External Discovery
30 indie games in this list, released 2007–2025, from developers such as BlueGiant Interactive, Ronimo Games, Alawar Stargaze (Warm Lamp 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 BlueGiant Interactive · India
APOX is a real-time strategy game set in a near-future, post-apocalyptic wasteland with a Mad Max flavour. Its store description pitches it as RTS play combined with tactics borrowed from first-person shooters. Indian studio BlueGiant Interactive developed and published it for Windows, releasing it on Steam in January 2011; the game runs on the Ogre3D engine and received a Metacritic score of 48.
By Ronimo Games · Netherlands
Awesomenauts is a multiplayer online battle arena that moves the genre into a side-on 2D platforming view, where rival teams of characters clash in competitive matches. It was created by Ronimo Games, a company from the Netherlands, and reached Windows in 2012. The PC version later became free-to-play with an in-game currency, went offline in 2023 after Ronimo went bankrupt, and was revived by Atari in 2025 as a paid game with matchmaking restored.
By Alawar Stargaze (Warm Lamp Games) · Russia
Beholder is an adventure game about life under a totalitarian regime where the state watches everything. Players act as a landlord appointed by the government, planting bugs, sneaking into tenants' flats and deciding whom to report to the authorities, with the moral cost left to the player. It was developed by Warm Lamp Games in Russia, published by Alawar in November 2016, and released for Windows, Mac and Linux.
By DESTINYbit · Italy
Dice Legacy mixes city-building with real-time strategy, layering roguelike structure and survival mechanics on top of settlement management. That combination means runs carry risk and each attempt can end differently. It was developed by DESTINYbit, a studio in Italy, and released on Steam for Windows in September 2021. The game holds a Metacritic score of 70.
By KillHouse Games · Romania
In Door Kickers, players command a SWAT unit belonging to Nowhere City's fictional police department, planning real-time tactical operations against criminals and terrorists. Romanian indie studio KillHouse Games developed and published it for Windows in October 2014, later bringing it to iOS and Android in 2015. A spin-off, Door Kickers: Action Squad, appeared in 2017, and the game holds a Metacritic score of 83.
By KillHouse Games · Romania
Door Kickers 2: Task Force North puts special forces and paramilitary squads under your control for counterinsurgency missions across Nowheraki, a fictional Middle Eastern country. It builds on the 2014 original with similar core play and many fundamental improvements to its real-time tactics. Romanian studio KillHouse Games developed and self-published it, entering early access in 2020 and fully launching in February 2025 to generally positive reviews.
By Star Drifters · Poland
In Driftland: The Magic Revival, players build up an empire across a fantasy world that magic has badly damaged, in a real-time strategy design that borrows ideas from 4X games. Polish studio Star Drifters developed and published it in 2019 using Unreal Engine 4. Steam lists it under strategy, simulation and RPG, and it holds a Metacritic score of 76.
By Snowbird Games · Russia
According to its genre listings, this Snowbird title, Eador: Masters of the Broken World, leans mainly on strategy while mixing in role-playing elements. It is a remake of an earlier title, Eador: Genesis, and available sources say little more about how it plays. The game was made by the Russian company Snowbird Game Studios and released in 2013, and it holds a Metacritic score of 74.
By Andrii Bychkovskyi · Ukraine
Farlanders is a turn-based city-building strategy game about founding a colony on Mars, with puzzle elements on 2D grid maps that are procedurally generated. Every structure must link back to the base through wires, pipes or tunnels, terraforming is central to success, and limited space forces careful trade-offs between food, water and energy. It was created by Andrii Bychkovskyi in Ukraine, published by Crytivo, and released in January 2023.
By Siege Camp · Canada
Foxhole is a cooperative, massively multiplayer action-strategy game from Toronto-based Canadian studio Siege Camp, built in Unreal Engine 4. Viewed from a top-down perspective, it places each player in one of two factions as a single soldier in a persistent war inspired by early 20th century conflict. Players gather and manufacture supplies, haul them to the front, fight, and build fortifications to seize enemy territory.
By Konstantin Koshutin · Russia
HighFleet, also titled HighFleet: Deus in Nobis, is a strategy game with action sequences in which the player commands a fleet of heavy metal airships. The campaign unfolds on Elaat, a dieselpunk post-apocalyptic world, where the goal is to take a rebellious region said to hold a nuclear reactor. It was created by Russian developer Konstantin Koshutin, published by MicroProse in 2021, and spent over ten years in development under the working title Hammerfight 2.
By Ironhide Game Studio · Uruguay
Iron Marines is a real-time strategy game in which the player commands a military force defending a space colony from alien invaders. Each mission centres on a powerful hero unit supported by soldiers, mechs and other troops across varied objectives. It was developed by Ironhide Game Studio in Uruguay, launched on mobile in 2017, came to Windows, macOS and Linux in May 2019, and was well received by critics.
By Arkavi Studios · Portugal
Lords of the Black Sun is a turn-based 4X strategy game set among the stars. Players lead one race in a contest for galactic dominance, exploring space, colonising new planets, running their empire and defeating rivals. Formerly known as Star Lords, X, entering Steam early access in 2013 and fully launching on Windows in 2014.
By Jan Zelený · Czech Republic
Mashinky is a transport strategy game created by Czech developer Jan Zelený. The aim is to build a railroad empire across procedurally generated maps, switching into a schematic construction mode to plan and lay out the network. Its rules borrow ideas from board games, adding a tabletop flavour to the logistics of expansion, and it has been playable through early access since October 2017.
By Mithis Games · Hungary
Nexus: The Jupiter Incident is a sci-fi real-time tactics game about commanding spaceships. Rather than gathering resources and constructing bases, it puts the weight on battlefield tactics and on managing each vessel. Its story follows megacorporations racing to colonise the solar system until a discovery at its outer edge sparks a new conflict. It was made by the Hungarian studio Mithis, reached Steam in 2007, and holds a Metacritic score of 77.
By Shiro Games · France
Northgard is a real-time strategy game that also carries 4X elements, developed and self-published by Shiro Games in France. It is built on the Heaps engine and came out in 2018 on PC before spreading to consoles and mobile devices. Critics were generally positive at launch. Its lasting popularity led to a 4X board game adaptation, Northgard: Uncharted Lands, which appeared in 2022.
By Alter Games · Russia
Partisans 1941 is a real-time tactics game about Soviet partisan fighters resisting the German invasion during the Second World War. Players direct a squad through its missions, and its genre listings point to strategy with survival and tactical role-playing elements woven in. It was developed by Alter Games in Russia on Unreal Engine 4 with Daedalic Entertainment handling publishing in 2020.
By Grey Wolf Entertainment · Portugal
Pax Nova is a science fiction 4X strategy game played in turns. Players guide one of several factions spread across three races, charting unknown planets and star systems, founding cities, extending their influence and fighting battles both on the ground and in space. It was developed by GreyWolf Entertainment, a studio from Portugal, published by Iceberg Interactive, and released for Windows in April 2020.
By Ndemic Creations · United Kingdom
Plague Inc: Evolved is a real-time strategy sim from Ndemic Creations, an independent UK studio, and a PC and console remake of the developer's earlier Plague Inc. Players create a pathogen and evolve it with the goal of wiping out humanity through a deadly plague. An epidemic model with a detailed, realistic set of variables governs how the disease spreads and how severe it becomes, a design that drew the attention of the CDC.
By Hexage · Czech Republic
Redcon - Strike Commander, styled REDCON, is a 2016 real-time strategy game from Czech developer Hexage. It draws its inspiration from Cannon Fodder, the third segment of the Japanese anime film Memories. Released for Windows in April 2016, it is listed under the strategy and simulation genres, and Hexage both developed and published it.
By Leonard Menchiari, IV Productions, Ivan Venturi Productions · Italy
RIOT: Civil Unrest is a real-time strategy game that recreates riots drawn from actual events, letting the player take the side of either the police or the protesters. Director Leonard Menchiari, formerly an editor and cinematographer at Valve, lived through riots himself and made the game to tell those stories. Developed in Italy with IV Productions, it was funded on Indiegogo in 2014, entered early access in 2017 and fully released in 2019.
By Starni Games · Ukraine
Strategic Mind: The Pacific is a strategy game played in turns, covering the Second World War in the Pacific, pitting the United States against the Empire of Japan. Players take command of one side and direct forces across the ocean theatre, with a focus on historical detail. It was developed and published by Starni Games, a studio based in Ukraine, and released for Windows in October 2019.
By Free Lives, Clockwork Acorn · South Africa
Terra Nil flips the usual city-building formula: instead of expanding and consuming resources, players place structures to rebuild damaged ecosystems and bring nature back. The game draws on the climate crisis and on the ideas of the rewilding movement. It was developed by the South African studio Free Lives together with Clockwork Acorn, published by Devolver Digital, and released on March 28, 2023, with mobile versions offered through Netflix Games.
By Mouldy Toof Studios · United Kingdom
The Escapists is a strategy game from UK developer Mouldy Toof Studios, published by Team17, in which you play an inmate trying to break out of progressively tougher prisons. Reviewers liked the freedom to tackle each escape your own way, though some found learning its systems through trial and error frustrating. After debuting in Steam Early Access in 2014, it launched fully in 2015 on PC and consoles, and a sequel followed in 2017.