External Discovery
9 indie games in this list, released 2015–2025, from developers such as Flying Cafe for Semianimals, Andrii Bychkovskyi, Marevo Collective. 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.
By Flying Cafe for Semianimals · Ukraine
Cradle is a first-person science-fiction adventure that explores the theme of transhumanism. Players investigate their surroundings in a desert setting, piecing together a story centred on the bond between the protagonist and a mechanical girl. It was developed by Flying Cafe for Semianimals, a studio based in Ukraine, built on the Unigine engine, and released in 2015 for Windows and Linux.
By Andrii Bychkovskyi · Ukraine
Farlanders is a turn-based city-building strategy game about founding a colony on Mars, with puzzle elements on 2D grid maps that are procedurally generated. Every structure must link back to the base through wires, pipes or tunnels, terraforming is central to success, and limited space forces careful trade-offs between food, water and energy. It was created by Andrii Bychkovskyi in Ukraine, published by Crytivo, and released in January 2023.
By Marevo Collective · Ukraine
Released in 2020, No One Lives Under the Lighthouse offers a horror adventure made by Marevo Collective, a studio from Ukraine. It combines exploration-led adventure play with an unsettling, horror-driven tone. The Director's Cut edition is available on Steam for Windows, Mac and Linux. Public sources say little about its specific mechanics, so it is best approached as a compact atmospheric adventure from the Ukrainian indie scene.
By RetroStyle Games · Ukraine
Ocean Keeper: Dome Survival is a survival roguelike that pairs horde-clearing combat in the vein of Vampire Survivors with underwater mining. Players dig through caves for resources, upgrade weapons and a customisable mech spider, and hold out against waves of monsters and bosses. The game is the work of Ukrainian studio RetroStyle Games; it entered early access in 2024 and reached its 1.0 release in May 2025.
By Pinokl Games, Kverta · Ukraine
Party Hard casts the player as a serial killer who slips into a series of parties with one goal: eliminate every guest without being caught. Each level becomes a stealth puzzle of picking the right moment to strike and making sure nobody sees what happened. The game was developed by the Ukrainian team Pinokl Games alongside Kverta, published by tinyBuild, and released in 2015 for Windows, OS X and Linux, with later console versions.
By Starni Games · Ukraine
Strategic Mind: The Pacific is a strategy game played in turns, covering the Second World War in the Pacific, pitting the United States against the Empire of Japan. Players take command of one side and direct forces across the ocean theatre, with a focus on historical detail. It was developed and published by Starni Games, a studio based in Ukraine, and released for Windows in October 2019.
By Sengi Games · Ukraine
The Serpent Rogue is a roguelike in which players take the role of The Warden, a plague doctor from an order of alchemists who guard the world against a consuming force called Corruption. Studying the surroundings lets the player brew many kinds of potions, and fights play out as real-time action. It was developed by Sengi Games in Ukraine and published by Team17 in 2022, and the team finished it during the Russian invasion of their country.
By Game-Labs · Ukraine
This Land Is My Land is a stealth action game set on the American frontier of the 1800s, where a Native American protagonist leads resistance against encroaching settlers. Players roam a large open landscape of hostile people and wildlife, and their choices shape how the story unfolds. Ukrainian studio Game-Labs developed and published it, releasing it in early access in 2019 before a full launch in 2021; it drew criticism over stereotyping and a lack of Native American involvement.
By Whale Rock Games · Ukraine
We Are The Dwarves is a real-time tactics game in which the player commands a trio of dwarves travelling through space on a mission to rescue their home world. Battles unfold continuously rather than in turns as the player directs the three heroes. It was made and self-published by Whale Rock Games, a studio based in Kyiv, Ukraine, and came out in 2016 for Windows, Mac and Linux, with Steam tagging it under action, RPG and strategy.