Tripwire Presents, the publishing arm of Killing Floor and Maneater studio Tripwire Interactive, is expanding into scaled publishing support for smaller independent developers, and it is starting with five games. All five are on PC only, and no Xbox versions have been announced.
The announcement, published on 4 November, says the new programme is designed to help smaller studios “cut through the noise of discovery”, with help on cross-promotion, platform opportunities, commercial strategy, PR, content creators and events.
Tripwire Presents’ indie line-up at a glance
- The Boss Gangster: Criminal Empire (BEF Games): open-world crime action and management
- Starforged Legacy (Second Shift Games): sci-fi roguelike bullet hell, in Early Access
- Mars Attracts (Outlier Games): Mars Attacks park management sim
- One-Eyed Likho (Morteshka): first-person Slavic folk horror
- Eslabong (shirowita): tactical mercenary club management, in Early Access
- Platforms: PC only. No Xbox versions announced.
What Tripwire is offering developers
Tripwire describes the programme as “flexible, dev-friendly partnerships” built to help games reach more players “while making sure the developers who created them benefit the most”. Partners get access to Tripwire’s player community, its platform and storefront relationships, promotional calendars, and guidance on pricing, discounts, sales timing and lifecycle management.
The company says it will build a focused portfolio across genres and platforms, taking on games at different stages, from pre-release through Early Access to post-launch.
“Tripwire Presents is starting this new program to give additional visibility to great self-published indie games that we feel Tripwire fans will absolutely love,” said Bryan West, Publishing Director at Tripwire Presents. “These titles are from scrappy developers who have done the hard work of both creating and promoting a game themselves. We want to shine a spotlight on these gems to help each of them reach a broader audience.”
The five launch games
The Boss Gangster: Criminal Empire from BEF Games is an action-simulation and management hybrid set in the fictional Night City in the early 2000s. You start as an aspiring gangster and build a criminal empire from nothing. It left Early Access with its 1.0 release on 27 October.
Starforged Legacy from Second Shift Games is a single-player sci-fi roguelike bullet hell. You build a single starcraft into a warship using salvaged weapons and augmentations, with resources from failed runs making you permanently stronger. It is in Early Access.
Mars Attracts from Outlier Games is a park management sim set in the Mars Attacks universe. You play as the Martians, building enclosures, managing staff and abducting humans to entertain your Martian guests. It recently left Early Access, and Outlier has already released a free update adding a new human enclosure type and a time-limited Halloween decor set.
One-Eyed Likho is a first-person folk horror adventure from Morteshka, the studio behind Black Book. It draws on Slavic folklore recorded in the 19th century, with fire-based puzzles and a monochrome hand-crafted art style.
Eslabong from shirowita is a tactical strategy and mercenary club management game, playable solo or in co-op. You recruit mercenaries, build a squad and compete through rolling seasons of leagues and cups. It is in Early Access.
Tripwire says it will share more about the initiative later, including details on current and future titles.
Why it matters on Xbox
None of these five games has been announced for Xbox. Tripwire does have a history of bringing its own and its published games to Xbox, though. Killing Floor 3 launched on Xbox Series X|S in July 2025, and Maneater is on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. On the publishing side, Tripwire Presents published Torn Banner Studios’ Chivalry 2 on Xbox, and the game joined Game Pass on Xbox and PC in October 2022.
Tripwire is also working on Maneater 2. The studio is a standalone entity within Embracer Group.
