External Discovery
406 indie games in this list, released 2013–2026, from developers such as Four Quarters, Quicktequila, Dinosaur Polo Club. 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 Four Quarters · Russia
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.
By Quicktequila · India
Lovely Planet is a fast first-person shooter platformer by the Indian indie developer Quicktequila, set in a bright, abstract world that looks cute but plays hard. Levels are short, precise runs where you jump and shoot targets in quick succession, often retrying until your timing is perfect. It is a small, sharp game about flow and precision.
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 Nowhere Studios · Turkey
Monochroma is a cinematic puzzle platformer and the first game from the Istanbul-based Nowhere Studios. You play a boy carrying his little brother through a dystopian 1950s world, and most puzzles revolve around keeping the younger child safe while you move ahead. Its focus on protecting a sibling gives the puzzles an emotional weight that most platformers never try for.
By Red Candle Games · Taiwan
Nine Sols is a hand-drawn 2D action platformer from Red Candle Games, set in a world the studio calls taopunk, a blend of Taoism and cyberpunk. You follow a hero's quest to defeat nine powerful rulers, and combat is built around precise deflection rather than simply dodging. It marked a move into action games for the Taiwanese studio behind Detention.
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 D-Pad Studio · Norway
Owlboy is a story-driven platform adventure from the Norwegian independent developer D-Pad Studio. You fly through a world in the clouds and can pick up friends and carry them with you, using their help to fight and solve puzzles. Its development began in 2007, and the result is some of the most detailed pixel art in the genre.
By Tolga Ay · Turkey
Remnants of Naezith is a fast precision platformer by Turkish developer Tolga Ay, built around a grappling hook. You swing and dash through short levels as Kayra, destroying enchanted fragments of a dragon before anyone can misuse their power, and leaderboards reward shaving seconds off every run. It is a tight, focused game made largely by a single developer.
By 7th Beat Games · Malaysia
Rhythm Doctor is a one-button rhythm game from 7th Beat Games, set in a hospital where you treat patients by pressing in time with their heartbeats. Each patient has a unique rhythm to learn, and the game keeps finding clever ways to test your timing with nothing more than a single key. It has received favorable reviews for its music and inventive level design.
By SUPERHOT Team · Poland
Superhot is a first-person shooter from the Polish studio Superhot Team with one big idea: time only moves when you move. That turns every firefight into a slow, deliberate puzzle where you plan each step, grab weapons from enemies and dodge bullets in slow motion. Its minimalist red-and-white style is instantly recognizable.
By Deconstructeam · Spain
The Red Strings Club is a cyberpunk narrative adventure from the Spanish studio Deconstructeam about fate and happiness. You mix drinks to steer conversations, shape personalities through pottery and impersonate people on the phone, all to unravel a corporate conspiracy. It is short, thoughtful and heavy on dialogue.
By Weappy Studio · Belarus
This Is the Police is a strategy adventure from the Belarusian studio Weappy Studio. You play Jack Boyd, a police chief in the fictional city of Freeburg who has 180 days left before a corrupt mayor forces him into retirement. Each day you assign officers to emergencies and investigations, while the story pulls you into crime and corruption along the way.
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 Iron Gate Studio · Sweden
Valheim is a cooperative survival game from the Swedish developer Iron Gate Studio, set in a procedurally generated afterlife inspired by Viking culture. Alone or with friends you explore, gather resources, build and fight your way toward stronger foes. After a long early access period, its full version launched in September 2026.
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.
By Maddy Makes Games · Canada
Celeste is a precision platformer about climbing a mountain, built from short, demanding screens that restart instantly when you fail. Beneath the tight jumping and dashing sits a personal story about anxiety, depression and self-doubt, told with warmth rather than melodrama. It is a demanding game that stays encouraging, and one of the best-known indie platformers of its generation.
By Long Hat House · Brazil
Dandara replaces running and jumping with a single idea: you leap between surfaces, sticking to floors, walls and ceilings as you go. That one change turns familiar Metroidvania exploration into something that feels new, with rooms designed around angles instead of ledges. It comes from Brazilian studio Long Hat House and carries a strong, distinctive visual identity.
By Team Cherry · Australia
Hollow Knight is a hand-drawn action-adventure set in a vast underground kingdom of insects, where every new ability reopens places you already walked past. Its combat asks for patience and pattern-reading rather than button speed, and much of its story is found rather than told. A benchmark for small-team Metroidvania design from an independent Australian studio.
By Lienzo
Mulaka is a 3D action-adventure set in the landscapes of northern Mexico and built on the indigenous culture of the Tarahumara. Rather than borrowing a culture as decoration, it makes that tradition the foundation of its world, its creatures and its story. It is an interesting example of an indie team building a whole game around a specific living tradition.
By Lucas Pope
Papers, Please puts you behind a border checkpoint desk, checking documents against a rulebook that grows stricter every day. The work is simple and repetitive on purpose, and the tension comes from the choices it forces: follow the rules, feed your family, or help the person in front of you. A small-scale game that became a lasting reference for storytelling through mechanics.
By Nyamakop · South Africa
Semblance is a puzzle platformer in which you can deform the world: press into a surface and it stays bent, reshaping the level into the path you need. Playing with that single mechanic, the game keeps finding fresh puzzles in soft, squashable terrain. It was developed by the South African studio Nyamakop and is a good example of one idea explored thoroughly.
By ConcernedApe · United States
Stardew Valley starts with an overgrown farm and leaves the rest to you: plant seasonal crops, raise animals, fish, mine caves and get to know the people of a small town. There is no single right way to spend a day, which is exactly its appeal. Created by one developer, it became one of the clearest proofs that a solo indie project can define a whole genre.