76 indie games in this list, released 2009–2025, from developers such as べすとまん, LEAP Game Studios, Hermanos Magia, Naraven. 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.
Agreeee is a puzzle game made by the Japanese indie developer known as Vestman, who also handles its self-publishing on Steam. Available sources describe it simply as a puzzle title, and its Steam listing tags it as an action game, so the exact rules of play are not detailed here. It arrived on Windows through Steam in December 2025. It represents a small, independently produced release from Japan's indie scene aimed at players who enjoy compact puzzle challenges.
Arrog is a puzzle adventure set in a strange world drawn by hand in black and white, with occasional touches of colour. Players move through its surreal scenes and solve puzzles to progress, with the experience kept deliberately mysterious. It was developed by LEAP Game Studios of Peru together with Hermanos Magia, published by indienova, and released for Windows in July 2020.
Backfirewall_ is a comic puzzle adventure that takes place inside a smartphone, where the player works through levels to sabotage the device and stop its operating system from installing an update. Critics singled out its writing, puzzle design and unusual setting when it launched. Swiss independent studio Naraven developed the game, All in! Games published it in 2023, and it holds a Metacritic score of 82.
In the puzzle game Bad Rats, players spend a series of levels positioning rats and fixed objects to steer a ball into a trap that finishes off a cat. Retrospective coverage was critical of its graphics, puzzles and physics, yet it gained a reputation as a curiosity from Steam's hand-curated era and a popular gag gift, passing 400,000 owners by 2018. It was the 2009 debut of Brazilian developer Invent4 Entertainment.
Call of the Sea is an adventure game with a strong puzzle component, and Steam also tags it as casual. It was developed by Out of the Blue, a studio from Spain, and published by Raw Fury, launching on Windows and Xbox in December 2020 before reaching Amazon Luna and PlayStation in 2021 and Nintendo Switch in 2025. A sequel, Call of the Elder Gods, followed in May 2026.
Cocoon is a 2023 puzzle adventure from Danish studio Geometric Interactive, published by Annapurna Interactive. Players control a beetle able to hop between worlds, solving puzzles as they uncover the mysteries of its universe. It launched in September 2023 on Windows as well as Nintendo Switch, PlayStation and Xbox consoles, and critics received it generally positively, with a Metacritic score of 88.
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.
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.
Deliver Us The Moon is a science fiction puzzle adventure about a solitary astronaut sent to the moon after Earth has run out of natural resources, in an attempt to save humanity from dying out. Play mixes exploration with environmental puzzles in a bleak near-future setting. It was developed by KeokeN Interactive from the Netherlands in Unreal Engine 4, first self-published in 2018 as an episode called Fortuna, then expanded for a 2019 release.
Dorfromantik is a strategy puzzle game in which you lay hexagonal tiles to build a peaceful rural landscape. Matching edges and completing fields, forests, villages and quests earns points and fresh tiles, and a creative mode allows free building. It was made by Toukana Interactive, founded in Germany by four students from HTW Berlin, and fully released in 2022. A board game version won the Spiel des Jahres in 2023.
Dude, Stop is a comedic puzzle game that knows exactly what the right answer is and dares you to ignore it. Every stage can be cleared the normal way, but the fun comes from finding wrong solutions that trigger unique results, secret achievements and an increasingly exasperated narrator. It was made and self-published by Latvian developer Team HalfBeard and launched in June 2018. Critics liked it and often compared it to WarioWare.
Escape First is an escape room puzzle game playable in virtual reality or on a standard desktop PC. It offers three separate rooms, and each can be tackled alone, cooperatively or as a race against other players. The game was developed and self-published by OnSkull Games, a studio from Greece, and released on Windows in May 2018. Steam lists it as adventure, casual and indie.
Escape First 2 is the follow-up entry in OnSkull Games' escape room series, playable either in virtual reality or on a standard desktop PC. It offers three separate rooms, each built around solving puzzles to find a way out, and supports competitive, cooperative, or solo sessions. The studio is based in Greece, and the game was released on Windows in June 2019. Store listings tag it as a casual adventure.
Escape Simulator is a puzzle game played in first person, developed and published by Croatian studio Pine Studio, released in October 2021. Built around the escape room format, it has players solve puzzles to find their way out of locked rooms. Steam lists it under Adventure, Casual and Simulation, and it holds a Metacritic score of 82. A sequel, Escape Simulator 2, followed in October 2025.
Okomotive, a studio from Switzerland, followed FAR: Lone Sails with FAR: Changing Tides in 2022, a side-scrolling adventure with puzzle elements published by Frontier Foundry. The atmospheric journey follows a young boy and the ship he sails as he sets out across a post-apocalyptic world to find a new home. Keeping the vessel moving and navigating obstacles along the way forms the heart of the experience.
Released in 2019, Felix the Reaper is a puzzle game by Kong Orange, a studio from Denmark, published by Daedalic Entertainment. Each level asks players to guide Felix through spatial puzzles while keeping him out of the sunlight, reshaping the environment to open safe routes. His job in every scenario is to set up fatal, often contrived accidents that claim a chosen character's life. The Danse Macabre tradition inspired the concept, and development spanned eight years.
Golf Club Nostalgia is a golf puzzler set on an Earth abandoned by humanity, where the wealthy who escaped to Mars return to play among the ruins. Players shoot through wrecked monuments, malls and museums while the story unfolds mostly through a radio broadcast soundtrack. Made by Demagog Studio from Serbia, it first appeared on mobile in 2018 and reached Windows in 2021, with critics praising its music and art over its simple golf.
Herdling is a wordless puzzle adventure in which a girl named Via leaves a grimy city to guide furry creatures called calicorns up a mountain to their home. With no combat available, players rely on stealth to slip past predators and hazards, and can rescue injured calicorns found along the route. Swiss studio Okomotive made it as its first 3D game, published by Panic in 2025, and it won the SGDA Swiss Game Award for Best Entertainment Game.
Hidden Folks is a hidden object game set in a series of animated scenes that react when you poke at them. Players scan each busy picture and interact with it to track down specific characters, creatures and items. Its creators, Adriaan de Jongh and Sylvain Tegroeg, are based in the Netherlands, and it launched in February 2017 on Windows, Mac and Linux as well as mobile. The appeal is patient searching rather than any time pressure or combat.
Lonesome Village is a gentle adventure starring a coyote, mixing puzzle-solving with life-sim activities and leaving combat out entirely. Players explore the town, work through its puzzles and gradually learn about its magical history while trying to rescue it from a malevolent force. It was developed and self-published by Ogre Pixel, a studio based in Mexico, and launched in 2022 for Windows, Mac and Linux.
Machinarium is a puzzle-driven point-and-click adventure from Czech studio Amanita Design, released in October 2009. Players progress by interacting with the hand-crafted scenes and solving puzzles, in the tradition of graphic adventure games with an art-game sensibility. Originally built in Adobe Flash, it received a Definitive Version in 2017 that moved to a DirectX engine with full-screen support, and it has reached many platforms from iPad to PlayStation Vita.
Machineers is an episodic puzzle adventure from Lohika Games, a developer based in Denmark, in which players rebuild twelve whimsical machines from gears, belts, wires and other mechanical components. The player is Zola, a newly hired intern at Hayden's Repair Shop in Tivoli Town. Episode 1 first came out in October 2014 and Episode 2 followed in April 2015, and the first episode is available on Windows, Mac and Linux.
Mikołaj Kamiński, an independent creator from Poland who works under the name Sos Sosowski, made McPixel, a comedic puzzle game first released in 2012. Kamiński handled publishing himself, bringing it to Steam in September 2012 for Windows and Mac. Steam files it under action and adventure alongside its indie tag, and it holds a Metacritic score of 76.
Old Man's Journey is a gentle adventure game with puzzle elements that follows an old man who sets off on a trip after a letter brings him news. As he travels, semi-still flashback scenes gradually reveal the life he lived before. It was developed and published by Broken Rules, a studio from Austria, and released in 2017 for Windows, macOS and mobile devices, later reaching consoles.