926 indie games in this list, released 2011–2026, from developers such as Facepunch Studios, Nuggets Entertainment, Mike Klubnika. 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.
Rust is a multiplayer survival game from UK studio Facepunch Studios, fully released in February 2018 after an early access run that started in 2013. Players scavenge or steal materials, manage hunger, thirst and health, craft gear and fortify bases, while the biggest danger comes from other players rather than wildlife. Clans, raiding and firearms drive much of the conflict, and scheduled server wipes regularly reset progress so each cycle starts fresh.
RV There Yet? is a cooperative adventure in which a group of friends tries to drive a rear-wheel-drive RV home from a camping trip across punishing terrain. Getting the vehicle through rough ground takes teamwork, and hazards such as bears can damage the RV and injure players along the way. Swedish studio Nuggets Entertainment developed and self-published the game, which came out on Windows in October 2025 and found a large audience on Steam.
Released in 2025, s.p.l.i.t is a psychological horror game made and self-published by Mike Klubnika, a developer from Estonia, with Oro Interactive also credited as a publisher on Steam. It launched on Windows and Linux in July 2025. Beyond its psychological horror framing, its store and database listings place it in the action and simulation genres. The title is stylised in lowercase with full stops, while it is written as Split in plain text.
SAEKO: Giantess Dating Sim is a dark visual novel and dating sim from Japanese developer Safe Havn Studio, published by Hyper Real. Players are Rin, a captive of Saeko, a young woman who can shrink people and secretly preys on them. Rin must look after the other miniaturized prisoners while his relationship with his captor slowly develops. The game launched on Windows and Linux in May 2025, pairing its unsettling premise with choice-driven adventure storytelling.
Sairento VR is a virtual reality action game that combines first-person shooting with free-flowing close combat. Players move acrobatically with triple jumps, wall runs and power slides, slow down time in mid-air and switch between katanas, firearms, bows and throwing glaives, upgrading their kit as they progress. It was made by the Singapore-based studios Mixed Realms and Swag Soft and launched for PC VR headsets in February 2018.
Sands of Salzaar is a fantasy strategy action RPG from Chinese indie studio Han-Squirrel Studio, published by Hong Kong's XD and fully released in 2021. Players create a character, fight battles, recruit troops, run a fief and delve into dungeons across a war-torn realm where five factions compete. It offers a story campaign and a sandbox mode, and has been likened to a blend of Mount & Blade, Diablo and Dynasty Warriors.
Satisfactory is a first-person factory-building simulation in which a pioneer lands on an alien world and turns its resources into ever larger production lines. Early work centres on building a space elevator, and shipping parts through it to the FICSIT corporation unlocks new tiers of machines and technology. Swedish studio Coffee Stain Studios built it in Unreal Engine 4, ran it in early access from 2019 and launched the full release in 2024, where it holds a Metacritic score of 91.
Save Room - Organization Puzzle turns survival horror inventory management, in the style of Resident Evil 4, into a series of puzzles about fitting items into a briefcase. Space can be freed by combining items, healing with them or reloading weapons. Brazilian developer Fractal Projects released it on Windows in April 2022, and critics liked how cheap and carefully detailed it was while noting it was simple and brief.
SC2VN is a free visual novel taking place in South Korea in the first competitive years of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. Players follow Mach, a hopeful who wants to turn professional, through a story praised for portraying esports honestly, including its emotional cost and the real chance of failing. It was developed by Team Eleven, a studio from the United States, released on Windows in September 2015, and a prequel titled Don't Forget Our Esports Dream came later.
Schedule I is an open-world crime simulator with a dark comic streak. Players start a drug trafficking business in Hyland Point, a fictional city, and grow it over time, mixing business management with tactical strategy as the operation expands. It is developed by TVGS (Tyler's Video Game Studio) from Australia and entered early access on Windows in March 2025, where it picked up a large audience through Twitch and TikTok livestreams.
Scorn is a survival horror adventure steeped in biopunk themes, with first-person shooter elements among its listed genres. Its imagery takes inspiration from two visual artists, Zdzisław Beksiński and H. R. Giger. It was developed by Ebb Software in Serbia using Unreal Engine 4, published by Kepler Interactive, and released in October 2022, with a PlayStation 5 version following a year later.
Scrap Garden is a puzzle platformer following Canny, a solitary robot who wakes up in a ruined world where every other machine has stopped working. The player guides him through platforming stages and environmental puzzles while trying to learn what happened to the city and whether anyone else survived. Egidijus Bachur and Alexey Davydov are credited as developers, with Flazm publishing; the team is from Lithuania, and the Steam release arrived in 2016.
SCUM is an open-world survival game pitched as a prison riot scenario, where convicts are dropped onto a hostile island. Staying alive means looting, crafting, hunting, building and fighting, and detailed character customization shapes the prisoner you play. Croatian studio Gamepires made it in Unreal Engine 4. It entered Steam early access in 2018 and reached its full release in June 2025.
Sea of Stars is a role-playing game from Canadian studio Sabotage Studio, released in 2023 as the team's next project after The Messenger. Players control Solstice Warriors Valere or Zale, who wield sun and moon powers to hunt monsters called Dwellers across a fantasy archipelago. Its isometric pixel art recalls Super Nintendo era RPGs, combat mixes strategic and real-time elements, and it won Best Independent Game at The Game Awards 2023.
Serious Sam's Bogus Detour is a twin-stick shooter that takes the Serious Sam series into a top-down format, with one to four players fighting enemy waves across Egypt, Greece and the Moon. Weapons are found in levels, and stars earned by exploring or gaining experience buy character upgrades. Deathmatch and survival modes support up to twelve players. Swedish studio Crackshell made it with approval from Croteam, and Devolver Digital published it in 2017.
Released in 2011, Serious Sam 3: BFE is a first-person shooter from Croatia-based indie studio Croteam, published by Devolver Digital and running on Serious Engine 3.5. A prequel to Serious Sam: The First Encounter, it is set in 22nd-century Egypt as Mental invades Earth. It offers 16-player online play plus a four-player split-screen co-op campaign, and it later arrived on OS X and Linux.
Serious Sam 4 is a first-person shooter from Croatian studio Croteam, published by Devolver Digital and released in 2020. It belongs to the long-running Serious Sam series and is set before the events of Serious Sam 3: BFE, continuing the franchise's first-person gunplay. The project was first revealed in 2018 as Serious Sam 4: Planet Badass, runs on Croteam's Serious Engine, and later received a standalone expansion called Siberian Mayhem.
Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope is a 2017 virtual reality first-person shooter from Croteam VR, a specialised division that Croatian studio Croteam set up to explore VR development. Alone or with a second player, you hold off waves of enemies and bosses across five themed planets, dual-wielding weapons within a limited play space as foes close in from a 180-degree arc. Devolver Digital published it after an early access period.
By Gungrounds (Macanga Games j.d.o.o.), Croteam · Croatia
Serious Sam: Tormental is a twin-stick shooter with a rogue-lite structure, made by Croatian developer Gungrounds with Croteam and published by Devolver Digital in 2022. One or two players fight through procedurally generated stages set inside the mind of Mental, the series' villain, each carrying two weapons and upgrading the primary gun with mods. Characters can dodge roll and use a special ability, and defeat sends you back to the beginning.
SEUM: Speedrunners from Hell is a first-person platformer from Croatian developer Pine Studio, released on Steam in July 2016. Players dash through levels against the clock, relying on an assortment of power-ups to shave time off each attempt. Its design takes cues from speedrunning in games such as Quake and Super Meat Boy, and the odd name comes from ColloSEUM, the working title used during development.
Shadow Blade: Reload is an action platformer starring Kuro, a ninja racing through trap-filled stages and cutting down enemies along the way. It is the PC counterpart of the mobile game Shadow Blade, and its developers planned additional levels, a full story campaign and Steam features such as leaderboards and workshop support. It was developed and published by Dead Mage, a studio based in Iran, and released in August 2015.
Shadows of Doubt is a first-person detective game with stealth elements from British developer ColePowered Games, published by Fireshine Games. Its genre labels include immersive sim, cyberpunk and neo-noir, and critics praised its open-ended design while pointing to repetitive stretches and bugs. It entered early access on Windows in April 2023 and left it in September 2024, arriving on Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 at the same time.
Shroom and Gloom is a first-person roguelike deckbuilder from Team Lazerbeam, a studio in South Africa, published by Devolver Digital. Players collect and grow cards across two decks at once, chaining large combos to defeat hostile fungal creatures in a moody setting. A demo was available on Steam in May 2025, and the full game entered early access in September 2026.
Sifu is a beat 'em up from Sloclap, a studio in France, built in Unreal Engine 4. Set in China, it casts you as the child of a martial arts master seeking revenge for their father's murder. A magical talisman revives you after each death but ages you, raising attack power while lowering health, and growing too old means permanent death and a level restart. It launched in 2022 and was reviewed positively for its combat, environments and story.