5 indie games in this list, released 2017–2026, from developers such as COREGAME Studios, Mad Hook, Lobah. 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.
Beyond Solar is a pixel-art bullet hell shooter in Early Access on Steam that pairs a retro arcade look with modern progression systems. Players pilot through waves of enemy fire, relying on precise movement and quick decisions to survive increasingly dense attack patterns. Its science-fiction setting draws on themes from the region, an angle rarely seen in the genre. It is the debut title of COREGAME Studios, an independent developer based in Doha, Qatar.
Quick Gun: PvP Standoff is an online player-versus-player western duel game. Players pick a character and a gun, then tilt the phone to draw and aim in a 360-degree 3D arena, trying to shoot the opponent first. Friends can challenge each other directly, and more weapons and characters unlock over time. The game is developed by Mad Hook, a studio based in Amman, Jordan.
SAMLA is a hero battle royale set in a dystopian Arabic-inspired world after a collapse. Squads of three pick heroes, ride hoverboards across shifting sands and ruins, and fight in 36-player matches and other modes where teamwork matters as much as aim. It is the most ambitious title from Lobah, a game developer and publisher headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Veterans Online is a free-to-play top-down twin-stick shooter built around team-based competitive modes, meant to be easy to learn and hard to master. The Steam listing is an open beta, and the developers say on the page that the pandemic made it hard to fund the project in Tunisia. It was made by Nuked Cockroach, an independent Tunisian studio that later shifted from PC to hyper-casual mobile games.
VINDICTA is a first-person VR shooter with a strong stealth element, made for room-scale headsets. As Agent V, players infiltrate the facility of UB Industries, climbing, crawling, taking cover and picking up weapons to destroy its robot army, and it uses an arm-swinging way to move. It launched in early access in 2017. It was developed by Game Cooks, a studio founded in Beirut by Lebanese brothers Arz and Lebnan Nader.