External Discovery
926 indie games in this list, released 2011–2025, from developers such as Crema, Free Lives, Clockwork Acorn, Re-Logic. 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 Crema · Spain
Temtem is an online multiplayer role-playing game built around catching, raising and battling creatures, an approach its creators drew openly from the Pokémon series. Players share a persistent world with others while assembling and training their creature teams. Spanish developer Crema built it in Unity, raised part of its budget through a Kickstarter campaign in 2018, and moved from early access to a full launch in September 2022.
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 Re-Logic · United States
Terraria is a 2D sandbox adventure with no fixed goals, dropping players into a procedurally generated world to explore, fight monsters, gather materials and craft gear. Defeating bosses opens up stronger items, while townsfolk NPCs move in to trade and offer services, and it supports co-op play and mods. Re-Logic, an American studio, released it in 2011, and ongoing updates since then have reshaped it considerably.
By Rain Games · Norway
Teslagrad is a side-scrolling puzzle platformer built around magnetism and electromagnetic abilities. Players rely on these powers to solve its puzzles while uncovering a plot involving a tyrannical king. It was developed and published by Norwegian studio Rain Games and released in 2013 to generally positive reviews. A sequel, Teslagrad 2, followed a decade later in 2023, continuing the focus on electromagnetism.
By Rain Games · Norway
Teslagrad 2 is an action-adventure that borrows ideas from Metroidvania games while keeping a mostly linear route. Players control a young girl with electromagnetic abilities as she tries to make her way back home. This follow-up to Teslagrad was developed by Norwegian studio Rain Games, with a 2023 release. The electromagnetism at its core shapes both how players move through the world and how they overcome obstacles.
By CreSpirit, GemaYue, Ein Lee · Taiwan
TEVI is a side-scrolling action-adventure classed as a Metroidvania, following a rabbit-eared girl named Tevi on a quest for Astral Gears, mana-storing devices her father is obsessed with. It was developed and published by CreSpirit, a studio from Taiwan, with GemaYue and Ein Lee also credited. After a demo in early 2023, the game launched on 29 November 2023 for Windows and Nintendo Switch, with Xbox and PlayStation versions arriving in 2024.
By Sarepta Studio · Norway
Thalassa: Edge of the Abyss is an adventure game about diving into the remains of a 19th-century ship. Players explore the sunken wreck, and the twist is that they once served among its crew, which gives the search a personal edge. It was developed by Norwegian studio Sarepta Studio and published by Team17 in 2024. Its Steam listing also notes role-playing elements alongside the exploration.
By Coal Supper · United Kingdom
Thank Goodness You're Here! is a comic adventure in which a tiny yellow salesman wanders the fictional northern English town of Barnsworth, helping locals with odd problems. Slapping objects and people is the main way to interact, and the focus stays on surreal gags rather than a long story. It was made by Coal Supper, a two-person studio from Yorkshire in the United Kingdom, published by Panic in 2024, and it won the British Game BAFTA.
By Massive Monster · Australia
The Adventure Pals is a platformer with action and role-playing elements, focused on running, jumping and fighting through its levels, according to its listed genres. It was the debut game from Massive Monster, a studio from Australia, and was published by Armor Games Studios. The game released on April 3, 2018, arriving on PC alongside Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
By Happy Volcano · Belgium
The Almost Gone is a puzzle game built around turning and inspecting miniature three-dimensional rooms to piece together the story of Emily, a recently deceased girl, and to expose her family's secrets. Reviewers highlighted its look and its willingness to tackle serious themes, though opinions on the storytelling and some mechanics were split. Belgian independent studio Happy Volcano released it in 2020, and it took Game of the Year at the Flanders DC Belgian Game Awards in 2021.
By Edmund McMillen, Florian Himsl · United States
The Binding of Isaac is a roguelike action-adventure in which young Isaac escapes into a basement full of monsters after his mother hears a message from God demanding his life. Players guide him, or one of six unlockable characters, through procedurally generated rooms modelled on The Legend of Zelda, fighting in real time and collecting items and power-ups for boss battles. American developers Edmund McMillen and Florian Himsl made it in Adobe Flash after a week-long game jam, releasing it in 2011.
By Xigma Games · India
The Bonfire 2: Uncharted Shores is a city-building strategy game with survival elements. Players design a settlement, organise workers and resource chains, dispatch ships on expeditions, trade with other cities, and explore mysterious dungeons that hide secrets left by the ancients. It was developed and published by Xigma Games, a studio from India, and released for Windows and Mac in August 2020.
By Xigma Games · India
The Bonfire: Forsaken Lands is a settlement-building survival strategy game set in a snowy encampment. Players gather and manage resources, craft, and expand their camp while fending off monster attacks and working to uncover secrets of an ancient past. It was created and self-published by Indian studio Xigma Games and released for Windows and Mac in March 2018, with Steam also tagging it as an RPG and simulation.
By Color Gray Games · Latvia
The Case of the Golden Idol is a deduction puzzle game in which players gather clues and assemble ideas, people and evidence to make sense of what happened. Its cases trace a story that stretches across four decades of the 18th century. It was made in Latvia by brothers Ernests and Andrejs Klavins of Color Gray Games, built in Godot and released in 2022 through Playstack, and it was recognized with awards among the year's best games.
By Harvester Games · Poland
A dark graphic adventure, The Cat Lady comes from Polish developer Harvester Games and was first released in 2012. It forms the second chapter of the Devil Came Through Here trilogy, following Downfall from 2009 and preceding Lorelai, which closed the series in 2019. The game was built with Adventure Game Studio and published by Screen 7, and it holds a Metacritic score of 81.
By Deconstructeam · Spain
The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood is a narrative adventure starring a witch living in exile. Its central mechanic has players design a personal tarot deck and then use it to perform divinations for fellow witches, so the cards they create shape the readings they give. It was developed by Deconstructeam, a studio from Spain, and published by Devolver Digital, releasing on Windows in August 2023.
By Spooky Doorway · Ireland
The Darkside Detective is a point-and-click adventure with a detective theme, focused on investigating cases through classic adventure-game interaction. It was developed by Spooky Doorway, a studio in Ireland, and published by Akupara Games, launching on July 27, 2017 for Windows, macOS and Linux before reaching consoles. It was later followed in 2021 by a sequel titled A Fumble in the Dark.
By Powerhoof, Dave Lloyd · Australia
The Drifter is a point-and-click adventure with a pulp flavor, in which players explore scenes, interact with characters and objects, and push the story forward through classic adventure-game interaction. It was developed and published by Powerhoof, a studio from Australia, working with Dave Lloyd. The game came out for Windows, macOS and Linux in July 2025, with Nintendo Switch versions following later.
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.
By Team17, Mouldy Toof Studios · United Kingdom
The Escapists 2 is a strategy role-playing game from UK developer Mouldy Toof Studios, published by Team17 as the sequel to 2015's The Escapists. It launched in August 2017 for Windows, macOS, Linux and consoles, with Nintendo Switch and mobile versions following in later years. Its store listing leans on simulation and strategy, while its genre listings also include role-playing.
By Leonard Menchiari, Daniele Vicinanzo, Giulio Perrone · Italy
The Eternal Castle Remastered is a cinematic platformer and adventure presented as a remaster of a 1987 game that never actually existed. Set in a distant future, it follows a colonist whose ship goes down on Earth while trying to escape the planet. Leonard Menchiari led development alongside Daniele Vicinanzo and Giulio Perrone in Italy, and it was released in 2019. It holds a Metacritic score of 73.
By KOTAKE CREATE · Japan
The Exit 8 is a horror walking simulator set in an underground passage of a Japanese metro station, where players must watch for anomalies, subtle changes in the corridor, to find their way out. It drew on the eerie feel of liminal spaces and on the anomaly hunting of I'm on Observation Duty. Developed in nine months by Kotake Create in Japan, it launched on Steam in November 2023 and won at the Japan Game Awards and CEDEC Awards.
By Tomas Sala · Netherlands
The Falconeer is an aerial combat game in which players take to the air and duel enemies in dogfights. It pays tribute to the niche dogfighting genre with a strongly personal vision. It was created by Tomas Sala in the Netherlands and published by Wired Productions, releasing in November 2020 on Windows, and it was among the games available when the Xbox Series X/S launched. An enhanced Warrior Edition later came to other consoles.
By DO MY BEST · Russia
The Final Station is a side-scrolling shooter that layers train simulation and exploration on top of its combat. It was developed by the Russian studio Do My Best Games, and brought to Steam by publisher tinyBuild in late August 2016. Critics praised its originality and world-building while pointing to its linear structure, and a DLC called The Only Traitor followed in 2017 with a new lead character whose story runs alongside the main one.