43 indie games in this list, released 2013–2026, from developers such as Jutsu Games, Balancing Monkey Games, Spiderling Studios. 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.
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.
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.
Before We Leave is a city-building game in which players lay out and grow settlements, a genre focused on planning, resources and expansion. Steam classifies it as a casual simulation and strategy title. It was made by New Zealand developer Balancing Monkey Games and released by Team17 in May 2021. The available sources do not describe its setting or systems in more detail than that, so it is best approached as a straightforward builder.
Besiege is a vehicle-construction sandbox from UK studio Spiderling Studios, themed around medieval siege engines. Players assemble their own machines, and reviewers have singled out the sheer range of experimentation it allows. It left a five-year early access phase in February 2020 on Windows, macOS and Linux, and The Splintered Sea, an expansion, was revealed in April 2024.
Released in 2020, Death and Taxes is a simulation game by Estonian indie developer Leene Künnap, released through their company Placeholder Gameworks. Players act as a Grim Reaper working through paperwork at a desk, deciding which humans will live and which will die. Aligned with the death-positivity movement, it approaches mortality with a light touch, and in March 2020 its source code was published on GitHub under the MIT License.
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.
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.
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.
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.
House Flipper is a simulation game whose title points to its theme of renovating homes. Steam lists it under simulation, casual and strategy among other tags. Polish developer Empyrean made it, with Frozen District and PlayWay as publishers, launching in May 2018. A mobile edition came out in 2020 and a sequel, House Flipper 2, followed in December 2023, though the available sources do not describe its mechanics in detail.
By Coatsink, GrizzlyGames, Stage Clear Studios · Germany
Islanders is a minimalist city-builder from German indie studio Grizzly Games, whose members made it over seven months while studying game design at HTW Berlin. You score points by positioning buildings on a procedurally generated island, and points refill your stock, unlock new structures and let you move to fresh islands. A session ends when nothing more can be placed. It launched on Steam in April 2019.
Kapital: Sparks of Revolution is an economic simulation about class conflict. You serve as mayor of a capital city in a European country gripped by crisis, balancing policy against growing social unrest and deciding what compromises are worth making to avoid collapse. Steam lists it under simulation and strategy. It was developed by Lapovich Team from Belarus and released by Fulqrum Publishing in April 2022.
Little Witch in the Woods is a life simulation game about Ellie, a trainee witch living in a forest with a talking hat called Virgil. She can fish and brew potions, and she finishes her training by helping villagers nearby and meeting other witches. It was developed and published by the South Korean studio Sunny Side Up, launched in early access in 2022, and reached its full version for Windows in September 2025.
Merchant of the Skies is a simulation game that mixes the building-up of a tycoon title with the numbers of an economic sim. Its Steam tags also point to strategy and role-playing elements alongside the trading focus. It was created by Latvian developer Coldwild Games, which published it together with AbsoDev, and it came out in 2020. The available sources do not go further into its systems, but it sits firmly in the business management side of indie games.
Mountain is an unusual simulation game in which you have very little control: your only real input comes at the start, when you are asked to draw some objects. Beyond that the experience is largely passive, and the game is meant to run in the background while you use other programs. It was created by David OReilly, from Ireland, with Double Fine Productions publishing, and released in 2014 for Windows, macOS, Linux and iOS.
Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You is an episodic simulation game that puts you in the seat of a government operative. Your job is to sift through surveillance material and personal data to identify people who might threaten national security, deciding what information to pass on. It was created by the indie developer Osmotic Studios in Germany and published by Daedalic Entertainment, with its release on Windows, macOS and Linux in 2016.
Overcooked! 2 is a cooperative cooking sim from UK developers Ghost Town Games and Team17, with Team17 handling publishing. A sequel to the original Overcooked, it launched in August 2018 on Windows, macOS, Linux and several consoles. Its focus is shared play in the kitchen, with friends cooking together as a team, and it was later bundled with the first game in the Overcooked: All You Can Eat compilation.
Planet Nomads is a 2019 science fiction sandbox game from Czech studio Craneballs. Its store listing combines the action, adventure and simulation genres, framing it as an open-ended sandbox with a sci-fi theme rather than a linear campaign. It was released in May 2019 for Windows, macOS and Linux, with Craneballs acting as both developer and publisher of the game.
Planetbase is a strategy and simulation game about founding a human settlement on a faraway world. Players lay out an outpost, keep colonists alive in a hostile environment, and grow the base so it can endure over time. The game was made by Madruga Works, a developer based in the United Kingdom, and it launched on Windows in October 2015. A Mac release followed in early 2016, bringing the colony-management loop to a second platform.
Political Animals is a government and election simulation set in a world of animal politicians. Players run a campaign by enacting policies and handling scandals to win over voters, with victory at the polls as the central goal. It was developed by Squeaky Wheel, a studio in the Philippines, and released in 2016 by British publisher Positech Games, the company behind the Democracy series.
ReStory: Chill Electronics Repairs is a relaxed job simulation about running a small repair business. Players take in broken gadgets and work through fixing a range of devices, with the setting placed in Japan during the mid-2000s. It was developed by Mandragora, a studio from Turkey, and published by tinyBuild. The game launched in August 2026 on Windows and Mac, offering a calm, hands-on take on the workshop sim.
RimWorld is a science fiction construction and management simulation in which AI storytellers steer events, so each colony becomes a generated narrative rather than a pure test of skill. It was designed by Canadian developer Tynan Sylvester, with Ludeon Studios as publisher, and began as a Kickstarter-backed early access project in 2013 under the name Eclipse Colony. Version 1.0 arrived in October 2018, and console editions followed in 2022.
Rise of Industry is a business tycoon game in which players construct and run an industrial empire, working to expand it during the early decades of the 20th century. It was created by Dapper Penguin Studios, an independent team from Spain, and published by Kasedo Games. After an early access period that began in February 2018, it reached full release in May 2019, and a sequel, Rise of Industry 2, arrived in 2025.
Slime Rancher is a life simulation about running a ranch full of slimes, blending farming routines with first-person action and exploration. Players catch and raise the colourful creatures while building up their farm. It was developed and published by Monomi Park, an independent studio in the United States, which put it into early access in January 2016 before a full launch in August 2017. A sequel, Slime Rancher 2, followed.