External Discovery
18 indie games in this list, released 2011–2026, from developers such as Naps Team, KeokeN Interactive, Fishing Cactus. 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 Naps Team · Italy
Baldo: The Guardian Owls is an RPG-flavored action-adventure that combines combat, exploration and puzzle solving in a hand-drawn open world. Its inspirations include The Legend of Zelda and the films of Studio Ghibli. Developed and published by NAPS team, a studio from Italy, it was delayed from a planned 2020 Switch launch and arrived in August 2021, later appearing on PlayStation 5 in 2024.
By KeokeN Interactive · Netherlands
Deliver Us Mars is a 2023 science fiction action-adventure and the follow-up to Deliver Us the Moon. It comes from KeokeN Interactive, a studio in the Netherlands, and was published by Frontier Foundry. Its genre listings point to a post-apocalyptic setting and puzzle elements alongside the adventure. Beyond these basics, public sources give few specifics, so the store page is the best guide to its structure and story.
By Fishing Cactus · Belgium
Epistory - Typing Chronicles is an action-adventure in which typing words is the core way to act on the world. Players follow a young girl riding a three-tailed fox, while the story mirrors an author's creative process, unfolding like sheets of paper and voiced as the writer's inner thoughts. Belgian studio Fishing Cactus launched it in early access in 2015 before the full 2016 release on Windows, macOS and Linux, and it was later followed by the spiritual successor Nanotale.
By Cellar Door Games · Canada
Full Metal Furies is a Canadian action-adventure game from Cellar Door Games, which both developed and published it. It was first announced in February 2017 and released in January 2018 on Windows and Xbox One. Steam categorizes it under Action, Adventure and RPG, pointing to action combat mixed with role-playing elements, and it holds a Metacritic score of 85 from critics who reviewed it at launch.
By Dead Mage · Iran
Garshasp: The Monster Slayer is an action-adventure game drawn from the legends of Garshasp, a monster-slaying hero of Persian mythology. Players fight through hostile creatures on a revenge quest to recover a mace belonging to the hero's ancestors. It was developed by Dead Mage, based in Iran, together with Fanafzar Sharif Studios on the Ogre3d engine, and released for Windows in May 2011, with reviews noting its ambition for an independent project.
By Lohkare Games Oy · Finland
Last Drop is an open world action-adventure from Lohkare Games of Finland, set in the fictional city of Nykyla in 1994. You play Seppo Sahtivaara, an unemployed alcoholic, in a satirical and self-ironic take on Finnish small-town life full of swearing, brawling and drinking. The 22 by 25 kilometre map is modelled on the developers' hometown of Jyvaskyla. It entered early access in August 2026 as a single-player game, with multiplayer planned.
By Deepnight Games · France
Nuclear Blaze is an action-adventure from Deepnight Games, a developer in France, in which you play a firefighter exploring a military facility. Your hose is the main tool for putting out fires inside the base while you search for survivors and uncover what the site was built for. It launched on Windows via Steam in October 2021, reaching PlayStation 4 and Switch in 2023. Reviews at release were mixed.
By Cornfox & Brothers Ltd. · Finland
Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas comes from Cornfox & Brothers, a studio based in Finland, and is an action-adventure in the classic mould. A young boy sets out to locate his missing father and bring down Oceanhorn, a fortress that is alive. Play draws heavily on classic Zelda design: you clear dungeons, battle monsters with an assortment of weapons, and smash pots or slash through bushes for coins and hearts. It debuted on iOS in 2013 before arriving on PC in 2015.
By Pocket Trap · Brazil
Starring Pippit of the influential Pipistrello family, Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo plays as a platform-adventure with a Game Boy Advance feel. After rivals attack his aunt, her soul is split and locked in mega-batteries, so Pippit uses a cursed yoyo holding the last fragment to recover them. Its design particularly recalls The Legend of Zelda. Brazilian studio Pocket Trap developed it, and it launched in May 2025 with PM Studios as publisher.
By Pixelatto · Spain
Reventure is a comedic action-adventure that sends players to save a princess from the Dark Lord while poking fun at role-playing games, especially The Legend of Zelda. Its open world reacts to what the player does, and those choices can lead to any one of 100 different endings. Spanish studio Pixelatto released it in June 2019 as an expanded take on its Ludum Dare jam entry Lonk's Greedy Adventure, and critics singled out its humor.
By Nuggets Entertainment · Sweden
RV There Yet? is a cooperative adventure in which a group of friends tries to drive a rear-wheel-drive RV home from a camping trip across punishing terrain. Getting the vehicle through rough ground takes teamwork, and hazards such as bears can damage the RV and injure players along the way. Swedish studio Nuggets Entertainment developed and self-published the game, which came out on Windows in October 2025 and found a large audience on Steam.
By Swordtales · Brazil
Toren is an action-adventure with puzzle elements that takes cues from Ico, the Zelda series and Shadow of the Colossus. Brazilian studio Swordtales made it, and Versus Evil released it in 2015 on Windows and PlayStation 4. It holds a notable place in its home country as the first game funded through the Brazilian government's public tax credit under the Rouanet Law.
By Binary Lunar · Syria
AvoCuddle is a 2D action adventure about two avocados, AvoRa and AvoLn, who live on a garden planet. After a quarrel, AvoLn is kidnapped by a spaceship and AvoRa travels across five planets, fighting creatures and solving puzzles to rescue him; the story is inspired by the triangular theory of love. It was made solo by Ramez Al-Tabbaa of Damascus, Syria, who had to publish it through a friend abroad because of sanctions.
By Fast X Play · Iraq
CRETCELL is an upcoming first-person action-adventure mystery set in an engineered city of synthetic citizens whose memories can be edited. An officer enters to stop an event that should not exist, and choices ripple through the city's control systems, drones and residents. It supports Kurdish among its languages. It is in development at Fast X Play, a studio of more than 30 people based in Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq.
By Evolite Studio · Saudi Arabia
NOOR is an isometric action-adventure in which the hero Siraj carries a magical lantern that serves as weapon, shield and map. Its light reveals hidden paths and restores lost memories, which in turn unlock new combat and traversal powers across forests, mountains, lakes and deserts inspired by Arabic mythology. It is being developed by Evolite Studio, a game studio from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
By Pixpil · China
Eastward is an action-adventure RPG from the Chinese studio Pixpil, set in a society slowly falling apart. You travel east through towns full of strange characters, fighting with a frying pan and other improvised tools alongside a companion with mysterious powers. Its detailed pixel art and warm, bittersweet story are what most players remember.
By Nodding Heads Games · India
Raji: An Ancient Epic is an action-adventure set in ancient India from Nodding Heads Games, a studio based in Pune. A young girl chosen by the gods fights a demonic invasion to rescue her younger brother, in a world whose art and storytelling draw on Indian mythology. It is one of the most visible indie games to come out of India.
By Lienzo
Mulaka is a 3D action-adventure set in the landscapes of northern Mexico and built on the indigenous culture of the Tarahumara. Rather than borrowing a culture as decoration, it makes that tradition the foundation of its world, its creatures and its story. It is an interesting example of an indie team building a whole game around a specific living tradition.