External Discovery
926 indie games in this list, released 2018–2026, from developers such as Fast X Play, Northend Games, Team0Studio. 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 Fast X Play · Iraq
Deep in the Dread is a first-person horror mystery set in the old Hoverfield Mansion, now a library. When her colleagues leave for a pub, librarian Stella stays behind and starts to notice paranormal activity. Players read notes and a diary to learn the lore, with a guidebook to help. It released in January 2025 as the second game from Fast X Play, a studio based in Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq.
By Northend Games · Iraq
Deepstone Rift is a tower defense game set in underground mines, where you dig for gold and minerals while defending your base from looting goblins. Towers range from miniguns and cannons to sawblades, and treasure chests grant power-ups for you, your dwarves and your defences. It entered early access in late 2025. It is the second game from Northend Games, an independent studio based in Baghdad, Iraq.
By Team0Studio · Saudi Arabia
Defend The Cubes is a tower defense game that swaps fixed towers for deployable units. Enemies circle a central cube along paths that change, so each wave asks you to reconsider where and when to place defenders. The game aims to be easy to start but deep to master, and it was developed by Team0Studio, which is part of Steam's Games Made in KSA bundle of Saudi indie releases.
By Starvania Studio · Saudi Arabia
Doughn't Panic! is a two-player co-op platformer in which both players share control of a single pizza, bound together by a spell. Every jump and dodge needs coordination as the pizza makes its way through oversized spaces in the human world, and failure is rarely final. It is the second project from Starvania Studio, the Riyadh-based team behind Bahamut and the Waqwaq Tree.
By Rasheed Abueideh · Palestine
Dreams on a Pillow is an upcoming stealth-puzzle adventure based on a Palestinian folk tale and the real events of the 1948 Nakba. Players follow Khadra, a young mother fleeing a massacre, on a journey from Palestine to Lebanon marked by invasion and distorted perception. It is being made by Palestinian developer Rasheed Abueideh, creator of Liyla and the Shadows of War, and was partly crowdfunded.
By NewGen · Tunisia
Dusty Secrets is a detective game set in the Old West town of Red Rock, where the player is the sheriff. AI generates each case, so suspects, clues and relationships between NPCs change every playthrough, with cases running from petty theft to serious crimes. NewGen, the Tunisian indie studio behind West Hunt, is developing it as a reworking of that game's world into a detective format.
By Limeless · Saudi Arabia
Either Eye is a free puzzle horror game built on seeing through one eye at a time. Your right eye reveals hidden messages, demonic entities and paths that do not exist in the normal world, while staring too long through the left eye draws the attention of things from the evil world. It is one of the rapid-release titles from Limeless Studio, a horror studio based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
By Hamdan Hamid · United Arab Emirates
Emirati Tales is a family-friendly 3D platformer built around stories from UAE folklore and history. Its hero wears traditional Emirati dress, and levels combine platforming challenges and mythical creatures with lessons about values and daily life in the country's past. Difficulty adapts to the player, and the game includes Arabic voice-over with English subtitles. It was created by Hamdan Hamid Al Ali, an Emirati officer with Dubai Police who makes educational and cultural games.
By Stellar Mythical · Saudi Arabia
Emotional Flow is a precision platformer with no jump button. Your character can only move left and right, and emotions become the tool for getting past obstacles while you try to rescue a friend kidnapped by three mysterious figures. Each of the three bosses represents a mental illness. It was the first release from Stellar Mythical, a Saudi-based independent studio founded in 2019.
By Fast X Play · Iraq
End Up Alone is a first-person horror thriller set after a deadly virus has spread. A young survivor tries to escape the depths of a company building, using a small bow to kill parasites and following messages left along the way. It supports a Kurdish interface and subtitles. It is the first game from Fast X Play, a studio based in Erbil, in Iraq's Kurdistan Region, which later released Deep in the Dread.
By ASD Games Studio · Iraq
Entity: The Black Day is a third-person survival horror game. Former special forces operative Adam is sent into an abandoned underground bio-research lab to find proof of a government-funded viral programme that went wrong, and ends up hunting for its last survivors. It mixes psychological horror, resource management and combat. It was built by Iraqi solo developer Ali Al-Abboodi and released by his studio ASD Games in January 2026.
By Hassan Sherif · Egypt
False Exit is a first-person psychological horror game set in a hospital that loops. Each pass through the building changes the space, from flickering lights to distorted rooms, and a hostile presence reacts to how the player moves and looks around. It relies on observation and tension rather than combat. It is the first commercial release of Halal Games Studio, an Egypt-based team founded by Hassan Sherif that avoids content it considers against Islamic principles.
By Evolite Studio · Saudi Arabia
Fateel is a puzzle adventure about a crime detective who wakes from a coma locked in a basement with a gang's explosives. Across 25 rooms of rising difficulty you push boxes, carry and place bombs and read dialogue clues to reason your way out. The game began on mobile and was brought to PC with improved visuals and sound by Evolite Studio, a Jeddah-based Saudi studio.
By Amilcar Technologies · Tunisia
Forgebound is a medieval survival game about leading a people through a war-torn land. Players gather resources, craft, build settlements and defend them against enemy forces while expanding their power. It is being developed by Amilcar Technologies, the Tunisian studio behind Heistfest, and is listed on Steam for Windows and macOS with no release date yet.
By BJR Pixels Agency · Morocco
Futurocco 2121 is a sci-fi action thriller set in a dystopian, Moroccan-punk version of Casablanca. The player is a scientist hunted by a megacorporation and has to use stealth, parkour and tactical combat, while managing resources, to survive the city. BJR Pixels Agency, one of the 11 Moroccan studios in Morocco's first Gamescom delegation in 2026, is developing it, and it has a Steam page ahead of release.
By Istikan Studio · Iraq
General Idler is an idle conquest strategy game played on a parallel Earth with 195 stylised nations. You start with one country and a farm, build industries for cash, turn cash into army power and take neighbouring countries, each of which adds permanent multipliers; three rival generals play the same map. It began as a GMTK Game Jam entry. It is developed by Istikan Studio, a team based in Kurdistan, Iraq.
By NewGen · Tunisia
GONE DIGGING is a co-op digging thriller for one to four players. By day the group digs together for loot and upgrades, and after sundown the darkness has to be fed, with sacrifices deciding who survives the night. It is an experimental project from NewGen, the Tunisian indie studio known for West Hunt, and has a Steam page ahead of release.
By Everness Games · Saudi Arabia
Harfa is a first-person psychological horror game set in 1960 in a Saudi heritage village beneath the mountain of Harfa, inspired by a real mountain in Al Namas. You play Salem, who returns to his grandmother's village to find every resident gone, and explore abandoned homes with an old lantern, solving puzzles and uncovering the mountain's secrets. It is the debut of Everness Games, a Riyadh-based indie studio.
By Amilcar Technologies · Tunisia
Heistfest is a top-down action racer in which the player is a getaway driver who robs banks and outruns growing police forces. Chases move through destructible, hand-drawn black-and-white cities inspired by real places from Italy to Egypt, and the pressure rises from cruisers to tanks and airstrikes. The Tunisian studio Amilcar Technologies developed it and released it in Steam Early Access in October 2025 with support from indie.io.
By Mad Hook · Jordan
Highway Drifter: Hajwala Simulator is a drifting game built around hajwala, the Gulf street-driving subculture of high-speed highway drifts. Players customise their cars, tune the physics settings and drift across desert highways, mountain roads and city streets, with steering-wheel support. It is made by Mad Hook, a studio based in Amman, Jordan, which also released it on PlayStation 5, including as a physical disc.
By Game Cooks · Lebanon
Highway Madness is a free social VR game in which players meet online in a shared lobby and pick one of a dozen comic characters. From there they play short multiplayer modes such as road crossing, roof jumping, standoffs and shootouts. It is built for playing with friends and strangers rather than solo. It was released in early access by Game Cooks, a VR and mobile studio founded in Beirut by Lebanese brothers Arz and Lebnan Nader.
By Knight Owl Games · Egypt
Hive and Seek is a free side-scrolling strategy and base-building game about retaking space stations overrun by monsters. Players rally robots, salvage resources, build defences and clear rooms one by one until every hive on the station is destroyed. Progress is room by room rather than open-ended. It is developed and published by Knight Owl Games, an indie studio from Alexandria, Egypt.
By Regnum Studio · Bahrain
Intertwine is a narrative action game made for the Bahrain Game Jam around the theme Twist. On a stormy night, young Timothy is drawn out of his bedroom by a voice that offers him the power to twist time and space, and players use those two powers to explore a mansion and find out what the voice really wants. It supports keyboard and controller. It is listed as a project of Regnum Studio, an indie game development studio based in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
By 2071 Games · United Arab Emirates
Ironweld is a 2D side-scrolling action RPG in which the player is an action-figure robot sent through a portal into a dying world built on iron. Builds are assembled from frames, parts and moves taken from the same pool enemies use, so fights play out like duels against opponents with similar tools. Between encounters players choose whether to repair, upgrade or push on. A demo is on Steam ahead of launch. It is developed by 2071 Games, an indie studio based in Dubai, UAE.