External Discovery
406 indie games in this list, released 2009–2025, from developers such as Dani, Powerhoof, Kloonigames. 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 Dani · Norway
Crab Game is a free multiplayer party game inspired by the Netflix series Squid Game. Players face off across a string of minigames, and the goal is to be the final one still standing. Its creator and publisher is Daniel Sooman, a Norwegian indie developer known online as Dani. The game launched on Steam for Windows in October 2021 after an itch.io release for Linux and macOS, with those versions reaching Steam that November.
By Powerhoof · Australia
Crawl is a local multiplayer brawler set in randomly generated dungeons for up to four players or bots. One player is the hero while the others are spirits who possess traps and monsters, trying to kill the hero so they can take that role themselves. It was made by the Australian developer Powerhoof, first appearing in Steam Early Access in 2014 before its full release in April 2017.
By Kloonigames · Finland
Crayon Physics Deluxe is a puzzle game in which drawn objects obey a two-dimensional physics simulation, reacting to gravity, mass, momentum and kinetic energy. Designed by Petri Purho and released by Kloonigames of Finland in 2009, it grew out of an earlier 2007 Windows version called Crayon Physics. It includes a level editor and an online service for trading custom creations. The Deluxe edition took the grand prize at the 2008 Independent Games Festival.
By Amanita Design · Czech Republic
Creaks is a puzzle-platformer made and self-published by Czech studio Amanita Design. Progress combines platforming with puzzle solving, and its genre listings also class it as a graphic adventure and an art game with a casual pace. Announced in October 2018, it launched through Apple Arcade in July 2020 and arrived on Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch later that same month.
By Bad Seed · Italy
Crime O'Clock is a hidden object puzzle game in which the player takes on the role of a time traveler combing detailed hand-drawn scenes for clues. The aim is to prevent crimes before they are committed by spotting the right details. It was developed by Bad Seed, a studio in Italy, and released in 2023 for Windows and Mac. The game holds a Metacritic score of 69.
By Radical Fish Games · Germany
CrossCode is an action RPG from Radical Fish Games in Germany, published by Deck13. You play Lea, a mute amnesiac inside the fictional MMORPG CrossWorlds. Ranged and melee attacks are used both in combat and to crack puzzles, with elemental modes adding new powers for fights and exploration. Crowdfunded on Indiegogo and shaped by a three-year early access beta, it launched in September 2018 to generally favourable reviews.
By Tag of Joy · Lithuania
In Crowns and Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit, a classic point-and-click adventure, players work to unravel a mystery tied to Lithuanian history. As in the classic genre, progress comes from investigating locations and working through the puzzles the story puts in the way. It was developed by Lithuanian studio Tag of Joy and published through Headup, with a release in May 2022 on Windows, Mac and Linux. Further details of its plot are not covered by the available sources.
By Massive Monster · Australia
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.
By Weather Factory · United Kingdom
Cultist Simulator is a card-driven simulation from UK indie studio Weather Factory, built in Unity and released for Windows, macOS and Linux in May 2018. Set amid 1920s Lovecraftian horror, it has players move cards across a tabletop to gather followers, occult texts and tools while chasing one of several routes to immortality. Staying alive means dodging starvation, despair, madness and dangerous enemies. Reviewers liked the writing, while others criticized its pacing.
By Studio MDHR Entertainment Inc. · Canada
Cuphead is a run-and-gun action game from Canadian studio Studio MDHR, released in 2017. One or two players guide Cuphead and his brother Mugman through a string of levels and boss battles after the pair strike a bargain with the Devil over gambling debts. New powers unlock along the way, though only a few can be equipped at once. Its hand-drawn look recalls 1930s rubber hose cartoons, backed by a big band score.
By Mad Mimic · Brazil
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.
By InterWave Studios · Netherlands
Dark Matter is a science fiction Metroidvania with survival horror elements, combining exploration of interconnected areas with tense, horror-tinged encounters. It was developed by InterWave Studios in the Netherlands and published by Iceberg Interactive. The game launched in 2013 for Windows, Mac and Linux. It stands as an independent attempt to mix the backtracking structure of the Metroidvania genre with a darker, horror-driven atmosphere.
By Red Hook Studios · Canada
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.
By Epic Llama Games · Argentina
Darkestville Castle is a comedic point-and-click adventure in which the player takes the role of a sarcastic demon. Progress comes from solving puzzles and tricking the gullible characters around you as you try to restore mischief to the town. Argentine developer Epic Llama Games created it, and ESDigital Games released it in 2017 for Windows, Mac and Linux. Steam lists it simply as an indie adventure.
By Psychic Software · Ireland
Darkwind: War on Wheels is an online multiplayer game of armed cars, where races and road battles are resolved in turns rather than in real time. Its post-apocalyptic world draws on the Car Wars tabletop game and the Mad Max films while keeping a setting of its own. Created by Irish developer Sam Redfern under Psychic Software, it opened to players in 2007 and has kept receiving updates, arriving on Steam as a free-to-play release in 2014.
By Madruga Works · United Kingdom
Dawn of Man is a survival city-builder from Madruga Works, a UK developer, released in March 2019 after a closed beta that began in October 2018. It blends settlement building with survival play, and its genre listings also point to business simulation and a historical setting. On Steam it is available for Windows and macOS under the simulation and strategy categories.
By Placeholder Gameworks · Estonia
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.
By Snowhound Games · Finland
Deep Sky Derelicts is a dungeon crawler that blends classic role-playing structure with the card-driven systems of roguelike deckbuilders. Players assemble their own crew and send it to search abandoned spaceships, scavenging whatever the wrecks still hold. It was made by Snowhound Games, a studio from Finland, and published by Fulqrum Publishing. The game launched in 2018 and reached consoles two years later.
By tobyfox · United States
Deltarune is a chapter-based role-playing game following Kris, a human teen, together with the monster Susie and Ralsei, a prince of the Dark World, on a quest to save the world. Fights are turn-based with bullet-hell dodging, and encounters can end peacefully or violently, now with a full party. Toby Fox, an American developer, created it in GameMaker as a parallel to Undertale, with the paid release arriving in 2025.
By Daedalic Entertainment · Germany
Deponia is a comedic point-and-click graphic adventure following Rufus, who lives on a planet made of junk and dreams of escaping to Elysium, a city floating above it. His plans shift when he ends up helping an Elysian get home and stumbles onto a scheme endangering Deponia itself. Daedalic Entertainment of Germany developed and published it in 2012, and it opened a series continued by Chaos on Deponia, Goodbye Deponia and Deponia Doomsday.
By QCF Design · South Africa
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.
By Larian Studios · Belgium
Divinity: Original Sin is a role-playing game and the fourth main entry in the Divinity series, set as a prequel to Divine Divinity. Partly funded through Kickstarter, it ships with the same editor the developers used, so players can create solo or multiplayer adventures of their own and share them online. It was developed and published by Larian Studios from Belgium and released for Windows in June 2014, earning critical acclaim for modernizing the RPG genre.
By Bippinbits · Germany
Dome Keeper is a tower defense game from Bippinbits, a studio in Germany, published by Raw Fury and made with the Godot engine. You protect a glass dome from waves of alien attackers, then use the short gap between waves to dig for resources below. Those materials buy upgrades that strengthen your defences for the next assault. It launched on Windows, macOS and Linux in September 2022 to generally positive reviews.
By Klei Entertainment · Canada
Don't Starve is a survival game from Canadian studio Klei Entertainment, first released on PC in 2013. The player must keep the scientist Wilson alive, fed and sane in a gloomy parallel world called the Constant while fending off strange and supernatural creatures. An Adventure mode pits him against Maxwell, and the game is known for its distinctive art style as well as its difficulty and permanent death.