External Discovery
An editorial guide from The Gaming Nest to indie games from Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa, MENA and Oceania — each with original notes and a link to its store page.
These are editorial pages. The developers and publishers are not affiliated with The Gaming Nest unless explicitly stated.
By Moppin · Japan
Downwell is a vertically scrolling roguelike shooter and platformer with underground levels, drawn in a four-color palette that picks out gems, enemies and key items in red against black and white. Extra palettes can be unlocked to change those colors. It was made solely by Ojiro Fumoto under the Moppin name in Japan using GameMaker, and Devolver Digital published it in October 2015.
By Red Thread Games · Norway
Draugen is a first-person mystery adventure set during the 1920s in a Norwegian fishing village. An American naturalist arrives to discover that every resident has disappeared, and players explore the settlement to learn what befell it while getting through the night. The game draws on the darker side of Norwegian folklore. It was developed and self-published by Norwegian studio Red Thread Games and released in 2019.
By Montraluz · Argentina
Dreamcore is a first-person horror game built around getting lost on purpose. Players wander sprawling, non-linear liminal spaces that twist back on themselves, searching every level for the way out with no map or guide to lean on. Its presentation mimics body-camera and found-footage recordings, which gives each corridor an unsettling, grainy feel. Argentine studio Montraluz made it in Unreal Engine 5, and Tlön Industries published it in 2025.
By Suncrash · Israel
Dream Engines: Nomad Cities is a survival city-builder in which your city flies, travelling between procedurally generated maps. Players build and automate production and defend the settlement across a quirky post-apocalyptic world filled with nightmares, odd science, and dreams. It comes from Suncrash, an Israeli studio, was co-published with Gamirror Games, and was released on Windows in May 2024, with Steam also tagging it as an RPG.
By Red Thread Games · Norway
Dreamfall Chapters is an episodic 3D adventure focused on conversations with characters, exploring the world and solving puzzles. It continues The Longest Journey series, following Zoe Castillo across the cyberpunk Earth of Stark and the magical realm of Arcadia. It was made by Norwegian independent studio Red Thread Games, founded by series writer Ragnar Tornquist, and funded partly through a Kickstarter that raised more than 1.5 million dollars.
By Star Drifters · Poland
In Driftland: The Magic Revival, players build up an empire across a fantasy world that magic has badly damaged, in a real-time strategy design that borrows ideas from 4X games. Polish studio Star Drifters developed and published it in 2019 using Unreal Engine 4. Steam lists it under strategy, simulation and RPG, and it holds a Metacritic score of 76.
By Ctrl Alt Ninja Ltd. · Finland
Druidstone: The Secret of the Menhir Forest, a tactical role-playing game, comes from Ctrl Alt Ninja, a developer based in Finland that also handled publishing. Its Steam listing places it across the adventure and strategy genres, pointing to squad-based tactical encounters wrapped in a fantasy quest. The game was released for Windows in May 2019 as a self-published PC title from the Finnish team.
By Team HalfBeard · Latvia
Dude, Stop is a comedic puzzle game that knows exactly what the right answer is and dares you to ignore it. Every stage can be cleared the normal way, but the fun comes from finding wrong solutions that trigger unique results, secret achievements and an increasingly exasperated narrator. It was made and self-published by Latvian developer Team HalfBeard and launched in June 2018. Critics liked it and often compared it to WarioWare.
By Microbird Games · Austria
Dungeons of Hinterberg is an action role-playing game set in Hinterberg, a fictional town in the Austrian Alps. It combines combat-focused dungeon crawling with social simulation, so time spent exploring dungeons sits alongside life in the village. The game was developed by the Austrian studio Microbird Games, published by Curve Games, and launched in July 2024 on Windows and Xbox Series X/S.
By Snowbird Games · Russia
According to its genre listings, this Snowbird title, Eador: Masters of the Broken World, leans mainly on strategy while mixing in role-playing elements. It is a remake of an earlier title, Eador: Genesis, and available sources say little more about how it plays. The game was made by the Russian company Snowbird Game Studios and released in 2013, and it holds a Metacritic score of 74.
By Beyond the Bark, Orr Games · Ireland
Éalú, whose title means escape in Irish, is a stop-motion point-and-click adventure. It is conceived as a spiritual successor to Tomcat Disposables, a song by American musician Will Wood, from In case I make it, his 2022 album. The game was created by Beyond The Bark, an indie studio in Limerick, Ireland, with Orr Games also credited, and arrived on Windows on October 2, 2025.
By Toffee Games · Russia
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.
By Pixel Perfex · Thailand
Earth Atlantis is a post-apocalyptic 2D shooter in which the action scrolls sideways as the player battles through hostile territory. The focus is squarely on shooting enemies while navigating each area. It was built and self-published by Pixel Perfex Studio, an indie team from Thailand, and first launched in 2017 on Windows as well as three home consoles. The Steam version is listed with a January 2019 release date.
By ULTRA ULTRA · Denmark
ECHO is a 2017 stealth game from Ultra Ultra, an independent studio in Denmark, built in Unreal Engine 4 and released for Windows that September. Drawing on stealth, action-adventure and science fiction genres, it centres on careful, sneaking play rather than open confrontation. The game was received positively by critics, but it did not succeed commercially, and it ended up being the only title Ultra Ultra shipped before the studio closed its doors.
By Strange Loop Games · United States
Eco is a cooperative simulation in which players have to join forces to build a civilization on a virtual planet. Its design rewards a gentle, careful use of natural resources, and it serves as both entertainment and an educational tool. Steam lists it as an early access adventure and simulation title, and it is also described as a survival sandbox game. Strange Loop Games, a studio from the United States, created Eco, and arrived on Steam in February 2018.
By Elasto Mania Team, Balazs Rozsa · Hungary
Elasto Mania Remastered revisits a 2D motorbike game first released in 2000, in which you ride a bike with very springy suspension across platform-style levels. Most stages ask you to touch scattered waypoints before the finish becomes active, and players compete online to set record times, often by discovering new routes. The remaster comes from the Elasto Mania Team and Balazs Rozsa in Hungary, released on Steam in 2020.
By NamaTakahashi, Tsuyomi · Japan
ElecHead is a puzzle platformer about Elec, a tiny robot whose head sends an electric charge through whatever surface it touches. Players power up platforms and machinery by making contact, working out how to route energy through each room to move forward. It was created by Japanese indie developer Nama Takahashi and launched on PC in October 2021, with music and sound by composer Tsuyomi. Console versions for Switch and Xbox One followed afterwards.
By Ansimuz Games · Mexico
Elliot Quest is a side-scrolling action-adventure platformer that takes after Metroid, Zelda II and the second Castlevania. Following those classics, it mixes combat, platforming and exploration in the style associated with Metroidvanias. It was developed by Mexican studio Ansimuz Games and published by PlayEveryWare, arriving on Windows in 2014, followed by a Wii U version in 2015 and releases on more platforms later on.
By Eleon Game Studios · Switzerland
Empyrion - Galactic Survival is an open-world space sandbox from Eleon Game Studios, a developer based in Switzerland. It first appeared in early access in 2015 before its full Steam release in 2020. Players build and explore across space and planets, constructing large capital ships, planetary settlements and space stations while surviving and uncovering the mysteries of the Empyrion galaxy.
By ENA Team · Peru
ENA: Dream BBQ is an episodic adventure focused on exploration, starring ENA, a humanoid figure trying to reach a mysterious character called the Boss. Players roam strange environments, talk with other characters, complete tasks, navigate mazes and solve puzzles. It was made by ENA Team in Peru, and its first chapter, Lonely Door, launched in March 2025, with more chapters planned. Reviewers widely described the experience as surreal.
By Dark Crystal Games · Russia
Encased is an isometric role-playing game with turn-based combat, set in a science fiction post-apocalyptic world. Its design draws on classic computer RPGs such as Fallout and Wasteland, along with the Strugatsky brothers' Soviet novel Roadside Picnic. It was developed by Dark Crystal Games in Russia, entered early access in 2019, and reached its full release in September 2021 under publisher Prime Matter.
By Andyland · Puerto Rico
Blending comedy with horror, Endacopia is a point-and-click adventure created and self-published by the indie developer known as ANDY LAND, with a soundtrack composed by Packtion. It launched on Steam for Windows in July 2026. The developer is based in Puerto Rico, and the game is listed on Steam under the adventure and indie categories.
By Live Wire, Adglobe · Japan
Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights is a dark fantasy action role-playing platformer about Lily, the last priestess left alive in a land where a deadly rain turns living beings into undead. Waking in a church with no memory, she sets out to find where the rain comes from, calling on the spirits of undead she has purified to fight for her. Japanese studios Adglobe and Live Wire developed it, releasing it in June 2021 after early access.
By Herobeat Studios · Spain
Endling: Extinction is Forever is a survival adventure about a mother fox, the last of her kind, trying to keep her cubs alive in a world after the apocalypse. It sits between action-adventure and simulation according to its listed genres. Barcelona studio Herobeat Studios developed it, and it launched in July 2022 on Windows and consoles, later reaching Android and iOS and being offered free to PlayStation Plus subscribers in July 2023.