External Discovery
122 indie games in this list, released 2009–2026, from developers such as Red Barrels, Kinetic Games, Mob Entertainment. 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 Red Barrels · Canada
Outlast is a first-person psychological survival horror game from Canadian independent studio Red Barrels, released in 2013 and built on Unreal Engine 3. Players follow freelance journalist Miles Upshur as he investigates Mount Massive Asylum, an isolated psychiatric hospital in the mountains of Colorado. Critics responded well to its atmosphere and horror, and the series later grew with a sequel, a prequel and comics.
By Red Barrels · Canada
Outlast 2 is a first-person psychological survival horror game released in 2017 by Canadian studio Red Barrels, made in Unreal Engine 3 as the sequel to Outlast. Cameraman Blake Langermann and his journalist wife Lynn investigate a murder in northern Arizona, until a helicopter crash separates them. Blake must then search for Lynn through a village run by a deranged cult convinced that Judgement Day has arrived.
By Kinetic Games · United Kingdom
Phasmophobia is a cooperative paranormal horror game from Kinetic Games, a British indie studio based in Southampton, launched in early access on Windows in September 2020 with virtual reality support. Teams of one to four ghost hunters take on contracts at haunted locations, working out which type of ghost is present while tackling optional objectives. The game surged in popularity after streamers and YouTubers picked it up in October 2020, and critics praised how inventive it felt.
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.
By Bad Vices Games · Italy
Ravenous Devils is a darkly comic horror cooking simulation set in Victorian London in the 19th century. Players manage a tailor shop and a pub run by Percival and Hildred: he kills his customers and sends the bodies down a trap door, and she turns them into meat dishes for diners upstairs. Its style and story borrow heavily from Sweeney Todd. Bad Vices Games of Italy both developed and published it in Unreal Engine 4, releasing it in April 2022.
By Stormind Games · Italy
Released in 2018, Remothered: Tormented Fathers is a survival horror game conceived, written and directed by Italian artist Chris Darril and developed by Stormind Games in Italy. It pays tribute to the Japanese Clock Tower series. Rosemary Reed comes to the Felton mansion to look into the years-old disappearance of the family's daughter Celeste, and once owner Richard sees through her, a night of pursuit begins. It was generally well reviewed, and a sequel, Broken Porcelain, followed in 2020.
By LEAP Game Studios · Peru
Retail Hell puts the player behind the counter of a convenience store in purgatory, working a shift that never seems to end. Serving dead customers means keeping shelves stocked, paying taxes and holding off monstrous creatures, while the mystery of the endless shift slowly unfolds. It comes from LEAP Game Studios in Peru, is published by Midnighters and Gamirror Games, and released on Windows in 2026.
By Mike Klubnika · Estonia
Released in 2025, s.p.l.i.t is a psychological horror game made and self-published by Mike Klubnika, a developer from Estonia, with Oro Interactive also credited as a publisher on Steam. It launched on Windows and Linux in July 2025. Beyond its psychological horror framing, its store and database listings place it in the action and simulation genres. The title is stylised in lowercase with full stops, while it is written as Split in plain text.
By Ebb Software · Serbia
Scorn is a survival horror adventure steeped in biopunk themes, with first-person shooter elements among its listed genres. Its imagery takes inspiration from two visual artists, Zdzisław Beksiński and H. R. Giger. It was developed by Ebb Software in Serbia using Unreal Engine 4, published by Kepler Interactive, and released in October 2022, with a PlayStation 5 version following a year later.
By rose-engine · Germany
Signalis is a survival horror game from rose-engine, a studio in Germany. You control the android Elster as she hunts for her ship's missing pilot inside a hostile mining facility gripped by a supernatural event. Its visuals and play deliberately echo fifth-generation consoles, inspired by Silent Hill and Resident Evil. Released in October 2022, it won Best Narrative and Best Indie Game at the Fear Fest Horror Games Awards 2023.
By Kaigan Games OÜ · Malaysia
SIMULACRA is a horror game played entirely through the phone of a woman who has gone missing. The player digs through her messages, apps and other content on the device, piecing together clues much like a detective to work out what became of her. Malaysian developer Kaigan Games made and published it in 2017, building it with Unreal Engine 4 and libGDX, and it reached Windows and Mac on Steam alongside consoles and mobile.
By Frictional Games · Sweden
SOMA is a science fiction survival horror game in which Simon Jarrett wakes inside an underwater research station full of machines that seem to have personalities of their own. Play centres on sneaking past threats, solving puzzles and uncovering the station's past, with less weight on inventory and more on story and character. Swedish studio Frictional Games developed and published it in 2015 using its HPL Engine, and it holds a Metacritic score of 84.
By Endnight Games Ltd · Canada
The sequel to 2018's The Forest, Sons of the Forest delivers survival horror set on a mysterious island. Players are sent there to find a missing CEO and his family, confronting cannibalistic creatures while uncovering an ancient secret hidden underground. Canadian studio Endnight Games developed it, with Newnight publishing, and it entered early access on Windows in February 2023 before its full release in February 2024.
By THE BROTHERHOOD · South Africa
Stasis is a science fiction horror adventure played point-and-click style from an isometric viewpoint, built around using computers, combining items and solving puzzles. John Maracheck wakes from stasis aboard the abandoned spaceship Groomlake and must search for his missing wife and daughter as the ship sinks deeper into Neptune's methane clouds. It was developed by the South African studio The Brotherhood with the Visionaire Studio engine and released in August 2015.
By Harvester Games · Poland
A dark graphic adventure, The Cat Lady comes from Polish developer Harvester Games and was first released in 2012. It forms the second chapter of the Devil Came Through Here trilogy, following Downfall from 2009 and preceding Lorelai, which closed the series in 2019. The game was built with Adventure Game Studio and published by Screen 7, and it holds a Metacritic score of 81.
By KOTAKE CREATE · Japan
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.
By Vogelsap · Netherlands
The Flock is an online-only survival horror game built around a shared, limited pool of player lives, meaning the game was designed to end once enough deaths had occurred. It was developed by Vogelsap in the Netherlands and launched for Windows in August 2015. Weak sales led the servers to be switched off before that death total was ever reached, making it an unusual experiment in finite multiplayer design.
By Endnight Games Ltd · Canada
The Forest is an open-world survival horror game in which players gather resources, craft weapons and traps, and build defences against cannibals and mutants whose unpredictable stalking behaviour keeps tension high. After a plane crash, Eric LeBlanc searches a peninsula's caves and hidden facilities for his abducted son. Canadian studio Endnight Games released it on Windows in April 2018 after four years of early access, and it had sold more than five million copies before 2019.
By Red Barrels · Canada
The Outlast Trials is a first-person psychological survival horror game from Canadian studio Red Barrels, serving as a prequel to both Outlast and Outlast 2. Players take the role of test subjects drafted against their will into a secretive Cold War experiment. After a period of early access on Windows in 2023, it fully launched across PC and consoles in March 2024 and was generally well received by critics.
By Tale of Tales · Belgium
A psychological horror art game from Belgian studio Tale of Tales, The Path reworks the Little Red Riding Hood tale and broader folklore in a present-day setting. Players pick one of six sisters, each sent by their mother to visit a sick grandmother, and decide whether to keep to the path or stray into woods where wolves wait. It came out for Windows in March 2009 in English and Dutch, using the Quest3D engine, with a Mac OS X port arriving later.
By Rare Reversee, Beaztek · Vietnam
The Scourge is a first-person horror game with puzzle and adventure elements, inspired by Vietnamese urban legends of the 1990s. Set in Ho Chi Minh City, it follows Nhat Huy as he is pulled into strange events in an apartment block while investigating his family's deaths. It was co-developed in Vietnam by Rare Reversee, which also publishes it, and Beaztek Studio, and released in March 2026.
By Ares Dragonis · Greece
The Shore is a horror adventure in the Lovecraftian tradition that centers on exploring an isolated, mysterious island. The protagonist is a father who comes ashore looking for his missing daughter, and the unsettling environment drives the tension. It was developed by Ares Dragonis, an independent developer from Greece, who shared a demo in July 2020 before releasing the full game on Windows in February 2021.
By Antagonist · Norway
Through the Woods is a horror adventure played from a third-person perspective. Its Norwegian roots are central to its identity, and it is classed as survival horror, pointing to tense exploration rather than combat-heavy action. It was developed by indie studio Antagonist in Norway and arrived on Windows through Steam and GOG in October 2016. The available sources do not go into detail about its story or specific mechanics.
By SONNORI Corp · South Korea
White Day: A Labyrinth Named School is a survival horror remake of a 2001 Korean game, developed by South Korea's ROI Games, also known as Sonnori, together with Gachyon Soft. Players control a high school transfer student who slips into his school at night to leave a White Day gift for his crush, only to be locked in with supernatural threats. Surviving means hiding from enemies, managing items and solving puzzles before dawn. The PC version arrived in 2017.