74 indie games in this list, released 2018, from developers such as ProjectMoon, Movie Games Lunarium, Jan Zelený. 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.
Lobotomy Corporation is a horror management simulation with roguelike and strategy elements, set in a futuristic dystopia. Players oversee an energy company that extracts power from dangerous, strange entities called Abnormalities. It was developed and published by the South Korean studio Project Moon in 2018, and it later grew into a wider series that includes the deck-building sequel Library of Ruina and Limbus Company.
Movie Games Lunarium, a Polish developer, made Lust for Darkness as an erotic horror adventure first released in 2018 for Windows and macOS. Its story draws on the imagery of Giger and Beksiński as well as the writing of Lovecraft. Console versions for Switch and PlayStation 4 followed via publisher SimFabric in 2019 and 2020, and a sequel, Lust from Beyond, arrived in 2021.
Mashinky is a transport strategy game created by Czech developer Jan Zelený. The aim is to build a railroad empire across procedurally generated maps, switching into a schematic construction mode to plan and lay out the network. Its rules borrow ideas from board games, adding a tabletop flavour to the logistics of expansion, and it has been playable through early access since October 2017.
Monster Prom is a dating sim in which players play a student at Spooky High, a school whose pupils are all monsters, with the goal of landing someone to take to prom. It was made by Beautiful Glitch, a Barcelona studio started by Julián Quijano, and launched on Windows, macOS and Linux in April 2018. A Second Term expansion followed in 2019, along with a string of sequels beginning with Monster Camp in 2020.
Moonlighter is an action role-playing game that folds roguelike structure and business simulation into one package, pairing combat with the running of a trade. It comes from Digital Sun, an independent studio in Spain, with 11 bit studios as its Steam publisher. The game launched in May 2018 on Windows, macOS, Linux and consoles, gained a Between Dimensions expansion in 2019, and was later followed by a sequel, Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault.
Northgard is a real-time strategy game that also carries 4X elements, developed and self-published by Shiro Games in France. It is built on the Heaps engine and came out in 2018 on PC before spreading to consoles and mobile devices. Critics were generally positive at launch. Its lasting popularity led to a 4X board game adaptation, Northgard: Uncharted Lands, which appeared in 2022.
Octogeddon is an action-strategy game with roguelike elements starring an octopus out for revenge on humanity. It battles with its tentacles, which can be upgraded between stages. Designer George Fan, previously behind Insaniquarium and Plants vs. Zombies, conceived it for a 2012 Ludum Dare contest and then co-founded All Yes Good in the United States to finish it, with a Windows release in February 2018. Critics liked its humorous art style and compared it to Plants vs. Zombies.
Focused on story and exploration, OPUS: Rocket of Whispers is a two-dimensional adventure set in a far future ravaged by plague. A witch teams up with a rocket builder's son to build and launch a rocket that will give the dead a burial in space. Taiwanese independent studio SIGONO made it as the second Opus game, releasing it on mobile in 2017 and on Steam for Windows and macOS in February 2018.
Overcooked! 2 is a cooperative cooking sim from UK developers Ghost Town Games and Team17, with Team17 handling publishing. A sequel to the original Overcooked, it launched in August 2018 on Windows, macOS, Linux and several consoles. Its focus is shared play in the kitchen, with friends cooking together as a team, and it was later bundled with the first game in the Overcooked: All You Can Eat compilation.
A first-person shooter from Polish studio Buckshot Software, Project Warlock was released in 2018 and published by Gaming Company. Its most remarkable story is its creator: Jakub Cislo built the game at the age of 18 while still attending high school. The game holds a Metacritic score of 78, and it was followed by Project Warlock II, which entered early access in 2022 and saw a full release in 2025.
Quarantine Circular is a text-driven science fiction adventure, where progress comes through reading and choosing responses rather than action. It serves as the sequel to Subsurface Circular and was developed and published by Bithell Games, a studio based in the United Kingdom. It reached Windows and macOS in the spring of 2018, and a Nintendo Switch edition arrived that December.
Rage in Peace is a side-scrolling platformer with an unusual goal: dodging the traps and obstacles in your path so that your character can die peacefully. Each stage tests your timing against hazards on the way. It was developed by Rolling Glory Jam, an independent studio in Indonesia, and published by Toge Productions, launching on Steam and Nintendo Switch on 8 November 2018. Steam lists it as action and adventure.
Released in 2018, Remothered: Tormented Fathers is a survival horror game conceived, written and directed by Italian artist Chris Darril and developed by Stormind Games in Italy. It pays tribute to the Japanese Clock Tower series. Rosemary Reed comes to the Felton mansion to look into the years-old disappearance of the family's daughter Celeste, and once owner Richard sees through her, a night of pursuit begins. It was generally well reviewed, and a sequel, Broken Porcelain, followed in 2020.
Return of the Obra Dinn is a first-person mystery puzzle game set in 1807, when a merchant vessel lost for five years drifts back to the English coast with no known survivors. Sent by the East India Company, the player uses a pocket watch that recreates each death to work out the fate of all sixty people aboard. Created by Japan-based developer Lucas Pope, it won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize and uses a 1-bit monochrome art style.
RimWorld is a science fiction construction and management simulation in which AI storytellers steer events, so each colony becomes a generated narrative rather than a pure test of skill. It was designed by Canadian developer Tynan Sylvester, with Ludeon Studios as publisher, and began as a Kickstarter-backed early access project in 2013 under the name Eclipse Colony. Version 1.0 arrived in October 2018, and console editions followed in 2022.
Rolling Line recreates the hobby of model railways as a sandbox with a low-poly visual style. Players lay out track and scenery, explore existing layouts and share their creations online, playing solo or with others on a flat screen or in virtual reality with support for a wide range of headsets. It was developed and self-published by Gaugepunk Games from New Zealand and launched on Windows in April 2018.
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.
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.
Subnautica is a survival adventure set on an ocean world, where the player, Ryley Robinson, is stranded after a spaceship crash. Exploring beneath the waves, you collect resources, cope with the local wildlife and work toward a way off the planet. Unknown Worlds Entertainment, an American studio, developed and published it, leaving early access in January 2018; it sold more than 5 million copies by January 2020.
Synthetik: Legion Rising is a top-down shooter with roguelike structure, set in an alternate version of the 1980s where hostile artificial intelligence endangers humanity. Runs push you through fights against machine enemies with the risk and repetition typical of roguelikes. The game was made in GameMaker by Flow Fire Games, an independent studio in Berlin, Germany, and launched on Steam in March 2018 as Synthetik before a free expansion renamed it.
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.
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.
The Forest is an open-world survival horror game in which players gather resources, craft weapons and traps, and build defences against cannibals and mutants whose unpredictable stalking behaviour keeps tension high. After a plane crash, Eric LeBlanc searches a peninsula's caves and hidden facilities for his abducted son. Canadian studio Endnight Games released it on Windows in April 2018 after four years of early access, and it had sold more than five million copies before 2019.
Thief Simulator is an open-world stealth game about working as a burglar. Players scout targets to learn their routines, break into homes to take valuables, fence the loot and reinvest the money in better equipment for tougher jobs. It was developed by Noble Muffins from Poland, published by PlayWay, and released on Windows in November 2018 before arriving on Switch, PlayStation 4 and Quest 2.