7 indie games in this list, released 2012–2023, from developers such as Sector D2, Terry Cavanagh, Maysalward(MRD). 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.
Project Wingman is a combat flight-action game set on an alternate Earth, where a silent mercenary pilot flies for United Cascadia in its war for independence from the Pacific Federation. Alongside the story campaign, a roguelike Conquest mode has you capture territory, buy aircraft and hire support while enemy resistance grows. It was developed by Sector D2 from Australia on Unreal Engine 4 and released for Windows in December 2020, with optional VR support throughout.
Super Hexagon is an action game by independent developer Terry Cavanagh, with a soundtrack by Chipzel. It grew out of Hexagon, a prototype Cavanagh made in early 2012 for a game jam lasting twelve hours. The game launched on iOS that September, with Windows and macOS versions arriving three months later. Cavanagh is from Ireland, and the original was built with Adobe Flash tools. It holds a Metacritic score of 88 on its store page.
Leo Escape is an endless swimmer and a sequel to Maysalward's earlier game PuffOut. The fish Leo flees a gang of dangerous sea creatures, dodging obstacles for as long as possible while collecting coins and diamonds to buy upgrades and power-ups. It is developed by Maysalward, a studio founded in Amman in 2003 and one of the pioneers of mobile game development in Jordan.
Locust is a multiplayer arcade game in which players draw paths to steer a swarm of locusts toward trees and crops while avoiding enemies. Players also build defences around their own home and raid other players' homes in player-versus-player matches. It is developed by Koala 4D, a game development studio listed in Jordan's 962Games directory, and its store listing gives an address in Khilda, Jordan.
Speed Maze - The Ultimate Run is a mobile runner in which the player races through maze-like tracks at speed, reacting quickly to turns and obstacles. It was the debut title of Gimzat Studios and, according to the studio, passed one million organic downloads. Gimzat is an Egyptian developer founded in 2015 that focuses on games localised for Arabic-speaking players, with a team whose experience spans console and mobile work.
Z's Pinball is a simple 3D pinball table made in Unreal Engine and played with the keyboard. Players use the Ctrl keys for the flippers, charge the plunger with the space bar and can nudge the table up to three times per game. Knocking down lettered drop targets multiplies all points scored, so aiming for them is the key to high scores. It was made by Zainab Al-Ansari, an indie game developer and software engineer from Bahrain.
Zamakan is an endless runner set in an alternate history where ancient Egyptians became a spacefaring civilisation. You pilot an Egyptian-styled ship through an asteroid field, and the twist is a visible space-time grid: heavy objects bend it, so obstacles warp the path around them. The aim is to travel as far as possible without a collision. It is a collaboration between two Egyptian developers, Split-E (Shady El Mously) and Mansoura-based Game Hermits.