External Discovery
43 indie games in this list, released 2014–2026, from developers such as The Fun Pimps, System Era Softworks, Thomas Happ Games LLC. 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 The Fun Pimps · United States
7 Days to Die is a survival horror game set in a post-apocalyptic open world, and its Steam listing spans action, RPG, simulation and strategy categories. It was developed by The Fun Pimps, a studio from the United States, and spent a long stretch in early access starting in December 2013. After years of updates, its finished 1.0 release arrived in July 2024 on PC as well as current PlayStation and Xbox hardware.
By System Era Softworks · United States
ASTRONEER drops players onto alien worlds as a spacesuited explorer whose job is to settle planets, gather raw materials and put up structures. Progress comes from travelling between planets and switching on their cores, with extras such as a new suit or visor handed out along the way. American studio System Era Softworks developed and published it with Unreal Engine 4, launching in early access in late 2016 and reaching full release in February 2019.
By Thomas Happ Games LLC · United States
Axiom Verge 2 is a Metroidvania and the sequel to Axiom Verge. It follows billionaire Indra Chaudhari, who heads to Antarctica after a mysterious message suggests she may see her missing daughter again. American indie developer Thomas Happ Games made it, first releasing it in August 2021 on Switch, PlayStation 4 and the Epic Games Store before a Steam release in August 2022. Critics gave it generally favourable reviews.
By Team Colorblind · United States
Aztez pairs side-scrolling brawler combat with a turn-based strategy layer, set in the Aztec empire in the years before the Spanish invasion. Players fight their way through areas across the empire, switching between hands-on action and turn-based planning. It was made by Team Colorblind, a studio from the United States, and released on August 1, 2017 for Windows, macOS and Linux, where Steam files it under action and strategy.
By Shining Rock Software LLC · United States
Banished is a city-building game about keeping an isolated, growing settlement alive. Players must manage resources carefully to survive, with the balance between sustainability and efficiency at the heart of every decision. Shining Rock Software, a studio from the United States, developed and released it for Windows in February 2014. Reviewers liked its graphics and early difficulty but felt feedback on player actions was lacking, and that survival mattered less as towns grew.
By The Behemoth · United States
BattleBlock Theater is a platform game from The Behemoth, the American studio behind Alien Hominid and Castle Crashers, making it the team's third release. It first came out on Xbox Live Arcade in April 2013 with Microsoft Studios as publisher, and reached Steam for Windows and Mac in 2014. Steam files it under action, adventure and casual play, and a quality-of-life update along with future console versions was announced in July 2024.
By DoubleBear Productions · United States
Dead State: Reanimated is a turn-based survival role-playing game set during a zombie apocalypse. Players lead a group of survivors sheltering in Splendid, a fictional town in Texas, and must keep them alive as the outbreak unfolds. DoubleBear Productions in the United States developed it together with Iron Tower Studio, releasing it in December 2014 after an early access period. An enhanced edition in May 2015 gave the game its Reanimated title.
By tobyfox · United States
Deltarune is a chapter-based role-playing game following Kris, a human teen, together with the monster Susie and Ralsei, a prince of the Dark World, on a quest to save the world. Fights are turn-based with bullet-hell dodging, and encounters can end peacefully or violently, now with a full party. Toby Fox, an American developer, created it in GameMaker as a parallel to Undertale, with the paid release arriving in 2025.
By AdHoc Studio · United States
Dispatch is an episodic adventure framed as a workplace comedy about superheroes. Robert Robertson III, once the hero Mecha Man, loses his suit and ends up working as a dispatcher coordinating former villains turned heroes. The story unfolds across eight episodes released in October and November 2025. It was developed and published by AdHoc Studio from the United States, and it sold more than 4 million copies.
By Strange Loop Games · United States
Eco is a cooperative simulation in which players have to join forces to build a civilization on a virtual planet. Its design rewards a gentle, careful use of natural resources, and it serves as both entertainment and an educational tool. Steam lists it as an early access adventure and simulation title, and it is also described as a survival sandbox game. Strange Loop Games, a studio from the United States, created Eco, and arrived on Steam in February 2018.
By NPC Studio · United States
Fields of Mistria is a farm life sim with role-playing elements, set in the fictional town of Mistria as it rebuilds after an earthquake. Alongside farming, players get to know the villagers, and the game also mixes in combat and magic. NPC Studio in the United States developed and published it, starting work in 2019 and drawing inspiration from Stardew Valley, Harvest Moon and Rune Factory. It entered early access in August 2024 and reached full release exactly two years later.
By Campo Santo · United States
Firewatch puts players in the boots of Henry, a fire lookout spending a summer in Wyoming's Shoshone National Forest. His only link to the outside is his supervisor Delilah on a walkie-talkie, and the dialogue lines the player picks shape how their bond grows while an old mystery surfaces. American developer Campo Santo made the game, co-published with Panic in 2016, and it later won Best Narrative at the Game Developers Choice Awards in 2017.
By Scott Cawthon · United States
Five Nights at Freddy's places players in the security office of a family pizzeria as night guard Mike Schmidt. Watching security cameras and shutting steel doors keeps roaming animatronics at bay, but every action drains a limited power supply, and running out leaves the office defenceless. Scott Cawthon, a solo developer in the United States, made it in six months with Clickteam Fusion 2.5 and released it in 2014, launching a wider media franchise.
By Steel Wool Studios · United States
Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach casts players as Gregory, a young boy trapped overnight in a huge entertainment complex. He must slip past hostile animatronic mascots and a night guard until morning arrives. Unlike earlier entries, this ninth main installment in the series opens up into free-roam play. Steel Wool Studios in the United States developed it with Unreal Engine 4, and ScottGames published it in December 2021.
By Supergiant Games · United States
Hades is a roguelite action RPG in which Zagreus, son of the god of the dead, fights to break out of the Underworld with help from Olympian gifts. Every run offers randomised chambers and fast hack-and-slash fighting built on attacks, dashes and magic, while treasure earned between deaths unlocks lasting upgrades. Supergiant Games, an American studio, released it in 2020, and multiple award shows and publications gave it game of the year honours.
By Supergiant Games · United States
Hades II casts players as Melinoe, a princess of the Underworld and the sister of Zagreus, on a quest to bring down Chronos, the Titan of Time, with help from the Olympian gods. It blends a roguelike structure with action role-playing combat. Supergiant Games, based in the United States, developed and published this first sequel in its history, moving from early access in 2024 to a full launch in September 2025, and critics praised its gameplay, art, music and voice work.
By thatgamecompany · United States
Journey is a wordless adventure in which a cloaked figure crosses a vast desert toward a far-off mountain. Other players can appear along the way and help each other, yet they cannot talk or type, communicating only through a musical chime that also turns dull scraps of cloth vivid red and opens the path ahead. American studio Thatgamecompany created it, first for PlayStation 3 in 2012; Annapurna Interactive later brought it to Windows, with a reactive score by Austin Wintory.
By Askiisoft · United States
Katana Zero is a side-scrolling hack-and-slash platformer about Subject Zero, an amnesiac sword-wielding assassin who can slow time and foresee what comes next. Each level asks the player to clear every enemy without taking a hit, bending time, dodging and exploiting hazards, while dialogue-tree conversations between stages tell a neo-noir story. American studio Askiisoft built it in GameMaker, and Devolver Digital published it in 2019.
By Zeekerss · United States
Lethal Company is a cooperative horror game in which players work as employees of a shadowy firm, scavenging scrap on abandoned industrial moons. Teams must avoid traps, hazards and hostile creatures while selling salvage to hit ever-rising profit targets, until an inevitable failure resets the run. It was made and self-published by Zeekerss, a developer from the United States, and entered early access on Steam in October 2023.
By Edmund McMillen, Tyler Glaiel · United States
Mewgenics combines cat breeding with tactical roguelike combat: players raise cats that take on character classes, then send them on adventures resolved through tactical battles on procedurally generated grids. The project began at Team Meat in 2012, stalled for years and was cancelled, then Edmund McMillen reacquired it and finished it with Tyler Glaiel. The American duo released it on Windows in February 2026, and it sold over a million copies in its first week.
By All Yes Good · United States
Octogeddon is an action-strategy game with roguelike elements starring an octopus out for revenge on humanity. It battles with its tentacles, which can be upgraded between stages. Designer George Fan, previously behind Insaniquarium and Plants vs. Zombies, conceived it for a 2012 Ludum Dare contest and then co-founded All Yes Good in the United States to finish it, with a Windows release in February 2018. Critics liked its humorous art style and compared it to Plants vs. Zombies.
By OMOCAT, LLC · United States
OMORI follows Sunny, a withdrawn teenager, and Omori, his alter ego inside a strange dream world, with play alternating between Faraway Town and the dreamscape. Turn-based fights use emotion-driven status effects, and player choices steer toward one of several endings. Heavy themes of anxiety, depression and trauma give it a psychological horror edge. It was made by indie studio Omocat in the United States using RPG Maker MV and released in December 2020.
By Future Cat LLC · United States
OneShot is a puzzle adventure that deliberately breaks the fourth wall: the player is treated as someone separate from Niko, who is trying to bring light back to a sunless world by carrying a giant lightbulb, the world's sun, up to a tower's summit. Many puzzles reach outside the game into the computer's own operating system. American indie studio Future Cat built it in RPG Maker XP, KOMODO published it in December 2016, and it earned a Golden Joystick nomination for PC Game of the Year.
By Mob Entertainment · United States
Poppy Playtime is an episodic puzzle survival horror series set inside the abandoned factory of Playtime Co., a fictional toy company. The player is a former employee lured back by a letter, years after the staff vanished without explanation. Chapters mix puzzle solving with survival horror tension, and every chapter after the first is sold as premium downloadable content. American indie developer Mob Entertainment built it on Unreal Engine 4 and released the first chapter on Windows in October 2021.