22 indie games in this list, released 2011–2025, from developers such as Michael Brough, Convoy Games, Massive Monster. 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.
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.
Convoy is a roguelike with squad-based tactical combat, drawn in pixel art. Players drive an armoured semi-trailer truck across a desert planet's wastelands, hunting for parts of a downed spaceship, and the story advances through text scenarios where chosen responses can lead into battles. It was made by Convoy Games in the Netherlands and launched in April 2015, partly funded by a Kickstarter that raised over 22,000 euros.
Cult of the Lamb is a roguelike that splits its time between combat and community building. As a lamb spared from execution by an imprisoned god, you raise a devoted cult and head out on crusades through dungeons to defeat four bishops, then return home for calmer stretches of managing your followers. Made in 2022 by Massive Monster, a studio from Australia, with Devolver Digital publishing, it was nominated three times at the 19th BAFTA Games Awards ceremony, Best Game among them.
Dandy Ace is a roguelike action dungeon crawler about a magician trying to break out of a procedurally generated world. He fights using magic cards that trigger attacks and abilities, and pairing different cards produces different effects. Brazilian studio Mad Mimic developed it and Neowiz published it for Windows and macOS in March 2021, with console ports later that year. Critics received it positively and often compared it with Hades.
Darkest Dungeon is a roguelike RPG from Canadian studio Red Hook Studios, released on PC in 2016 after a year in early access. Players manage a roster of heroes and send them into the dungeons beneath an inherited gothic mansion, moving in real time and fighting in turn-based battles. Each hero builds up stress while exploring, and high stress can bring afflictions that hinder or occasionally strengthen them.
Desktop Dungeons is a single-player game that blends roguelike dungeon crawling with puzzle design in a condensed form. Players clear a monster-filled dungeon and face a final boss, working out how best to spend items, spells and upgrades while preserving their health. Made by the South African studio QCF Design, it won an Excellence in Design award at the 2011 Independent Games Festival, and a remake, Desktop Dungeons: Rewind, arrived in April 2023.
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.
Glyphica: Typing Survival turns keyboard skill into a weapon: enemies pour into a minimalist arena and are cut down by typing quickly and accurately. It mixes roguelite runs, bullet hell shooting and horde survival, with a chosen weapon loadout shaping each attempt. The game comes from aliasBLACK, an independent studio in Singapore, and launched on Steam in early access in October 2024 with Squeaky Wheel publishing.
GoNNER is a roguelike action game that has been likened to a shooter version of Spelunky, mixing run-based progression with gunplay across randomised levels. It was developed by Art in Heart, a studio from Sweden, and published by Raw Fury for Windows, macOS and Linux in October 2016, with a Nintendo Switch version arriving in 2017. The game holds a Metacritic score of 81, and a sequel, Gonner 2, followed in 2020.
Hades is a roguelite action RPG in which Zagreus, son of the god of the dead, fights to break out of the Underworld with help from Olympian gifts. Every run offers randomised chambers and fast hack-and-slash fighting built on attacks, dashes and magic, while treasure earned between deaths unlocks lasting upgrades. Supergiant Games, an American studio, released it in 2020, and multiple award shows and publications gave it game of the year honours.
Hades II casts players as Melinoe, a princess of the Underworld and the sister of Zagreus, on a quest to bring down Chronos, the Titan of Time, with help from the Olympian gods. It blends a roguelike structure with action role-playing combat. Supergiant Games, based in the United States, developed and published this first sequel in its history, moving from early access in 2024 to a full launch in September 2025, and critics praised its gameplay, art, music and voice work.
Juicy Realm, a twin-stick shooter with a roguelike structure, comes from Chinese studio SpaceCan Games, with X.D. Network and PM Studio publishing. It launched on Windows and macOS in May 2018, followed by Nintendo Switch in 2019, iOS and Android in 2020, and PlayStation 4 and 5 in 2024. Steam lists it under Action, Adventure, Casual and RPG, reflecting a shooter that borrows role-playing and adventure elements.
Ocean Keeper: Dome Survival is a survival roguelike that pairs horde-clearing combat in the vein of Vampire Survivors with underwater mining. Players dig through caves for resources, upgrade weapons and a customisable mech spider, and hold out against waves of monsters and bosses. The game is the work of Ukrainian studio RetroStyle Games; it entered early access in 2024 and reached its 1.0 release in May 2025.
Okhlos: Omega is an action game with roguelike structure in which you do not control a lone hero but gather and steer a growing crowd of angry citizens. The mob is set loose against the gods of mythological Greece, with the aim of toppling their oppressive rule. It was made by Coffee Powered Machine, a studio from Argentina, and published by Devolver Digital in August 2016 for Windows, Mac and Linux.
Runestone Keeper is a roguelike game developed and self-published by Blackfire Games, a studio from China, with its iOS version handled by Cimu. It released on Windows and Mac OS X in March 2015, then arrived on iOS later that year and on Android in 2017. Steam tags it with the Strategy, RPG and Casual genres, while Wikidata classifies it more broadly as a strategy video game.
Teleglitch is a roguelike action game from Test3 Projects, a developer based in Estonia, that folds survival horror features into its design. The Die More Edition, released in 2013 and published by Paradox Interactive, is an expanded version that bundles free extra content added after the original launch. It is available on Windows, Mac and Linux, and holds a Metacritic score of 78.
The Binding of Isaac is a roguelike action-adventure in which young Isaac escapes into a basement full of monsters after his mother hears a message from God demanding his life. Players guide him, or one of six unlockable characters, through procedurally generated rooms modelled on The Legend of Zelda, fighting in real time and collecting items and power-ups for boss battles. American developers Edmund McMillen and Florian Himsl made it in Adobe Flash after a week-long game jam, releasing it in 2011.
Vambrace: Cold Soul is a dark fantasy roguelike RPG in which Evelia Lyric, bearer of a mysterious magical vambrace, leads expeditions into Icenaire, a haunted city buried beneath ice. Between runs players return to the safe district of Dalearch to craft gear and assemble parties of procedurally generated adventurers. Exploration happens in real time while fights are turn-based, and every trip wears down the group. South Korean studio Devespresso Games released it in 2019.
Vampire Survivors is a roguelike shoot 'em up from poncle, the studio name of UK-based developer Luca Galante, which launched fully in 2022 after an early access period. Your character attacks automatically while you steer through endless waves of monsters, trying to last as long as possible and unlock new characters, weapons and relics for later runs. Widely seen as an early example of the bullet heaven genre, it won two British Academy Games Awards, for Game Design and Best Game.
Ziggurat is a roguelite first-person shooter structured as a dungeon crawl, taking its inspiration from Heretic and Hexen: Beyond Heretic. Steam also lists it under action and role-playing. Spanish developer Milkstone Studios both made and published it, releasing it on Windows, macOS and Linux in October 2014 after two months of early access, and a sequel, Ziggurat 2, followed in 2021.
Dead Cells is a roguelike Metroidvania action game from the French independent developer Motion Twin. You play a strange creature fighting its way out of a diseased island, with levels that change on every run and no checkpoints to fall back on. Fast, fluid combat and a huge variety of weapons keep each attempt feeling fresh.
Loop Hero is a roguelike from the Russian studio Four Quarters in which you never control the hero directly. Instead the hero walks a looping road on their own, and you shape each expedition by placing cards that add enemies, buildings and terrain around the loop. That simple twist turns a familiar fantasy adventure into a thoughtful game of planning and risk.