripple through the others. Expect 100+ hours if you want to see everything. If you are into cozy indie games, this one deserves your attention.

Cash Cleaner Simulator

You sort dirty money. That is the entire pitch, and it works. Cash arrives through ceiling chutes, and you inspect each bill for counterfeits, damage, and other issues before processing it through increasingly complex contracts. An in-game app tells you what each client needs cleaned and how.

The loop creates a surprisingly zen rhythm. Think PowerWash Simulator but with criminal undertones and a sense of humor about the whole thing. It keeps a lighthearted tone that makes the premise feel playful rather than grim.

Heart of the Forest

A group of students hikes through Germany’s Black Forest and falls under the spell of a vengeful spirit. Your choices determine who survives. Heart of the Forest is a full-motion video (FMV) psychological horror game from Wales Interactive, the studio behind Late Shift and The Complex.

Each playthrough runs about 2.5 hours, with multiple endings that change based on your decisions. The Black Forest folklore angle gives it a distinct atmosphere compared to typical slasher setups. If you liked Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, this scratches the same itch with a darker, more grounded tone.

Crisol: Theater of Idols

Published by Blumhouse Games and developed by Vermila Studios, Crisol drops you into Tormentosa, a nightmarish version of Spain where religious fanaticism has twisted everything. You play as Gabriel, a soldier armed with blood-fueled weapons. Literally: your health is your ammo.

That shared resource system creates constant tension. Do you heal or do you fight? The Spanish-inspired environments look stunning, enemy designs are genuinely unsettling, and the atmosphere never lets up. Fans of horror games should put this near the top of the list.

ChromaGun 2: Dye Hard

A first-person puzzle game where your gun shoots paint. Coat walls and objects in primary colors, mix them to create secondary colors, and use color-matching magnetism to solve chamber-based puzzles. No time pressure, no enemies. Just you, a gun, and the color wheel.

The game knows it draws Portal comparisons and leans into them with self-aware humor. An accessible colorblind mode uses distinct shapes alongside colors. If you want something relaxing that still makes your brain work, Dye Hard is a smart pick.

The Takeaway

March’s Indie Selects lean hard into variety. A Suda51 action game, a cozy farming RPG, a money-laundering sim, an FMV horror movie, a survival horror game, and a puzzle shooter. That spread is hard to beat. The program remains one of the best ways to discover games on Xbox, sitting alongside events like Nintendo’s Indie World for indie visibility.

Browse the full collection on Xbox.com/IndieSelects.