External Discovery
282 indie games in this list, released 2012–2026, from developers such as KillHouse Games, Red Thread Games, Team HalfBeard. 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 KillHouse Games · Romania
In Door Kickers, players command a SWAT unit belonging to Nowhere City's fictional police department, planning real-time tactical operations against criminals and terrorists. Romanian indie studio KillHouse Games developed and published it for Windows in October 2014, later bringing it to iOS and Android in 2015. A spin-off, Door Kickers: Action Squad, appeared in 2017, and the game holds a Metacritic score of 83.
By Red Thread Games · Norway
Dreamfall Chapters is an episodic 3D adventure focused on conversations with characters, exploring the world and solving puzzles. It continues The Longest Journey series, following Zoe Castillo across the cyberpunk Earth of Stark and the magical realm of Arcadia. It was made by Norwegian independent studio Red Thread Games, founded by series writer Ragnar Tornquist, and funded partly through a Kickstarter that raised more than 1.5 million dollars.
By Team HalfBeard · Latvia
Dude, Stop is a comedic puzzle game that knows exactly what the right answer is and dares you to ignore it. Every stage can be cleared the normal way, but the fun comes from finding wrong solutions that trigger unique results, secret achievements and an increasingly exasperated narrator. It was made and self-published by Latvian developer Team HalfBeard and launched in June 2018. Critics liked it and often compared it to WarioWare.
By ENA Team · Peru
ENA: Dream BBQ is an episodic adventure focused on exploration, starring ENA, a humanoid figure trying to reach a mysterious character called the Boss. Players roam strange environments, talk with other characters, complete tasks, navigate mazes and solve puzzles. It was made by ENA Team in Peru, and its first chapter, Lonely Door, launched in March 2025, with more chapters planned. Reviewers widely described the experience as surreal.
By Dark Crystal Games · Russia
Encased is an isometric role-playing game with turn-based combat, set in a science fiction post-apocalyptic world. Its design draws on classic computer RPGs such as Fallout and Wasteland, along with the Strugatsky brothers' Soviet novel Roadside Picnic. It was developed by Dark Crystal Games in Russia, entered early access in 2019, and reached its full release in September 2021 under publisher Prime Matter.
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 Pine Studio · Croatia
Escape Simulator is a puzzle game played in first person, developed and published by Croatian studio Pine Studio, released in October 2021. Built around the escape room format, it has players solve puzzles to find their way out of locked rooms. Steam lists it under Adventure, Casual and Simulation, and it holds a Metacritic score of 82. A sequel, Escape Simulator 2, followed in October 2025.
By SCS Software · Czech Republic
Euro Truck Simulator 2 is a non-linear truck simulator set across a compressed version of Europe. Players haul cargo between cities in articulated trucks, then expand into a business by purchasing more vehicles and depots and hiring drivers. Czech developer SCS Software built it on its own Prism3D engine and released it in 2012 as a sequel to Euro Truck Simulator; the intro reports over 22 million units sold.
By Logic Artists · Denmark
Released in 2013, Expeditions: Conquistador is a tactical role-playing game about squad combat in which players take charge of a Spanish expedition to Hispaniola and Mexico, set between 1518 and 1520. Alongside its tactical combat, it features resource management, a branching story and interactive fiction segments. It was made by Logic Artists in Denmark, partly funded through Kickstarter, and first released for Windows, Linux and Mac by BitComposer before THQ Nordic acquired the series in 2018.
By Wube Software LTD. · Czech Republic
Factorio is a factory simulation game from Czech studio Wube Software, which both developed and published it. After crash-landing on an alien planet, an engineer gathers resources and builds increasingly automated industry with the goal of launching a rocket, and play can carry on once that goal is met. It supports single-player and multiplayer, began as a 2013 Indiegogo campaign, and reached full release in August 2020 after early access.
By Abrakam Entertainment SA · Belgium
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 Andrii Bychkovskyi · Ukraine
Farlanders is a turn-based city-building strategy game about founding a colony on Mars, with puzzle elements on 2D grid maps that are procedurally generated. Every structure must link back to the base through wires, pipes or tunnels, terraforming is central to success, and limited space forces careful trade-offs between food, water and energy. It was created by Andrii Bychkovskyi in Ukraine, published by Crytivo, and released in January 2023.
By Attu Games · Czech Republic
Feudal Alloy is a 2019 platform role-playing game from Czech studio Attu Games, categorised as a Metroidvania. It pairs platforming with RPG elements inside the kind of interconnected world the genre is known for, and its Steam listing adds action and adventure tags. Attu Games developed and self-published it, releasing it in January 2019 on Windows, macOS and Linux.
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 BetaDwarf · Denmark
Forced: Showdown is a bullet-hell brawler for one player, viewed from above and made by BetaDwarf, an independent developer from Denmark, and launched on Windows, OS X and Linux in March 2016. Framed as an ever-shifting galactic game show, it has players pick a champion, upgrade their abilities and fight through waves of minions while dodging incoming attacks. Each run combines a roguelike structure with a trading-card system that shapes how the champion grows.
By Killmonday Games AB · Sweden
Fran Bow is a graphic adventure with a strong thread of psychological horror running through it. It was developed and produced by Killmonday Games, an independent studio from Sweden, and built with GameMaker. The game first arrived on PC in 2015, followed by mobile versions a year later and console ports in 2023. The facts at hand focus on its genre and release history rather than specific puzzles, so it suits players drawn to unsettling point-and-click stories.
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 Greenheart Games 💚 · Australia
Game Dev Tycoon is a business simulation in which you run your own video game company. Starting small, players design and release games, shaping each project and steering the business as it grows, in a strategy loop that critics often compared with Kairosoft's Game Dev Story, which inspired it. It was created by Greenheart Games, an Australian company that the brothers Patrick and Daniel Klug founded in 2012, and first released in December 2012.
By Boneloaf, Rocket Science · United Kingdom
Gang Beasts is a party beat 'em up from Boneloaf, a developer based in England. After an early access period on PC that began in August 2014, it arrived on Windows, macOS, Linux and PlayStation 4 in December 2017. Double Fine Presents handled publishing at first, until Boneloaf took over publishing in 2020. Its store listing pairs action and casual tags with simulation, framing it as a brawler aimed at playing with friends.
By Stuck In Attic · Romania
As its subtitle suggests, Gibbous - A Cthulhu Adventure takes the point-and-click adventure format into Cthulhu-themed territory. Romanian developer Stuck In Attic developed and published it, releasing it on Steam and GOG in August 2019 for Windows, macOS and Linux, with a Nintendo Switch version as well. It holds a Metacritic score of 74 and carries an indie tag on Steam.
By Coffee Stain Studios · Sweden
Goat Simulator is a comedic sandbox game in which the player controls a goat and tries to cause as much chaos as possible across an open map, without any larger objective. Its developer likens the flow to skateboarding games, and the team deliberately kept many harmless bugs for their comic value. Swedish studio Coffee Stain Studios grew it from a joke prototype made at an internal game jam, released it in 2014 and built it in Unreal Engine 3.
By Liquid Pug · Belarus
Godlike Burger is a darkly comic restaurant management game set in space. You run an eatery for alien customers and secretly dispatch some of them in creative ways, turning them into ingredients for the menu while keeping the rest coming back. Steam lists it as simulation and strategy. It was developed by Liquid Pug, a studio from Belarus, and published by Daedalic Entertainment in April 2022 for Windows, Mac and Linux.
By Deconstructeam · Spain
Gods Will Be Watching is a point-and-click adventure pitched as a thriller, dropping the player into a series of tense scenarios and asking them to avert a crisis in each. Its core loop revolves around juggling scarce resources against the clock. Spanish studio Deconstructeam built it in GameMaker, and Devolver Digital published it in July 2014 for Windows, macOS and Linux, with an iOS port arriving in December 2015.