62 indie games in this list, released 2016, from developers such as Exceed, Aurora Punks, QUByte Interactive, SCS Software. 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.
1993 Space Machine is a shoot 'em up that finally saw release in 2016 on Windows and Mac. Its roots go back to an abandoned Amiga project called Shenandoah: Daughter of the Stars, which had been planned for 1993 before work stopped. Exceed and Aurora Punks, working from Sweden, are credited as developers, with Aurora Punks publishing. Details on its stages and systems are not part of the available facts, so it is best understood as a revived retro-style shooter.
99Vidas, whose name means 99 Lives in Portuguese, is a retro-inspired side-scrolling beat 'em up. QuByte Interactive, a studio from Brazil, both developed and published it, bringing it to Windows, macOS and Linux toward the end of 2016. Sony console versions for PS3, PS4 and Vita came in 2017, and a Nintendo Switch edition followed in November 2018.
American Truck Simulator brings the Truck Simulator series to a scaled-down United States, with American conventional semi-trucks and recognizable locations. The loop centers on taking cargo contracts and driving them to their destinations. Czech studio SCS Software developed it on the Prism3D engine and released it in February 2016 as a counterpart to Euro Truck Simulator 2, and it has sold over 6 million copies.
ARAYA is a first-person horror adventure from MAD Virtual Reality Studio, a developer in Thailand, released for Windows in 2016. It takes place inside a Thai hospital, with the story told through the eyes of three different characters. Players explore various parts of the building to work out the truth behind the mysterious murder of a woman named Araya, whose case ties the perspectives together.
By Vertigo Games, Jaywalkers Interactive · Netherlands
Arizona Sunshine is a virtual reality first-person shooter about surviving a zombie outbreak, played on headsets such as the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Valve Index. Players aim and fire with motion controls while scavenging to stay alive. It was developed and published by Vertigo Games in the Netherlands, with Jaywalkers Interactive also credited, and launched in December 2016. A 2023 sequel followed, and its features were later folded back into a remake of the original.
Bear with Me is an episodic point-and-click adventure from Croatian developer Exordium Games, with its first episode arriving in August 2016. Drawing on film noir, it follows Amber and her detective companion Ted E. Bear as they search for her missing brother, Flint. The story unfolded across three episodes that were later gathered into a Complete Collection, and a prequel called The Lost Robots followed in 2019.
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.
Cursed Castilla, originally titled Maldita Castilla, is an action platformer conceived as a tribute to Ghosts'n Goblins. Its world draws on Spanish myths, wider European folklore and tales of chivalry, delivered through side-scrolling action. It was developed by Locomalito in Spain, with Gryzor87 also credited, and first released in December 2012; this expanded EX edition came to Steam in October 2016 through Abylight Studios.
Darkest Dungeon is a roguelike RPG from Canadian studio Red Hook Studios, released on PC in 2016 after a year in early access. Players manage a roster of heroes and send them into the dungeons beneath an inherited gothic mansion, moving in real time and fighting in turn-based battles. Each hero builds up stress while exploring, and high stress can bring afflictions that hinder or occasionally strengthen them.
Earn to Die 2 is a driving action game in which players push a vehicle through zombie-filled cities, aiming for checkpoints and the finish line of each level. It follows the original Earn to Die, a flash and mobile title, but trades that game's desert backdrop for urban streets. It was developed by the Russian indie studio Toffee Games and published on Steam by Not Doppler in 2016.
Epistory - Typing Chronicles is an action-adventure in which typing words is the core way to act on the world. Players follow a young girl riding a three-tailed fox, while the story mirrors an author's creative process, unfolding like sheets of paper and voiced as the writer's inner thoughts. Belgian studio Fishing Cactus launched it in early access in 2015 before the full 2016 release on Windows, macOS and Linux, and it was later followed by the spiritual successor Nanotale.
Event[0] is a science fiction adventure played in first person, from Ocelot Society, a developer in France. An astronaut headed for Europa takes shelter on a run-down leisure ship after a disaster, finding only its AI, Kaizen-85, still aboard. Play centres on exploring and repairing the vessel while holding long conversations with the AI in hope of escape. It launched in September 2016 for Windows and macOS to positive reviews.
Firewatch puts players in the boots of Henry, a fire lookout spending a summer in Wyoming's Shoshone National Forest. His only link to the outside is his supervisor Delilah on a walkie-talkie, and the dialogue lines the player picks shape how their bond grows while an old mystery surfaces. American developer Campo Santo made the game, co-published with Panic in 2016, and it later won Best Narrative at the Game Developers Choice Awards in 2017.
Forced: Showdown is a bullet-hell brawler for one player, viewed from above and made by BetaDwarf, an independent developer from Denmark, and launched on Windows, OS X and Linux in March 2016. Framed as an ever-shifting galactic game show, it has players pick a champion, upgrade their abilities and fight through waves of minions while dodging incoming attacks. Each run combines a roguelike structure with a trading-card system that shapes how the champion grows.
Fragments of Him is a narrative game about Will, a man who dies near the start, and the people coping with his loss. Players move between four perspectives, including Will himself, his former girlfriend, his boyfriend and his grandmother, by choosing what each should interact with next. It was developed and published by Sassybot in the Netherlands and released in May 2016. Reviewers praised the writing but found the interaction repetitive.
GoNNER is a roguelike action game that has been likened to a shooter version of Spelunky, mixing run-based progression with gunplay across randomised levels. It was developed by Art in Heart, a studio from Sweden, and published by Raw Fury for Windows, macOS and Linux in October 2016, with a Nintendo Switch version arriving in 2017. The game holds a Metacritic score of 81, and a sequel, Gonner 2, followed in 2020.
By Charlie Oscar Lima Tango Interactive Entertainment · Lithuania
Gremlins, Inc. is a digital board game played in turns, set in a steampunk world populated by gremlins. As a turn-based strategy title, it asks players to plan their moves carefully to get ahead of rivals at the table. It was made by Lithuanian indie studio Charlie Oscar, designed by Alexey Bokulev of Eador: Genesis, and produced by Sergei Klimov. After an Early Access period that started in 2015, it fully launched on Steam in March 2016.
Human Fall Flat is a comedic puzzle platformer whose levels can be tackled again and again in different ways. Critics gave it mixed reviews overall, but the replay value of its puzzles and its funny character animations earned praise. It comes from No Brakes Games, a studio based in Lithuania, was published by Curve, and launched on PC in July 2016. It has since sold over 58 million copies, ranking it among the best-selling games of all time.
IMSCARED is an independent horror game in which the player must outsmart two entities, White Face and HER, that reach beyond the game window to tamper with the computer itself, for example by creating files or crashing the program. It was made by Italian solo developer Ivan Zanotti using GameMaker. A tenth-anniversary remake arrived in 2022 with higher resolution, a better frame-rate and new content, and an Android port followed in 2024.
Released in 2016, Inside is a puzzle-platform horror game from Playdead, the Danish studio behind Limbo. Players guide a boy through a dystopian world in 2.5D, solving environmental puzzles while trying to avoid death. Development moved from Limbo's custom engine to Unity, partly funded by a Danish Film Institute grant, and the game earned critical acclaim, game of the year nominations and several independent awards for technical achievement.
Lethe – Episode One is a first-person survival horror game in which players follow Robert Dawn as he tries to recover missing pieces of his memory. Exploring an unsettling, atmospheric world drives the experience, with horror layered on top of adventure-style discovery. It was made by Greek indie developer KoukouStudios in Unreal Engine 3, published by Faber Interactive, and launched on Windows in August 2016 as the first planned chapter of a wider series.
Mad Father is a survival horror game that blends role-playing and puzzle elements, following Aya, an 11-year-old who sneaks into her father's hidden laboratory to learn the terrible truth behind his research. Japanese developer Sen created it, with the original release arriving in December 2012 and a light novel adaptation in 2014. Built with Wolf RPG Editor, it reached Steam in September 2016 through Playism.
By Dreadlocks Mobile, Silicon Jelly · Czech Republic
Mimpi Dreams is a 2015 sequel to Mimpi from Czech company Silicon Jelly, credited alongside Dreadlocks Mobile. Like its predecessor, it mixes puzzle adventure with platforming, asking players to handle both across its levels. It arrived on Steam in March 2016 for Windows, macOS and Linux, listed under the adventure genre, and continues the relaxed tone of the original.
Reverie Under the Moonlight is an independent Metroidvania in the Momodora series, a style built on exploring an interconnected map through action-adventure play. It is the fourth entry in the series, which started in 2010 with Momodora I. Developed by rdein under Bombservice in Brazil and made with GameMaker, it first came out on Windows in March 2016 with Playism as publisher.