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 Lazy Bear Games · Russia
Graveyard Keeper is a darkly comic management sim from the independent Russian studio Lazy Bear Games. An ordinary man wakes up in a medieval fantasy world and is put in charge of the village graveyard while he searches for a way home. Between crafting, farming and tending graves, the game keeps nudging you toward morally questionable shortcuts.
By Nomada Studio · Spain
Gris is a platform adventure from the Spanish developer Nomada Studio about a young girl working through a painful experience. As her journey continues, her dress grants new abilities that open up her faded world, and color gradually returns to the screen. It is a quiet, reflective game that has sold over three million copies.
By Yggdrazil Group · Thailand
Home Sweet Home is a first-person survival horror game from the Thai developer Yggdrazil Group, built on Thai myths and beliefs. The focus is on storytelling and stealth as you hide from dangerous spirits, with puzzles adding variety along the way. It is a good way to experience horror shaped by Thai folklore rather than Western tropes.
By Studio Pixel · Japan
Kero Blaster is a side-scrolling action platformer by Daisuke Amaya, better known as Pixel, and his first major release since Cave Story. You play a frog working for a company whose teleporters keep breaking down, blasting your way through levels to fix the problem. It is compact, precise and charming, a clear showcase of one developer's craft.
By Ironhide Game Studio · Uruguay
Kingdom Rush is a tower defense game from the Uruguayan studio Ironhide Game Studio, set in a medieval fantasy kingdom under attack. You place and upgrade towers along fixed roads to stop waves of monsters, earning gold with every defeated enemy. It is a polished, approachable classic of the tower defense genre and a good introduction to the Uruguayan games scene.
By NIGORO · Japan
La-Mulana is a ruin-exploration action game from the Japanese developer NIGORO, originally designed to look and feel like an MSX game and later remade in a richer 16-bit style. You explore sprawling ancient ruins in search of a legendary treasure, deciphering clues and surviving traps. It is famous for difficult, notebook-worthy puzzles and old-school challenge.
By Project Moon · South Korea
Library of Ruina is an indie deck-building RPG from the South Korean studio Project Moon and a sequel to Lobotomy Corporation. Guests arrive at a mysterious library and fight its librarians in staged card battles, and every defeated guest becomes a book that helps the library grow. It is known for its deep combat system and dense, dark storytelling.
By This I Dreamt · Chile
Long Gone Days is a modern-day RPG from This I Dreamt, written, developed and illustrated by Camila Gormaz. A young soldier becomes disillusioned with the operation he serves and deserts to prevent an international war. Overcoming language barriers and building unlikely friendships is as important as combat.
By Four Quarters · Russia
Loop Hero is a roguelike from the Russian studio Four Quarters in which you never control the hero directly. Instead the hero walks a looping road on their own, and you shape each expedition by placing cards that add enemies, buildings and terrain around the loop. That simple twist turns a familiar fantasy adventure into a thoughtful game of planning and risk.
By Quicktequila · India
Lovely Planet is a fast first-person shooter platformer by the Indian indie developer Quicktequila, set in a bright, abstract world that looks cute but plays hard. Levels are short, precise runs where you jump and shoot targets in quick succession, often retrying until your timing is perfect. It is a small, sharp game about flow and precision.
By Dinosaur Polo Club · New Zealand
Mini Metro is a puzzle strategy game from the New Zealand indie team Dinosaur Polo Club about designing a subway map for a growing city. You draw lines between stations and keep adjusting them as new stops appear and passengers pile up. Its clean look borrows from real transit maps, and its sound is generated by your network.
By Nowhere Studios · Turkey
Monochroma is a cinematic puzzle platformer and the first game from the Istanbul-based Nowhere Studios. You play a boy carrying his little brother through a dystopian 1950s world, and most puzzles revolve around keeping the younger child safe while you move ahead. Its focus on protecting a sibling gives the puzzles an emotional weight that most platformers never try for.
By Red Candle Games · Taiwan
Nine Sols is a hand-drawn 2D action platformer from Red Candle Games, set in a world the studio calls taopunk, a blend of Taoism and cyberpunk. You follow a hero's quest to defeat nine powerful rulers, and combat is built around precise deflection rather than simply dodging. It marked a move into action games for the Taiwanese studio behind Detention.
By Metronomik · Malaysia
No Straight Roads is a rhythm-driven action adventure from the Malaysian independent studio Metronomik. An indie rock duo takes on an EDM empire to free Vinyl City, and boss fights are built around listening to the music to read when enemies attack. The Encore Edition is the updated version of the original 2020 release.
By Creability · United Arab Emirates
Only If is a surreal first-person puzzle adventure from Creability, an independent studio that was based in Dubai. The game plays with the idea of turning figures of speech into literal, walkable spaces, which gives its puzzles a dreamlike logic. Released for Windows, macOS and Linux, it is an early example of an indie PC game coming out of the United Arab Emirates.
By D-Pad Studio · Norway
Owlboy is a story-driven platform adventure from the Norwegian independent developer D-Pad Studio. You fly through a world in the clouds and can pick up friends and carry them with you, using their help to fight and solve puzzles. Its development began in 2007, and the result is some of the most detailed pixel art in the genre.
By Ice-Pick Lodge · Russia
Pathologic 2 is an open-world horror RPG from the Russian studio Ice-Pick Lodge, set in a secluded town struck by a deadly plague. You play a healer who has to find food, make medicine, treat the sick and decide who can be saved, all while time runs out. It began as a reimagining of the studio's 2005 game and is known for being deliberately demanding and unsettling.
By CreSpirit · Taiwan
Rabi-Ribi is a side-scrolling action game from the Taiwanese developer CreSpirit that mixes exploration with bullet-hell boss battles. You explore an island, collect power-ups and uncover secrets, fighting with a hammer while a fairy companion casts spells from range. It was crowdfunded, and despite reaching only half of its goal it still shipped and found a devoted audience.
By Nodding Heads Games · India
Raji: An Ancient Epic is an action-adventure set in ancient India from Nodding Heads Games, a studio based in Pune. A young girl chosen by the gods fights a demonic invasion to rescue her younger brother, in a world whose art and storytelling draw on Indian mythology. It is one of the most visible indie games to come out of India.
By Tolga Ay · Turkey
Remnants of Naezith is a fast precision platformer by Turkish developer Tolga Ay, built around a grappling hook. You swing and dash through short levels as Kayra, destroying enchanted fragments of a dragon before anyone can misuse their power, and leaderboards reward shaving seconds off every run. It is a tight, focused game made largely by a single developer.
By 7th Beat Games · Malaysia
Rhythm Doctor is a one-button rhythm game from 7th Beat Games, set in a hospital where you treat patients by pressing in time with their heartbeats. Each patient has a unique rhythm to learn, and the game keeps finding clever ways to test your timing with nothing more than a single key. It has received favorable reviews for its music and inventive level design.
By Emlise, happysquared and sunnydaze · Singapore
Rusted Moss is a twin-stick shooter Metroidvania in which you swing across the map with a grappling hook. You play Fern, who wakes in a wasteland of aging machinery and forgotten creatures called Fae, and sets out to recover the stolen pieces of an entity known as Titania. Its grapple movement gives familiar exploration a fast, acrobatic feel.
By SUPERHOT Team · Poland
Superhot is a first-person shooter from the Polish studio Superhot Team with one big idea: time only moves when you move. That turns every firefight into a slow, deliberate puzzle where you plan each step, grab weapons from enemies and dodge bullets in slow motion. Its minimalist red-and-white style is instantly recognizable.
By Tuxedo Labs · Sweden
Teardown is a sandbox game with puzzle and action elements from the Swedish studio Tuxedo Labs, set in a world built from fully destructible voxels. Missions often ask you to plan a heist, then carve your own shortcuts through walls with vehicles and explosives before an alarm timer runs out. Its physics make every level a creative problem.