25 indie games in this list, released 2010–2026, from developers such as べすとまん, INTI CREATES CO., LTD., Nicalis, Inc., Studio Pixel. Pick one to read our editorial note and jump to its store page.
These are editorial pages. The developers and publishers are not affiliated with The Gaming Nest unless explicitly stated.
Agreeee is a puzzle game made by the Japanese indie developer known as Vestman, who also handles its self-publishing on Steam. Available sources describe it simply as a puzzle title, and its Steam listing tags it as an action game, so the exact rules of play are not detailed here. It arrived on Windows through Steam in December 2025. It represents a small, independently produced release from Japan's indie scene aimed at players who enjoy compact puzzle challenges.
Azure Striker Gunvolt is a side-scrolling 2D action platformer from Japanese studio Inti Creates, which also publishes it. Its combat echoes Mega Man Zero but adds a tagging system that lets Gunvolt mark foes and strike several at once. The story follows an Adept who quits his organization after a failed assassination and turns freelance to fight the Sumeragi Group. It debuted on the 3DS in 2014 and came to Windows in 2015, later spawning sequels and spin-offs.
Cave Story+ is an enhanced edition of Cave Story, a Metroidvania in which Quote, a robot with amnesia, explores cave systems to piece together his past and find a way out. Collecting crystals powers up his weapons and opens new areas, alongside platforming puzzles and conversations with the locals. Daisuke Amaya made the original alone in Japan in 2004, and Nicalis brought this version to Steam in November 2011.
Deeeer Simulator is a comedic sandbox game in which the player is reborn as a deer and can either wander a stylised city or wreck it with a range of supernatural powers, including a stretchy neck that works like a grappling hook, while hunting for secrets. Taking cues from Goat Simulator, it was developed by Gibier Games in Japan and published by Playism, leaving early access in November 2021.
Downwell is a vertically scrolling roguelike shooter and platformer with underground levels, drawn in a four-color palette that picks out gems, enemies and key items in red against black and white. Extra palettes can be unlocked to change those colors. It was made solely by Ojiro Fumoto under the Moppin name in Japan using GameMaker, and Devolver Digital published it in October 2015.
ElecHead is a puzzle platformer about Elec, a tiny robot whose head sends an electric charge through whatever surface it touches. Players power up platforms and machinery by making contact, working out how to route energy through each room to move forward. It was created by Japanese indie developer Nama Takahashi and launched on PC in October 2021, with music and sound by composer Tsuyomi. Console versions for Switch and Xbox One followed afterwards.
Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights is a dark fantasy action role-playing platformer about Lily, the last priestess left alive in a land where a deadly rain turns living beings into undead. Waking in a church with no memory, she sets out to find where the rain comes from, calling on the spirits of undead she has purified to fight for her. Japanese studios Adglobe and Live Wire developed it, releasing it in June 2021 after early access.
Giraffe and Annika blends action-adventure exploration with rhythm-driven battles. Annika, a catgirl with no memory, wakes up stranded on the island of Spica and teams up with a boy named Giraffe to find three star fragments that can restore her past. Encounters are nonviolent, resolved by hitting notes in time with the music. It was made by Japanese indie studio Atelier Mimina, published by Playism among others, and released on Windows in February 2020.
Gnosia is a visual novel built on social deduction, set aboard a spaceship threatened by a parasitic affliction called gnosia that takes over its hosts. The amnesiac player either investigates which crewmates may be infected or plays as one of the infected, while also working to break a time loop with the help of a silver key. Japanese studio Petit Depotto first released it in 2019, and the Windows version came in January 2022.
Ib is an adventure horror game viewed from above, in which the title character is trapped inside an eldritch art gallery and joins forces with Garry and Mary to find a way back to the real world. It was the debut of Japanese creator kouri, first released in 2012 as freeware made in RPG Maker 2000. This commercial remake, rebuilt in RPG Maker MV with refreshed visuals, music and mechanics, came out through Playism in April 2022.
Mad Father is a survival horror game that blends role-playing and puzzle elements, following Aya, an 11-year-old who sneaks into her father's hidden laboratory to learn the terrible truth behind his research. Japanese developer Sen created it, with the original release arriving in December 2012 and a light novel adaptation in 2014. Built with Wolf RPG Editor, it reached Steam in September 2016 through Playism.
Misao is a horror puzzle game set inside a cursed school, where the goal is to track down six scattered pieces of a girl's body. Players explore the haunted building, solve puzzles and survive its threats while gathering each missing part. Made in Japan by Sen with Miscreant's Room, it began as freeware in 2011, reached Steam as a definitive edition in 2017 and received an HD remaster in 2024. It was built with Wolf RPG Editor and shares a universe with Mad Father.
By NamaTakahashi, tiny cactus studio, Tsuyomi · Japan
Öoo is a puzzle platformer built around one core idea: players drop bombs and detonate them to move through a 2D side-scrolling world in inventive ways. Japanese independent developer Nama Takahashi designed it as an experiment in how far a single mechanic could carry a puzzle game. Released in 2025, it was well received, with critics highlighting its intricate puzzles, open-ended experimentation and brief length.
Palworld is a monster-taming survival game set in an open world full of creatures called Pals, which players fight and capture, then put to work in combat, traversal and base building. Pals can staff player bases and handle jobs automatically, and up to 32 people can share one server. Japanese developer Pocketpair created and self-published it, launching in early access in January 2024 before reaching full release in 2026.
Pico Park is a cooperative action-puzzle game with three modes: World, where progress comes from solving puzzles together, Endless, which is about chasing a high score, and Battle, which turns teammates into rivals. Japanese developer TECOPARK first released it on Windows in 2016 with local play and added online multiplayer in 2021. It won the Best Presentation award at Sense of Wonder Night 2014.
Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is a role-playing game about Recette, a girl who must run an item shop from her home, guided by a fairy named Tear, to clear her missing father's large debt before a deadline. Play alternates between haggling with customers over prices and joining adventurers in randomly generated dungeons to find stock. Made by Japanese dōjin maker EasyGameStation, it was the first independent Japanese game released on Steam.
Return of the Obra Dinn is a first-person mystery puzzle game set in 1807, when a merchant vessel lost for five years drifts back to the English coast with no known survivors. Sent by the East India Company, the player uses a pocket watch that recreates each death to work out the fate of all sixty people aboard. Created by Japan-based developer Lucas Pope, it won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize and uses a 1-bit monochrome art style.
SAEKO: Giantess Dating Sim is a dark visual novel and dating sim from Japanese developer Safe Havn Studio, published by Hyper Real. Players are Rin, a captive of Saeko, a young woman who can shrink people and secretly preys on them. Rin must look after the other miniaturized prisoners while his relationship with his captor slowly develops. The game launched on Windows and Linux in May 2025, pairing its unsettling premise with choice-driven adventure storytelling.
Sister Other Paranoia is a visual novel drawing on the denpa style, created by Japanese developer HazeDenki, with Serenity Forge handling publishing. It is catalogued as a psychological horror adventure, so players should expect a text-driven story with an unsettling tone rather than action. The game came out on Steam in August 2026. Specific plot and gameplay details are not described in the available sources, which present it as a narrative-focused indie release.
The Exit 8 is a horror walking simulator set in an underground passage of a Japanese metro station, where players must watch for anomalies, subtle changes in the corridor, to find their way out. It drew on the eerie feel of liminal spaces and on the anomaly hunting of I'm on Observation Duty. Developed in nine months by Kotake Create in Japan, it launched on Steam in November 2023 and won at the Japan Game Awards and CEDEC Awards.
TOKOYO: The Tower of Perpetuity is a side-scrolling action roguelike in which players scale a towering structure with one aim: to reach the very top. Its roguelike structure means repeated attempts at the climb, combining action with the genre's run-based format. It was made by the Japanese developer //commentout and published by Playism, arriving in 2022 on Windows and Nintendo Switch. Critical reception at launch was mixed.
Your Turn to Die -Death Game by Majority- is an episodic horror adventure presented as a visual novel and built around a death game premise. It was created by Nankidai, a manga artist from Japan, and first appeared in 2017, later gaining a cult following along with manga and light novel adaptations. An English translation arrived in 2019, and the game came to Steam in early access in February 2023.
Kero Blaster is a side-scrolling action platformer by Daisuke Amaya, better known as Pixel, and his first major release since Cave Story. You play a frog working for a company whose teleporters keep breaking down, blasting your way through levels to fix the problem. It is compact, precise and charming, a clear showcase of one developer's craft.
La-Mulana is a ruin-exploration action game from the Japanese developer NIGORO, originally designed to look and feel like an MSX game and later remade in a richer 16-bit style. You explore sprawling ancient ruins in search of a legendary treasure, deciphering clues and surviving traps. It is famous for difficult, notebook-worthy puzzles and old-school challenge.