406 indie games in this list, released 2014–2026, from developers such as Alexey Davydov, Sergey Dvoynikov, Timofey Shargorodskiy, Flazm, Atelier 801, Urban 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.
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.
Transformice is a free-to-play online multiplayer platformer from Atelier 801, the work of two designers from France: Melibellule, who handles art, and Tigrounette, who programs the game. Built on Adobe Flash, it first launched as a browser game in May 2010. A standalone free-to-play version later arrived on Steam in January 2015, playable on Windows, macOS and Linux.
Transport Fever 2 is a business simulation from Swiss studio Urban Games, published by Good Shepherd Entertainment and first released in 2019. Players plan and operate transport networks, laying routes over land, water and air as their world grows and prospers. It is the third game in the Transport Fever series, and a follow-up titled Transport Fever 3 was announced in 2025.
Released in 2014, Turbo Dismount is a vehicle simulator from Secret Exit Ltd., a developer in Finland, and the follow-up to Stair Dismount. Players strap a crash test dummy into one of many vehicles and aim for maximum destruction to push up their score, then review each crash through an adjustable replay. Custom courses can be built and shared online, and the game left early access to fully release on Steam on May 21, 2014.
TurnOn is a single-player platformer starring Turnon, an alien electrical spark trying to bring power back to a city that has suddenly gone dark. It stands out for its distinctive visual style and was built in Unity3D by the Russian team Brainy Studio. A 2014 prototype of the game won the Games category at Microsoft's Imagine Cup, and the full release arrived on June 1, 2016.
In Unbound: Worlds Apart you guide Soli, a mage who can open portals into alternate realities, each with its own effect such as bending time, reversing gravity or transforming Soli himself. These portals drive the puzzle-platforming as you gather crystals that unlock gates to the dark world. Romanian studio Alien Pixel Studios developed and published it in 2021 after a Kickstarter campaign, and it received generally favorable reviews.
Undertale is a role-playing game about a child who tumbles into the Underground, a hidden realm of monsters sealed beneath the surface. Battles play out as small bullet-hell dodging sequences, and players can talk their way to sparing foes rather than killing them, choices that reshape story and characters. Toby Fox, an American developer, made almost all of it himself, including script and music, and it launched in 2015 using GameMaker.
Undying is a 2023 survival game developed by Chinese studio Vanimals, with Skystone Games publishing. Set during a zombie apocalypse, it follows a mother who has been bitten and must pass on survival skills to her child before she loses her humanity. Its central tension is that race against time. Steam lists it as an indie adventure, and it holds a Metacritic score of 74 from critics.
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.
Unrailed! is a cooperative construction game from Indoor Astronaut, a Swiss developer, built with MonoGame and published by Daedalic Entertainment. Players work together to build railway track through endless, procedurally generated worlds, dealing with random encounters, upgrading the train and keeping it from running off the rails. After an early access period that began in 2019, the full release came in September 2020.
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.
Unusual Findings is an adventure game that follows three young friends investigating strange events during the 1980s, a decade the game fills with synth music, video rental shops and eight-bit gaming references. Choices made along the way shape how the story develops, and the plot involves an alien conspiracy. It comes from Argentine studio Epic Llama Games and was published by ESDigital Games in 2022 on Windows, Mac and Linux.
Use Your Words is a party game developed by Smiling Buddha Games, a studio from Canada, and published by Screenwave Media. It launched in April 2017 on PC, Mac, Wii U, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, with a Nintendo Switch version arriving in August 2017. Built as a party game for groups playing together, it is listed on Steam as a casual indie title rather than a solo experience.
Valhalla Hills is a city-building strategy game in which you guide a tribe of Vikings as they build up and sustain a settlement. Each map ends with the goal of reaching a portal at the top of a mountain that leads to Valhalla. Funatics Software, a studio in Germany, developed it in Unreal Engine 4, and Daedalic Entertainment published it in 2015. Two expansions, Sand of the Damned and Fire Mountains, later added new locations and enemies.
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.
This roguelike deckbuilder spinoff was co-developed by UK developers poncle and Nosebleed Interactive, with poncle publishing. It takes the action roguelike formula of Vampire Survivors and reshapes it around building a deck of cards. It released on Steam in April 2026 for Windows and macOS, and its Steam store tags pair action with strategy.
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.
Vaporum is a grid-based dungeon crawler from Fatbot Games, a studio in Slovakia, released in 2017 and modeled on old-school entries in the genre. It is set in an original steampunk world, where the hero finds himself stranded before a colossal tower rising from the middle of an ocean. Exploring the tower means uncovering what the place is, what happened inside it and who the protagonist really is.
Verdun is an online first-person shooter built around squads and set in the First World War and inspired by the 1916 battle of the same name. Teams fight over trench lines in attack and defence rounds, using period weapons, uniforms and maps modelled on real Western Front battlefields. Built in Unity by independent studios M2H and the Netherlands-based BlackMill Games, it left Steam Early Access in April 2015 and later reached consoles.
Victor Vran is an isometric action role-playing game where player skill matters as much as gear and builds, with dodging, jumping and ability use at the center of combat. Its world blends gothic fantasy and fairy-tale elements, with room for both magic and science. Bulgarian indie developer Haemimont Games released it in July 2015, with EuroVideo Medien publishing it on Steam; later ports reached consoles.
VirtuaVerse is a point-and-click adventure set in a future world with cyberpunk and science fiction themes. It was developed by Theta Division, a studio in Italy, and published by Blood Music. The game came out on May 12, 2020 on Steam and GOG for Windows and Mac, with versions for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One following in October 2021. It holds a Metacritic score of 75.
Viscera Cleanup Detail is a science fiction simulation that hands players the grim job of mopping up after disasters such as repelled alien invasions and zombie outbreaks. The work is all about clearing away the bloody mess left behind once the fighting is over. It was developed and published by RuneStorm, an indie studio based in South Africa, using Unreal Engine 3, and it entered Steam Early Access in April 2014 before fully releasing in October 2015.
VoidExpanse is a science-fiction space game from AtomicTorch Studio, a developer based in Singapore, released in 2015 for Windows, Mac and Linux. Players pilot a ship through a large universe, mining asteroids, trading, taking on missions and upgrading both their vessel and their character. Fast combat against hostile aliens and mercenaries is part of the loop, and the game draws on RPG, simulation and strategy elements.