406 indie games in this list, released 2009–2025, from developers such as Bubblebird Studio, Jutsu Games, Carlsen Games. 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.
Haven Park is a relaxed adventure about caring for a nature park. Players wander its grounds, gather materials and put up buildings that help draw visitors in, with exploration encouraged at every turn. It was the debut release of Bubblebird Studio, published by Mooneye Studios in 2021 as the first title in its Mooneye Indies line for smaller creators. Reviewers enjoyed its presentation and gentle tone but were less taken with its mechanics and puzzles.
112 Operator puts players in charge of emergency services, taking incoming calls and choosing which first responders to dispatch to each incident. It blends simulation with real-time strategy, and a series of downloadable content updates widened the range of emergencies, services and scenarios on offer. Polish studio Jutsu Games developed it and Games Operators published it in 2020; the game is built on Unity 2018 and received average reviews at launch.
140 is a minimalist platformer from Carlsen Games, a developer based in Denmark, released for Windows, Mac and Linux in 2013. Players travel through four levels, each paired with its own electronic soundtrack, as music and visuals combine into a synesthetic experience layered over tough platforming. Critics compared its music-synced play to the Bit.Trip series and Sound Shapes. Its director, Jeppe Carlsen, had earlier worked on Playdead's Limbo.
1993 Space Machine is a shoot 'em up that finally saw release in 2016 on Windows and Mac. Its roots go back to an abandoned Amiga project called Shenandoah: Daughter of the Stars, which had been planned for 1993 before work stopped. Exceed and Aurora Punks, working from Sweden, are credited as developers, with Aurora Punks publishing. Details on its stages and systems are not part of the available facts, so it is best understood as a revived retro-style shooter.
60 Seconds! opens with a nuclear bomb about to strike a suburban town and gives a family of four one frantic minute to grab whatever supplies they can. The rest of the game is about surviving on that haul and, eventually, escaping to somewhere safer. Polish studio Robot Gentleman developed and self-published it in May 2015; the project began as an experiment to test whether Unity suited the team, and a remastered edition arrived in 2019.
6180 the moon is a short puzzle platformer in which the player guides the Moon on a search for the missing Sun, whose absence has left Earth stuck in endless night. It was made by South Korean developer Turtle Cream together with Miara Sung, and first appeared on Windows in March 2013 through an Indie Royale bundle. The Steam release followed in 2014 on Windows, macOS and Linux, with PokPoong Games also credited on the store page.
7 Days to Die is a survival horror game set in a post-apocalyptic open world, and its Steam listing spans action, RPG, simulation and strategy categories. It was developed by The Fun Pimps, a studio from the United States, and spent a long stretch in early access starting in December 2013. After years of updates, its finished 1.0 release arrived in July 2024 on PC as well as current PlayStation and Xbox hardware.
868-HACK is a compact roguelike in which you play a hacking program inside a computer network, grabbing as much data as you can before defence programs wipe you out. It began in the Seven-Day Roguelike challenge in 2013 and was made and published by Michael Brough of New Zealand. After iOS it reached Windows and Mac in 2015. At the Independent Games Festival it received a design nomination plus a Seumas McNally Grand Prize honorable mention.
In 911 Operator you take on the job of an emergency call handler, answering incoming calls and deciding whether police, paramedics or firefighters should be sent to each incident. Steam classes it as casual simulation and strategy. Polish studio Jutsu Games built it after a successful Kickstarter campaign in the summer of 2016, and it launched on PC in February 2017, later followed by a sequel, 112 Operator, in 2020.
99Vidas, whose name means 99 Lives in Portuguese, is a retro-inspired side-scrolling beat 'em up. QuByte Interactive, a studio from Brazil, both developed and published it, bringing it to Windows, macOS and Linux toward the end of 2016. Sony console versions for PS3, PS4 and Vita came in 2017, and a Nintendo Switch edition followed in November 2018.
Agatha Knife is a darkly satirical point-and-click adventure whose protagonist founds a religion in order to persuade animals to accept being slaughtered. It belongs to the Psychotic Adventures universe shared with MechaNika, an earlier title by the same team. Spanish independent developer Mango Protocol first built it in Java and released it in 2017, later moving it to Unity for consoles; reviewers liked its look and dark tone but were split on its puzzles.
Albert & Otto is a 2D puzzle platformer planned as four stand-alone episodes, the first of which is titled The Adventure Begins. Its art style takes cues from Tim Burton's early stop-motion films, and its story is set in Germany just before the Second World War. It was developed and published by the South African studio K Bros Games, with the first episode arriving in October 2015 for Windows and OS X.
Alina of the Arena is a roguelite deckbuilder in which players build up a deck of cards and use it to defeat opponents in arena battles. Taiwanese developer PINIX self-published it in 2022 for Windows, Mac and Xbox, and DANGEN Entertainment brought it to Nintendo Switch and PlayStation consoles in 2023. Reviews at launch were generally favourable, and on Steam it sits under strategy, reflecting its tactical card-driven fights.
American Truck Simulator brings the Truck Simulator series to a scaled-down United States, with American conventional semi-trucks and recognizable locations. The loop centers on taking cargo contracts and driving them to their destinations. Czech studio SCS Software developed it on the Prism3D engine and released it in February 2016 as a counterpart to Euro Truck Simulator 2, and it has sold over 6 million copies.
Amnesia: The Dark Descent is a survival horror adventure in which Daniel explores the grim Castle Brennenburg while trying to hold on to his sanity. Rather than fighting, players avoid monsters and disturbing events, a design widely credited with influencing horror games that followed. Swedish studio Frictional Games developed and published it in 2010 using its HPL Engine; it won several awards, holds a Metacritic score of 85 and helped popularise Let's Play videos.
And Yet It Moves is a puzzle platformer in which you can rotate the entire game world at will, turning walls into floors to steer your character through dangerous environments. Its levels are designed around that single idea and presented in a paper-collage visual style. Developed by the independent Austrian studio Broken Rules, it began in 2007 as a student project in computer science at the Vienna University of Technology and was released in April 2009.
Antichamber is a first-person puzzle platformer set in a space that breaks the normal rules of geometry. Corridors can lead somewhere different depending on which way you face, and many puzzles rely on structures that could not exist in ordinary three-dimensional space, with short messages offering hints and life advice. It was created by Australian developer Alexander Bruce, built on Unreal Engine 3, and released for Windows on Steam in January 2013.
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.
Asylum is an atmospheric horror adventure set inside the Hanwell Mental Institute, a fictional asylum laid out according to the historical Kirkbride plan. Players are free to explore the whole institute as its unsettling story unfolds, with the focus on mood and slow-building dread rather than action. It comes from Senscape, an independent developer in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and authored by Agustin Cordes, and was funded partly through a 2013 Kickstarter before finally releasing in March 2025.
Aztez pairs side-scrolling brawler combat with a turn-based strategy layer, set in the Aztec empire in the years before the Spanish invasion. Players fight their way through areas across the empire, switching between hands-on action and turn-based planning. It was made by Team Colorblind, a studio from the United States, and released on August 1, 2017 for Windows, macOS and Linux, where Steam files it under action and strategy.
Balatro is a poker-themed roguelike deckbuilder made by Canadian solo developer LocalThunk, with Playstack as publisher, in 2024. Each round asks the player to hit a score target by playing poker hands drawn from a standard 52-card deck, with only a few hands and discards available to spend. Drawing on the card game big two and Luck Be a Landlord, it earned Game of the Year honours from the 25th Game Developers Choice Awards.
Barotrauma is a 2D side-scrolling co-op submarine simulator with survival horror and role-playing elements, set in the far future beneath the oceans of Jupiter's moon Europa. Each player takes a crew job such as steering, repairs or weapons, and some modes add a hidden traitor. Finnish studio Undertow Games developed it with FakeFish on MonoGame, and Daedalic Entertainment published the full release in March 2023.
BattleBlock Theater is a platform game from The Behemoth, the American studio behind Alien Hominid and Castle Crashers, making it the team's third release. It first came out on Xbox Live Arcade in April 2013 with Microsoft Studios as publisher, and reached Steam for Windows and Mac in 2014. Steam files it under action, adventure and casual play, and a quality-of-life update along with future console versions was announced in July 2024.
Bear with Me is an episodic point-and-click adventure from Croatian developer Exordium Games, with its first episode arriving in August 2016. Drawing on film noir, it follows Amber and her detective companion Ted E. Bear as they search for her missing brother, Flint. The story unfolded across three episodes that were later gathered into a Complete Collection, and a prequel called The Lost Robots followed in 2019.