7 indie games in this list, released 2015–2026, from developers such as League of Geeks, Weather Factory, Abrakam Entertainment SA. 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.
Armello is a digital board game that blends role-playing with turn-based strategy in a fantasy kingdom of animal clans. Up to four players each take control of a hero competing to become the next ruler, using dice rolls and cards drawn from a deck, so every move shapes how the match plays out. It was developed by League of Geeks in Australia with support from Screen Australia and Film Victoria, partly funded through Kickstarter, and released in 2015.
Cultist Simulator is a card-driven simulation from UK indie studio Weather Factory, built in Unity and released for Windows, macOS and Linux in May 2018. Set amid 1920s Lovecraftian horror, it has players move cards across a tabletop to gather followers, occult texts and tools while chasing one of several routes to immortality. Staying alive means dodging starvation, despair, madness and dangerous enemies. Reviewers liked the writing, while others criticized its pacing.
Faeria is a digital collectible card game fused with turn-based strategy, played out on a shifting game board inside a fantasy world. Matches combine deck choices with positional play, since the board itself changes as the battle goes on. It was developed by Abrakam in Belgium and arrived on desktop in 2017, with console versions following in 2020. Critics responded well to it, and it holds a favourable aggregate score.
By Charlie Oscar Lima Tango Interactive Entertainment · Lithuania
Gremlins, Inc. is a digital board game played in turns, set in a steampunk world populated by gremlins. As a turn-based strategy title, it asks players to plan their moves carefully to get ahead of rivals at the table. It was made by Lithuanian indie studio Charlie Oscar, designed by Alexey Bokulev of Eador: Genesis, and produced by Sergei Klimov. After an Early Access period that started in 2015, it fully launched on Steam in March 2016.
Inscryption is a roguelike deck-building game from Canadian studio Daniel Mullins Games, directed by Daniel Mullins and published by Devolver Digital in 2021. Set in a cabin, it has the player face a mysterious gamemaster across a tabletop card game, gradually folding in puzzles, escape-room ideas and a cryptic metafictional story. It grew out of a Ludum Dare jam prototype and went on to win several Game of the Year awards.
Slay the Spire is a roguelike deckbuilder in which one of four characters climbs a procedurally generated tower, fighting enemies and bosses along the way. Combat is driven by cards, and new cards won from battles let players shape a deck strong enough to reach the top. It was made by Mega Crit, an independent American studio, on libGDX, released fully in January 2019, and is credited with popularising the genre.
Slay the Spire 2 is a roguelike deckbuilder where players pick a hero and climb the Spire floor by floor, gathering cards and using them to beat monsters. This follow-up to the 2019 original adds two new heroes beside three returning ones and brings co-op for up to four players. It is developed and published by Mega Crit, an American studio, runs on the Godot engine, and entered early access in March 2026.