External Discovery
43 indie games in this list, released 2011–2024, from developers such as Blue Brain Games, Color Gray Games, Croteam. 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 Blue Brain Games · Slovakia
The House of Da Vinci 3 concludes the puzzle adventure trilogy from Blue Brain Games, a studio based in Slovakia, and was released in December 2022. As in earlier entries, progress comes from solving a large number of fresh puzzles and brain teasers. Players also explore new, strikingly detailed locations with mysteries to uncover, continuing the series' puzzle-first approach on Windows and Mac.
By Color Gray Games · Latvia
The Rise of the Golden Idol is a detective puzzle game and the follow-up to The Case of the Golden Idol from 2022. Like its predecessor it centers on reasoning through mysteries by examining evidence and drawing conclusions. It comes from Latvian studio Color Gray Games, runs on the Godot engine and was published by Playstack in 2024. Reviews were generally positive, and four downloadable expansions arrived during 2025 to extend the story.
By Croteam · Croatia
The Talos Principle is a puzzle game released in 2014 by Croatian studio Croteam, published by Devolver Digital and built on Serious Engine 4. Its puzzles sit inside a philosophical story whose title refers to an argument by a fictional Greek philosopher that a conscious machine implies humans are machines too. It later gained the Road to Gehenna expansion, a 2023 sequel and a 2025 remaster called Reawakened.
By Colibri Games · Russia
The Tiny Bang Story is a point-and-click adventure built around puzzle solving, with hidden object play among its listed genres. It was developed and self-published by the Russian studio Colibri Games and first appeared on Steam for Windows and macOS in 2011. In the following years it was ported to a wide range of platforms, including iOS, Android, Linux, Apple TV and Nintendo Switch.
By Draw Me A Pixel · France
There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension is a puzzle adventure from Draw Me A Pixel, a company based in France. It is played in point-and-click style, with casual puzzle solving at its core. The game grew out of creator Pascal Cammisotto's 2015 game jam winner There Is No Game, and is often treated as a sequel or expansion of it. It launched on Windows and macOS in August 2020, reaching mobile and Switch later.
By Zachtronics · United States
TIS-100 is a programming puzzle game in which players write mock assembly language so that a corrupted, fictional 1970s computer can carry out set tasks. Every challenge is solved by writing and refining code, turning low-level programming into the core of play. American developer Zachtronics released it for Windows, OS X and Linux in July 2015, and a version for iPadOS followed in January 2016.
By Alexey Davydov, Sergey Dvoynikov, Timofey Shargorodskiy, Flazm · Lithuania
Train Valley is a puzzle-strategy train simulator where you lay railway lines and direct traffic, trying to keep every train moving without collisions. Its story mode spans eras from the 1849 Gold Rush to the first crewed spaceflight across Europe, America, Japan, and the USSR, and a random mode follows. Lithuanian studio Flazm released it in September 2015, and it went on to spawn several sequels.
By Alexey Davydov, Sergey Dvoynikov, Timofey Shargorodskiy, Flazm · Lithuania
Train Valley 2 continues Flazm's puzzle-strategy train series with larger and more intricate railway networks to build. Players respond to requests from local industries, which grow steadily harder and more complex, while keeping their lines running smoothly. The Lithuanian studio first put the sequel into Early Access in March 2018 before its full release in April 2019, with Windows, Mac, and Linux versions on Steam.
By Witch Beam · Australia
Unpacking is a relaxed puzzle game with simulation elements, built around a calm, casual pace rather than pressure or combat. It was developed by the independent Australian studio Witch Beam and released in 2021 across PC and consoles. The game was widely celebrated, winning two BAFTA Games Awards and Eurogamer's Game of the Year, plus a D.I.C.E. honour recognising outstanding achievement by an independent game.
By House House · Australia
Untitled Goose Game is a comic stealth puzzle game in which you play a troublesome goose loose in an English village. Using the goose's abilities, players move objects and manipulate the villagers to tick off a list of objectives, all without any violence. Developed by the Australian studio House House and published by Panic in 2019, it took Game of the Year at both the D.I.C.E. Awards and the Game Developers Choice Awards.
By Follow the Feathers · Austria
Weaving Tides is a puzzle adventure game with action elements, listed under action and adventure genres on Steam. It was developed and self-published by Follow the Feathers, an independent developer from Austria. The game launched on May 27, 2021 for Windows and macOS, and was also released on Nintendo Switch on the same day.
By Mojiken · Indonesia
When the Past Was Around is a point-and-click adventure about Eda and her partner, an owl in human form, told through a chain of escape-room puzzles. It uses no dialogue or text, relying on music and hand-drawn art to carry the story and leave it open to interpretation. It was developed by Mojiken Studio in Indonesia and published by Toge Productions in 2020, and it won Best Visual Art at the 2019 SEA Game Awards.
By Istikan Studio · Iraq
Bathroom Please! is an absurd comedy puzzle adventure about desperately needing a toilet. With no timer but a shrinking step counter, you cross a park, an office and a public pool, talk your way past strangers and learn each map by heart to reach relief in time. Failure means public humiliation and another attempt. It is listed among the projects of Istikan Studio, a game studio based in Kurdistan, Iraq.
By Sunhead Games · Taiwan
Carto is a puzzle adventure from the Taiwanese studio Sunhead Games about a girl named Carto trying to find her way back to her family. Its central idea is that you rearrange the map itself, moving and rotating pieces of the world to open new paths and solve problems. A calm, friendly game with a genuinely original core mechanic.
By Mahdi Bahrami · Iran
Engare is a puzzle game about motion and geometry by Iranian designer Mahdi Bahrami. You trace the path of a point on a moving object to recreate a target shape, a little like a Spirograph, and a separate free-form mode turns the same idea into a drawing tool. Its design draws on Islamic art and sacred geometry, which makes every solved puzzle look like a pattern.
By Dinosaur Polo Club · New Zealand
Mini Metro is a puzzle strategy game from the New Zealand indie team Dinosaur Polo Club about designing a subway map for a growing city. You draw lines between stations and keep adjusting them as new stops appear and passengers pile up. Its clean look borrows from real transit maps, and its sound is generated by your network.
By Creability · United Arab Emirates
Only If is a surreal first-person puzzle adventure from Creability, an independent studio that was based in Dubai. The game plays with the idea of turning figures of speech into literal, walkable spaces, which gives its puzzles a dreamlike logic. Released for Windows, macOS and Linux, it is an early example of an indie PC game coming out of the United Arab Emirates.
By Urnique Studio · Thailand
Timelie is a stealth puzzle adventure from the Thai studio Urnique Studio in which you control time like a media player, scrubbing forward and back to plan a safe route past hostile robots. A girl with the power to see the future and a mysterious cat work together to escape. It was named Game of the Year by Thai gaming publications and events.
By Hempuli Oy · Finland
Baba Is You is a puzzle game where the rules themselves are pushable blocks of words. Break the sentence that says a wall is solid, or rewrite what counts as winning, and a level that looked impossible opens up. It rewards lateral thinking over reflexes, and it grew out of a game jam prototype into one of the most inventive puzzle designs of its era.