External Discovery
25 indie games in this list, released 2009–2025, from developers such as The Fun Pimps, Frictional Games, Senscape. 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 The Fun Pimps · United States
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.
By Frictional Games · Sweden
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.
By Senscape · Argentina
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.
By FakeFish, Undertow Games · Finland
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.
By Phobia Game Studio · Poland
Carrion flips the usual horror setup: instead of fleeing a creature, you are the tentacled monster, slithering through a research facility and hunting down the humans who stand in your path. Play centres on navigating the complex and ambushing the people inside, an approach its creators label reverse horror. It comes from Polish studio Phobia Game Studio, was published by Devolver Digital in 2020, and runs on the MonoGame framework.
By Miro Haverinen · Finland
Fear & Hunger is a survival horror role-playing game by Finnish solo developer Miro Haverinen, made with RPG Maker and released in 2018. Players pick one of four characters and descend into a deadly dungeon labyrinth in a dark medieval setting, searching for a man named Le'garde. Turn-based fights are harsh, with party members able to die permanently or lose limbs, while physical health, mental health and hunger must all be managed and saving carries risk.
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 Sokpop Collective, Tom van den Boogaart · Netherlands
Grunn is a gardening simulation that hides a horror game beneath its calm surface. The player rides a bus to a Dutch village, looks after a garden there, and gradually uncovers the secrets behind the place. It was made by Tom van den Boogaart, an independent developer from the Netherlands and member of Sokpop Collective, and released in 2024. Critics singled out the gap between its cosy appearance and the dread underneath.
By Roope Tamminen · Finland
Lakeview Cabin Collection is a horror game created and self-published by Finnish developer Roope Tamminen. It follows on from his earlier free Flash title, Lakeview Cabin, released in 2013, expanding that project into a fuller commercial release. After a Steam Greenlight campaign, the collection arrived on Steam, Humble Bundle and itch.io in March 2015. Console versions for PlayStation and Xbox followed in July 2024.
By Movie Games Lunarium · Poland
Movie Games Lunarium, a Polish developer, made Lust for Darkness as an erotic horror adventure first released in 2018 for Windows and macOS. Its story draws on the imagery of Giger and Beksiński as well as the writing of Lovecraft. Console versions for Switch and PlayStation 4 followed via publisher SimFabric in 2019 and 2020, and a sequel, Lust from Beyond, arrived in 2021.
By Zeenoh, 7 Seals · Philippines
Nightfall: Escape is a survival horror game from Zeenoh Inc., a Filipino company, released as a full game for Windows, macOS and Linux in 2016. You play Ara Cruz, a field journalist sent to look into an old mansion tied to a string of disappearances. Critics were mixed overall but singled out its storytelling and unusual monsters, and it received a Most Outstanding Narrative Story award at a 2015 event backed by the Philippines' Department of Information and Communications Technology.
By Marevo Collective · Ukraine
Released in 2020, No One Lives Under the Lighthouse offers a horror adventure made by Marevo Collective, a studio from Ukraine. It combines exploration-led adventure play with an unsettling, horror-driven tone. The Director's Cut edition is available on Steam for Windows, Mac and Linux. Public sources say little about its specific mechanics, so it is best approached as a compact atmospheric adventure from the Ukrainian indie scene.
By OMOCAT, LLC · United States
OMORI follows Sunny, a withdrawn teenager, and Omori, his alter ego inside a strange dream world, with play alternating between Faraway Town and the dreamscape. Turn-based fights use emotion-driven status effects, and player choices steer toward one of several endings. Heavy themes of anxiety, depression and trauma give it a psychological horror edge. It was made by indie studio Omocat in the United States using RPG Maker MV and released in December 2020.
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 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 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 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 panstasz · Poland
Set in the fictional Japanese town of Shiokawa during the year 198X, World of Horror asks players to explore eerie locations and battle otherworldly creatures to stop an approaching apocalypse. Its 1-bit pixel art was drawn in Microsoft Paint by Polish creator Paweł Koźmiński, whose influences included H. P. Lovecraft and Junji Ito. After an early access period starting in 2020, the full release arrived in October 2023 to generally favourable reviews.
By Danar Dev · Iraq
Anonymous Messages is a short atmospheric adventure set in an eerie forest. You wake with no memory, carrying only a flashlight and a cassette player, and search for six tapes whose anonymous messages calm your rising heart rate while slowly restoring your past. The forest becomes more hostile with each tape. It is a game by Danar Dev, the label of Kurdish Iraqi solo developer Danar Kayfi, and it also appears on his itch.io page.
By Kevir Entertainment · Iraq
Operation Stutter is a first-person psychological horror game set in a top-secret Cold War research bunker. You wake with no name or memory and explore a nuclear facility, using a film camera that shifts reality to solve puzzles while facing creatures tied to paranoia and a fractured identity. It was shown at Gamescom. It is the flagship project of Kevir Entertainment, a studio founded in 2023 in Duhok, in Iraq's Kurdistan Region.
By Krillbite Studio · Norway
Among the Sleep is a first-person horror adventure from the Norwegian studio Krillbite Studio in which you play a small child. Trapped in a strange nightmare, you crawl and toddle through your home and beyond while searching for your mother. Seeing everything from a toddler's height makes familiar spaces feel threatening.
By Zoetrope Interactive · Turkey
Conarium is a first-person Lovecraftian horror adventure from the Turkish studio Zoetrope Interactive, inspired by H. P. Lovecraft's novella At the Mountains of Madness. It follows a group of scientists who try to push past what they believe are the limits of nature, and it favors atmosphere, exploration and puzzles over combat. A good pick for fans of slow-burn cosmic horror.
By Acid Wizard Studio · Poland
Darkwood is a survival horror game from the Polish studio Acid Wizard Studio. By day you scavenge and explore a strange, ever-changing forest, and by night you barricade your hideout and try to survive until morning. It builds dread through sound, limited vision and uncertainty rather than cheap scares.