20 Best Indie Games You’ve Got To Play in 2026
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This list is regularly updated to match what’s trending and in-demand among gamers.
I’ll admit, looking for the best indie games of all time is no easy feat. Technically, a game counts as indie if it’s either self-published by small teams or funded by a small publisher. This financial freedom is what allows indie games to blossom.
Must-play indie games have a focus on artistic expression or innovation that makes them stand out. These games are conceptualized and developed independently of big-name developers and publishers. While some indie games later go on to be distributed by external publishers, they can’t rely on the fame of a publisher or developer to sell copies: they have to earn their own merits. When an indie game makes it big, it’s often a sign that the game has proven itself to the community. Our list cuts through the noise and brings you only the best indie games worth your time.
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Our Top Picks for Best Indie Games
While there are a ton of the best indie games, a few shine brighter than the rest. Here are my picks for the best indie games of all time on this list:
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Buy nowProject Zomboid 2013This ultimate isometric survival sandbox is brutal, relentless, and endlessly atmospheric.
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Buy nowTerraria 2011A sprawling masterpiece that effortlessly blends chaotic action, deep crafting, and endless discovery.
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Buy nowClair Obscur: Expedition 33 2025A striking turn-based RPG wrapped in a haunting Belle Époque aesthetic unlike anything else on this list.
That’s just scratching the surface, though. Read on to discover a full lineup of must play indie games: who knows, your new favorite might be a scroll away!
20 Best Indie Games of All Time
What makes indie games especially appealing is their need to stand out from AAA peers. No matter their genre, the best indie games must excel – artistically, thematically, or mechanically – to see any success. This pushes them to be better than anything a big studio can produce.
With that said, here’s my list of the best indie games of all time you’ve got to try.
1. Project Zomboid [Best Indie Survival Sim]
| Platforms | PC, OS X, Linux |
| Year of release | 2013 (Early Access) |
| Developer | The Indie Stone |
| Publisher | The Indie Stone |
| Average playtime | 20+ hours (sandbox, endless replayability) |
| Best for | Survival sim fans craving realistic zombie apocalypse gameplay |
Ever wanted to direct your own zombie apocalypse movie? Project Zomboid will scratch that itch.
This must-play indie sandbox packs in survival mechanics, crafting, building, weapons, and a merciless horde of zombies into one of the most ambitious indie experiences of all time. As the sole survivor of the Knox Infection, it’s your task to eke out an existence in a post-zombie Kentucky. No help is coming, no one’s here to judge you, and the only goals you need to accomplish are those you set for yourself. This is the story of how you died.
Once you’re done adjusting the game’s many options for your end-of-the-world experience, including immunity if you want to play Left 4 Dead style, you can turn to the game’s vast library of mods to enhance or even overhaul your next trek through the land of the living dead. Project Zomboid even lets you play with friends thanks to its server hosting options.
The game is regarded as one of the best indie games of all time and stands in a league of its own for sheer depth and replayability.
My Verdict: One of the best indie games in the zombie survival space. Tense, immersive, and endlessly replayable.
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2. Terraria [Best Indie Sandbox Game]
| Platforms | PC, Linux, macOS, 3DS, Wii U, Nintendo Switch, PS Vita, PS3/4, Xbox One, iOS, Android |
| Year of release | 2011 |
| Developer | Re-Logic |
| Publisher | Re-Logic |
| Average playtime | 50-60 hours (main), 200+ hours (completionist) |
| Best for | Sandbox fans seeking Metroidvania-style combat and exploration |
Terraria is often incorrectly written off as a 2D Minecraft clone, but it’s closer to a Metroidvania with some survival craft elements, and one of the best indie games ever released.
It’s a game that offers spectacular adventures, discoveries, and combat. Exploration yields new materials that steadily make you stronger, with ores and monster drops crafting into powerful weapons and armor. Power-ups also provide much-needed boosts to maximum HP and mana. This isn’t blind generosity, though; Terraria‘s brutal bosses show up when you least expect it. It’s such an addicting and entertaining format that many end up seeking more games like Terraria.
A vast selection of blocks and decorations also lets you construct a home and eventually an entire town for your NPCs to inhabit. Among the best indie games for Switch, Terraria is an especially natural fit, with its pick-up-and-play loop translating beautifully to handheld sessions.
My Verdict: One of the best indie games of all time for sheer content density and one of gaming’s best value propositions.
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3. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 [Best Indie Artistic Combat]
| Platforms | PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, Windows PC |
| Year of release | 2025 |
| Developer | Sandfall Interactive |
| Publisher | Kepler Interactive |
| Average playtime | 30 hours (main), 50 hours (completionist) |
| Best for | Soulslike fans seeking exciting RPG-style combat. |
Turn-based RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is one of the most stunning debut releases in recent memory and easily one of the best new indie games. It’s a game that offers a hauntingly tragic narrative, grand exploration, and electric, reactive combat with rhythmic action elements.
Crossing its bleak world forces you to constantly adapt, as turn-based skill selections seamlessly blend with active parries, dodges, and rhythm-based prompts. Every battle requires absolute focus; miss a timing window, and the grotesque monsters will ruthlessly wipe out your party. It’s such a thrilling and refreshing evolution of turn-based mechanics that it makes standard menu-driven combat feel instantly dated.
As a modern homage to RPG greats, Clair Obscur hits a rare sweet spot, balancing high-stakes cinematic storytelling with deeply satisfying tactical depth.
My Verdict: This must-play indie game is one of the finest turn-based RPGs of its generation and an absolute masterclass in visual direction and combat design.
More Games Like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
4. Hades II [Best Indie Roguelike]
| Platforms | PC, Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, Xbox, PS5 |
| Year of release | 2025 |
| Developer | Supergiant Games |
| Publisher | Supergiant Games |
| Average playtime | 35 hours (main), 90 hours (completionist) |
| Best for | Action roguelike fans seeking tight combat and rich storytelling |
Supergiant Games‘ Hades II is a stellar continuation of one of the greatest indie and roguelike sagas ever made.
This new indie game has you playing as Melinoë, Princess of the Underworld and sister to Zagreus, you’ll embark on a perilous quest to defeat Chronos, the Titan of Time. While this might sound like a traditional RPG plot, Hades II doubles down on pulse-pounding, mechanically tight action roguelike gameplay. Featuring dynamic witchy combat, expanded underworld regions, and short, intense runs punctuated by spectacular boss fights, it’s virtually impossible to put down.
Players can master an all-new arsenal of magical weapons and passive upgrades, alongside channelable Omega attacks and divine boons from both Olympian gods and primordial forces that allow for deep build customization. The progression feels incredibly rewarding at every step.
Hades II‘s rich storytelling is once again expertly woven into every run and death, with accessible options available so players can fully enjoy the narrative without the steep difficulty getting in the way.
My Verdict: One of the best new indie games because of its roguelike design. Hades II is a true must-play indie sequel. If you play one game from this list, make it Hades II.
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5. Disco Elysium: The Final Cut [Best Indie Narrative RPG]
| Platforms | PC, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PS4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S |
| Year of release | 2019 |
| Developer | ZA/UM |
| Publisher | ZA/UM |
| Average playtime | 25-30 hours (main), 40-60 hours (completionist) |
| Best for | Narrative RPG fans who love deep dialogue and philosophical exploration |
Disco Elysium is beloved as one of the best RPG games of all time and a landmark entry among the best indie games of all time. This game totally upended the genre because of its unique take on storytelling and identity.
On the surface, the game is about an amnesiac detective investigating a homicide, but it’s more of a profound commentary on the concept of the “self.” The detective is a blank canvas, stripped of memories, faculties, and ideologies all at once.
Your journey through Disco Elysium is shaped entirely by the skills and philosophies you choose to rebuild around. That journey will eventually reach its conclusion, and the choices you made along the way carry real weight. It’s a game that has so many diverse stories and meanings that gamers often turn to the Disco Elysium endings guide to decode and understand the games.
My Verdict: Unlike anything else in the RPG space. If you have patience for reading and appetite for originality, this is one of the best indie games you can play.
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6. Slay the Spire 2 [Best Indie Roguelike Deck-Builder]
| Platforms | PC, macOS, Linux, Steam Deck (Early Access) |
| Year of release | 2026 |
| Developer | Mega Crit |
| Publisher | Mega Crit |
| Average playtime | 20+ hours (first clear), 100+ hours (completionist) |
| Best for | Roguelike fans craving the ultimate deck-building evolution |
The original Slay the Spire practically invented the roguelike deck-builder genre as we know it, and this new indie game sequel picks up exactly where it left off – only bigger, sharper, and more dangerously addictive. Set 1,000 years after the original, Slay the Spire 2 brings back fan-favorite characters while introducing two new ones. Each comes with their own cards, mechanics, and playstyle, which makes it one of the best indie games of all time.
What makes this sequel genuinely special is its expanded scope. With nearly 600 cards, 300 relics, alternate acts, and the series-first addition of 4-player online co-op, there’s more to discover than ever before. Its layers of synergy and strategy are practically endless.
When early access launched in March 2026, Slay the Spire 2 sold over 3 million copies in its first week – a staggering number that speaks for itself, especially for a new indie game. The full 1.0 release is expected in 2027, but the Early Access version is already one of the best indie games you can play right now. For a deeper dive, check out our Slay the Spire 2 review.
My Verdict: The king of roguelike deck-builders returns and proves why it’s among the must-play indie games of this generation and one of the best indie video games for teens. Don’t wait for 1.0.
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7. Mewgenics [Best Indie Tactical Roguelite]
| Platforms | PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S |
| Year of release | 2026 |
| Developers | Edmund McMillen, Tyler Glaiel |
| Publishers | Edmund McMillen, Tyler Glaiel (PC), Nicalis (consoles) |
| Average playtime | 20-30 hours (first run), 50+ hours (completionist) |
| Best for | Fans of deep tactical roguelites with dark humor and infinite replayability |
Thirteen years in the making, Mewgenics is one of the most unlikely success stories in indie history and one of the best indie games out of 2026. From Edmund McMillen, the mind behind The Binding of Isaac and Super Meat Boy, comes a deeply tactical legacy roguelite where the entire premise is breeding cats and sending them into battle. (Yes, really.)
Gameplay for this new indie game has two stages: cat breeding and tactical combat. Each day, you’ll assemble a team from your household, equip them with class-specific collars – Fighter, Tank, Mage, and more – and send them crawling through grid-based encounters that demand careful positioning and clever combo exploitation. The genetic system of this must-play indie title means no two cats, and no two runs, are ever quite the same.
Mewgenics recouped its entire budget in just three hours after launch and sold over a million copies in its first week. If you’re looking for more titles in this vein, check out our list of the best games like Mewgenics.
My Verdict: Among the best indie game contenders of all time from this generation, Mewgenics stands tall. The 13-year wait was absolutely worth it. Chaotic, deep, and hard to put down.
8. MOUSE: P.I. For Hire [Best Indie FPS]
| Platforms | PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2 |
| Year of release | 2026 |
| Developer | Fumi Games |
| Publisher | PlaySide Studios |
| Average playtime | 8-10 hours (main story) |
| Best for | FPS fans who love style, atmosphere, and a killer noir aesthetic |
MOUSE: P.I. For Hire is easily one of the best indie games in years because of how visually distinctive it is. It takes the rubberhose animation style of 1930s Fleischer Studios cartoons and drops it into a stylish noir first-person shooter. You play as Jack Pepper, a mouse detective navigating the corrupt underbelly of Mouseburg in search of the truth.
Beyond its amazing aesthetic, this must-play indie game delivers satisfying FPS gameplay with exploration, a punchy combat system, and a surprisingly gripping storyline. The black-and-white visual style isn’t just for show – it creates atmosphere and tension that few shooters manage to execute.
Released in April 2026 across all major platforms, MOUSE was one of the most memorable new indie games this year. It’s a shorter experience than most on this list, but its style, voice acting, and sheer originality make it one you won’t forget.
My Verdict: A noir fever dream you have to see to believe. Short, stunning, and utterly original.
9. Spelunky 2 [Best Indie Platformer]
| Platforms | PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S |
| Year of release | 2020 |
| Developer | Mossmouth |
| Publisher | Mossmouth |
| Average playtime | 30+ hours |
| Best for | Platformer fans who love punishing roguelike challenges |
Spelunky 2 is a surprisingly fast and snappy action platformer roguelike. It’s a strong contender among the best indie games in the genre. It places you in the well-worn boots of Ana, the daughter of the first game’s protagonists, as she searches the moon for her parents.
Sounds simple? Spelunky 2‘s dungeons aren’t just brimming with treasure. It’s also packed full of fiendish foes and devious traps that could quickly put an end to your spelunking. It’s a thrilling experience that punishes haste and recklessness, but once you learn gameplay mechanics better, it rewards mastery and careful observation.
Few of the best indie games of all time lists would be complete without Spelunky 2, and its brutal difficulty curve is part of what makes the game so beloved. The satisfaction of finally clearing a dungeon that once destroyed you is a feeling that’s hard to match.
My Verdict: Brutal, unforgiving, and absolutely brilliant. Failure is the best teacher here, and victory never tasted sweeter.
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10. Blue Prince [Best Indie Puzzle Adventure]
| Platforms | PC, macOS, PS5, Xbox Series X/S |
| Year of release | 2025 |
| Developer | Dogubomb |
| Publisher | Raw Fury |
| Average playtime | 20-25 hours (main), 40+ hours (secrets) |
| Best for | Puzzle enthusiasts who enjoy mystery-solving and note-taking |
Blue Prince boasts a Universal Acclaim critical Metascore of 92, and was one of the highest-rated games released in 2025. It’s a genre-defying puzzle adventure that earns its place among the best new indie games. You explore an enormous, ever-changing mansion as Simon, a young heir who must find the mysterious 46th room in his eccentric uncle’s 45-room estate to claim his inheritance.
The brilliant fusion of roguelike mechanics with environmental puzzle-solving set this new indie game apart. Each time you open a door in Mt. Holly, you choose one of three randomized rooms to place behind it, and every morning the entire mansion resets.
Here, knowledge is your true currency. The clues you discover, the patterns you recognize, and the secrets you uncover all persist between runs, slowly piecing together an intricate web of mysteries that rivals Return of the Obra Dinn and Outer Wilds.
Every run on this brings new revelations, from logic puzzles in the Parlor to cracking safes with clues scattered across multiple rooms to unraveling a surprisingly deep political narrative through letters and notes. As one of the must-play indie games, it demands your full attention.
My Verdict: A puzzle lover’s dream that keeps revealing new layers. Grab a notebook and clear your weekend for one of the best indie games of all time.
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11. Hollow Knight [Best Indie Adventure]
| Platforms | PC, Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, PlayStation 4, Xbox |
| Year of release | 2017 |
| Developer | Team Cherry |
| Publisher | Team Cherry |
| Average playtime | 25 hours (main), 55-65 hours (completionist) |
| Best for | Metroidvania fans that want action-adventure with a huge world and frustrating boss battles. |
Hollow Knight isn’t just one of the best indie games of all time. The beloved title is revered as one of the greatest action adventures of all time. You play as a nameless warrior called The Knight, exploring an underground kingdom dying of a mystical disease. Insectlike characters and a slew of iconic boss battles await you in this world, which also gives you opportunities to discover your abilities amidst the rich lore.
Critics and gamers adore its worldbuilding, art style, music scoring, combat, and the unexpected difficulty the game presents. The first game was so successful and critically acclaimed that Team Cherry released a sequel in 2025, where the Knight continues traversing the subterranean kingdom in search of new mysteries and battles.
Moody, vivid, eerie, Hollow Knight is a must-play indie masterpiece that requires skill, focus, and attention to detail. You’ll explore vast worlds, acquire new skills, and struggle to survive.
Make sure to check every inch of the map to find shards, fragments, and charms that will be indispensable to your journey.
My Verdict: A dreamlike action-adventure with a sprawling, hand-animated 2D cavernous world, Hollow Knight lives up to its reputation after all these years, even though it isn’t a new indie game anymore.
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12. Factorio [Best Indie Automation Game]
| Platforms | PC, Linux, macOS, Switch, Switch 2 |
| Year of release | 2020 |
| Developer | Wube Software |
| Publisher | Wube Software |
| Average playtime | 50+ hours (first rocket), 100+ hours (typical) |
| Best for | Automation enthusiasts and factory optimization lovers |
Factorio is a strong contender for one of the best indie games ever made. You play as an engineer who crash-landed on a wild, uncivilized planet, and to get back home you’ll need to harvest its minerals and resources like coal, iron, copper, uranium, and oil to create an infrastructure capable of launching you back into space.
Where Factorio truly shines is in its sheer, almost overwhelming scale. The first hour is spent on survival, but everything after that becomes about upgrades, iteration, optimization, discovery, and conquest. Each new technology unlocks bigger, faster, and more efficient ways of doing things, so there’s never a shortage of goals and improvements to chase. If you enjoy this kind of deep systems-driven gameplay, you’ll probably enjoy a deep dive into some of the other best tycoon games around.
It’s deeply satisfying to watch your humble outpost gradually transform into an industrial machine that will persist long after you leave the planet. Few of the best indie games of all time reward patience and planning quite like Factorio does.
My Verdict: Digital crack for optimization addicts. Approach with caution, and clear your schedule.
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13. Balatro [Best Indie Deck-Builder]
| Platforms | PC, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PS4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, iOS, Android |
| Year of release | 2024 |
| Developer | LocalThunk |
| Publisher | Playstack |
| Average playtime | 15+ hours (first clears), 100+ hours (all unlocks) |
| Best for | Deck-builder fans who enjoy poker mechanics and synergy hunting |
Created by one anonymous programmer as a holiday side project, Balatro quickly distinguished itself via its simple yet deep gameplay, garnering commercial success and critical acclaim that puts it firmly among the best indie games of its generation.
A Canadian developer who studied computer science came up with this must-play indie game, which recontextualizes the familiar concept of poker by transforming the entire game into a roguelike. Each time you sit at the table, you’ll need to overcome increasingly challenging enemies by playing poker hands. The odds will be stacked against you, so you’ll need to pull in different types of cards, tarot, planets, and maybe even an actual credit card, to push things back in your favor and pull one over the house.
The sheer volume of combos and synergies you can cook up, or stumble upon, is what makes Balatro so endlessly replayable. This may sound simplistic on paper, but in practice, the depth is staggering. As one of the must-play indie games of recent years, it has a habit of turning a quick session into a several-hour spiral.
My Verdict: One of the best indie games of all time with no right being this addictive. Simple to learn, impossible to put down.
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14. The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth [Best Indie Action Roguelike]
| Platforms | PC, Linux, macOS, New 3DS, Wii U, Nintendo Switch, PS Vita, PS4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S |
| Year of release | 2014 |
| Developer | Edmund McMillen, Nicalis |
| Publisher | Nicalis |
| Average playtime | 21-26 hours (main), 200+ hours (completionist) |
| Best for | Roguelike veterans who enjoy dark humor and endless replayability |
The Binding of Isaac is infamous for its raw audacity. No sane publisher would ever dare to back a game where a young boy uses his tears, pee, poop, and farts to navigate deadly dungeons and kill Satan. No, I am not kidding.
Despite its outrageous premise, the game stands up on its own as one of the best indie games even without its sheer shock value. With expertly crafted floors, a myriad of tricky enemies, lots of unlockable characters and items, and synergies you wouldn’t even think to expect, The Binding of Isaac is one of the best indie games in the roguelike genre.
As one of the best indie games of all time, The Binding of Isaac has sustained a passionate community for over a decade through constant updates, expansions, and an endlessly surprising item pool that keeps every run feeling distinct.
My Verdict: A must-play indie game that refuses to quit. Disturbing, hilarious, and utterly essential.
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15. Palworld [Best Indie Monster-Collector]
| Platforms | PC, macOS, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S |
| Year of release | 2024 (Early Access), 2026 (1.0) |
| Developer | Pocketpair |
| Publisher | Pocketpair |
| Average playtime | 30 hours (main), 60+ hours (completionist) |
| Best for | Monster-tamer fans who enjoy survival crafting with dark humor |
Palworld is a creature game that’s grown up with the Pokémon and Digimon kids from 20 years ago. With its irreverent, hilarious fusion of the monster tamer genre with the open-world survival craft formula, Palworld hits a lot of the right spots and earns its reputation as one of the best indie games to explode onto the scene in recent years.
Where Palworld truly shines is in its dark, unapologetic humor. Capturing monsters means beating them half to death with a wooden stick before they bite the dust. Need food? Butcher some wild Pals. Need automation? Condemn your Pals to an eternity of indentured labor. The kid gloves are fully off, and it’s this jaded approach that makes the game distinct and, most importantly, fun. The Palworld server hosting feature also lets you play with friends.
Among the best indie games around, Palworld brings a chaotic charm that makes many indie games so lovable.
My Verdict: One of the best new indie games for anyone craving creature-collecting with a dark twist. Chaotic, irreverent, and surprisingly deep.
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16. Cassette Beasts [Best Indie Turn-Based RPG]
| Platforms | PC, Linux, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, iOS, Android |
| Year of release | 2023 |
| Developer | Bytten Studio |
| Publisher | Raw Fury |
| Average playtime | 20-25 hours (main + extras) |
| Best for | Turn-based RPG fans seeking a fresh take on monster-taming |
Cassette Beasts is a more straight-laced take on the monster-tamer game that instead refines the genre’s mechanics to make a fun standout title that’s one of the best indie games of all time.
The star of Cassette Beasts is its combat system. This new must-play indie game takes a more strategic approach to battle with a 2v2 turn-based combat fueled by action points. Combat is simple, but satisfying: pick a cassette tape, transform into that beast, try not to get hit in your human form, and exploit the complex elemental reaction system (you won’t find simplistic weakness/resistance rules here). Best of all, you can fuse with a partner to create a single, powerful beast that’s more than the sum of its parts.
We can’t talk about cassette tapes without touching on music, and this new indie game has a phenomenal soundtrack. The best part? The lyrics only kick in while you’re fused. Makes it that much more special.
My Verdict: The monster-tamer for grown-ups who want more than basic type matchups. Fresh, strategic, and stylish.
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17. Astlibra: Revision [Best Indie Action RPG]
| Platforms | PC, Switch |
| Year of release | 2022 |
| Developer | KEIZO |
| Publisher | WhisperGames |
| Average playtime | 40-70 hours |
| Best for | Action RPG fans who appreciate passion projects and deep progression |
Nothing screams “solo developer” more than using different sprite styles and free-to-use indie music. This makes Astlibra perhaps the most indie game on this list. Whether it’s through honest, earnest storytelling, an unforgettable cast of characters, expansive progression systems, or frenetic combat a la the old Tales Of games, Astlibra is a fine and very welcome addition to the 2D RPG genre.
In this must-play indie game, you’ll play a young man who’s searching far and wide for a missing girl he met in his childhood. Oh, and you’ll also stumble upon the legendary Scales of Astraea, which lets their bearer mess with time. Admittedly, it’s very tropey, and yet it does nothing to detract from the game’s charm. Astlibra knows that you’re here for a good time, and it has that in spades.
My Verdict: Rough around the edges but overflowing with heart, a hidden gem that deserves more attention.
18. Valheim [Best Indie Survival Adventure]
| Platforms | PC, Linux, macOS, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS5, Switch 2 |
| Year of release | 2021 (EA), 2026 (1.0) |
| Developer | Iron Gate Studio |
| Publisher | Coffee Stain Publishing |
| Average playtime | 50-80 hours (all bosses) |
| Best for | Survival adventure fans who love Viking exploration and base-building |
Few open-world survival craft games were released with as high a degree of polish as Valheim did. With its carefully cultivated blend of exploration, base building, character progression, fully functional multiplayer, and retro graphics, Valheim ticked all the right boxes and secured its place among the best indie games in the survival genre.
The best part of Valheim is how much it pushes you to explore. Divided into biomes of increasing difficulty, each one presents not just new dangers but new resources. From forging new arms and armor with iron to sourcing new building materials for your great halls to admiring the sea and stars from new vistas, Valheim continually urges you to leave your comfort zone and rewards you for doing so.
As a must-play indie game in the survival space, it’s a remarkably complete package.
My Verdict: One of the best indie games for Viking fantasy fans. Every biome an adventure, every boss a milestone.
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19. Circuit Superstars [Best Indie Racing Game]
| Platforms | PC, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One |
| Year of release | 2021 |
| Developer | Original Fire Games |
| Publisher | Square Enix Collective |
| Average playtime | 8-15 hours (campaign) |
| Best for | Racing fans who enjoy skill-based driving and pit strategy |
Don’t be fooled by Circuit Superstars’ cartoonish exterior. This is a tight, precise racer that rewards player experience and skill, making it one of the best racing games I’ve played in a while.
The game is backed by a robust physics engine, making every bump, crash, and drift very real. Courses tend to be short, tricky, and fun, with lots of tight turns and huge curves that require players to master the physics system, lest they fall behind.
Resource management is the other half of Circuit Superstars. As you drive around the course, your fuel will run out, and careless driving and drifting damage both your health and tires. This presents a tactical choice: duck into a pit stop for a full repair and give up your lead, or try to finish the race with your damaged, underperforming vehicle?
My Verdict: Pure motorsport in adorable top-down form. Don’t let the cute visuals fool you – this demands respect.
20. Cuphead [Best Indie Run-and-Gun]
| Platforms | Switch, Playstation, PC, Xbox |
| Year of release | 2017 |
| Developer | Studio MDHR |
| Publisher | Studio MDHR |
| Average playtime | 11 hours (main story), 35 hours (completionist) |
| Best for | Run-and-gun lovers who enjoy hand-painted animation and jazzy scores. |
“Don’t deal with the devil,” warns the legendary indie game Cuphead. In this action-packed, must-play indie masterpiece, you play as Cuphead and his brother Mugman, who have to pay back debts to the king of contracts himself: the Devil.
Cuphead and Mugman owe the Devil big for casino losses they’ve racked up, and they need to repossess the souls of fleeing debtors to pay back what they owe. Beneath the charming 1930s-style rubber hose animation and brassy, jazzy soundtrack (scored for and recorded by a live band) is a notoriously difficult game, with some even comparing its boss battles to those in Soulslike titles.
You acquire new abilities and powers as the game progresses before facing off against the Devil himself. This critically and commercially successful title is already a cult classic and has soundly secured a spot in the indie game hall of fame.
My Verdict: With its watercolor backgrounds, cartoonishly fun characters, and impossibly hard battles, Cuphead continues to live on as one of the best indie games out there.
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How We Chose These Indie Games
Every game on this list was selected based on four consistent criteria:
- Gameplay depth and originality
- Critic and community reception
- Replayability
- Overall value for money
A game doesn’t need a perfect Metacritic score to make this list, but it does need to perform well in the rubrics above. We tried to come up with the list of best indie video games for teens, as well as for both new or veteran members of the gaming community.
We also made sure to cover a broad range of genres, platforms, and playstyles. The best indie games mean something different to everyone, so this list is built to have something for roguelike veterans, narrative seekers, survival fans, and casual players alike.
We try to review and update this list each time a significant new indie release warrants inclusion.
Best Indie RPGs
If you’re after rich worlds, deep mechanics, and stories that stay with you for weeks, these are the best indie RPGs on the list:
- Clair Obscur:Expedition 33: If you’re a Soulslike fan, you’ll love the electric battles and bleak worldbuilding.
- Disco Elysium: The Final Cut: a hero that starts from a literal blank slate makes this indie RPG so exciting. Without a backstory, ideologies, and skills, Harry Du Bois is a character you can shape and build up as the story progresses to its thrilling conclusion.
Best Indie Platformers
Tight controls, punishing difficulty, and that one-more-run feeling – these indie platformers deliver all of it:
- Hollow Knight: Some might find the game’s insectoid warriors and underground map cute, but Hollow Knight players will attest to the immersive and addictive world-building, music scoring, combat, and unexpected difficulty.
- Spelunky 2: A brutally unforgiving roguelike platformer that rewards mastery and punishes recklessness in equal measure.
Best Indie Horror Game
Whether you prefer psychological dread or outright chaos, these are the must-play indie horror games on the list:
- Project Zomboid: The most immersive zombie survival sim around, where every decision carries real weight and death is always permanent.
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33: Bleak, destructive, and dark, you’ll love this new indie game’s monsters and battle mechanics.
Best Indie Games on Nintendo Switch
The Nintendo Switch is a fantastic home for indie games, and these titles from the list are the best new indie games for Switch:
- Hades: A masterclass in action roguelike design, with fast combat, rich storytelling, and a one-more-run loop that feels right at home in handheld mode.
- Balatro: A dangerously addictive deck-builder that’s almost too easy to pick up for “just one more run” on the go.
- Factorio: Brought to Switch in 2022, the factory-building epic translates surprisingly well to handheld with full touch support.
Best Indie Roguelike Games
The best indie games have always had a strong home in the roguelike genre, and these three must-play indie game titles represent the very top of it:
- Slay the Spire 2: The king of roguelike deck-builders returns with 575+ cards, new characters, and 4-player co-op that makes every run feel fresh and dangerously addictive.
- The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth: A decade-old roguelike that refuses to get old, with an absurd item pool, dark humor, and synergies that make every run genuinely surprising.
Best Indie Survival Games
Tension, resource management, and the constant threat of losing everything – these best indie games of all time in the survival genre nail all of it:
- Project Zomboid: The most immersive zombie survival sim around, with deep crafting, base-building, and permadeath tension that makes every decision feel like it matters.
- Valheim: This Viking-themed survival game offers different environments, each with its own set of resources, challenges, and characters.
Best Indie Strategy & Automation Games
Few of the must-play indie games on our list demand as much brain power as these strategy and automation titles:
- Factorio: A staggering automation game where a humble crash-landing gradually snowballs into a planet-spanning industrial empire. Clear your schedule before you start.
- Mewgenics: A deep tactical roguelite built around team composition, positioning, class synergies, and breeding cats with wildly different traits for each run.
Best Indie Deck-Building Games
The best indie games of all time in the deck-building space have redefined what the genre can be:
- Balatro: A poker-meets-roguelike deck-builder with no right being this addictive. Simple to learn, impossible to put down, and capable of turning a quick session into a several-hour spiral.
- Slay the Spire 2: The genre-defining sequel that expanded the original formula with new characters, alternate acts, and co-op, cementing its place as the gold standard for deck-builders.
Best Indie Games on PS5
The PS5 is home to some fantastic titles, and these are the best indie video games for teens you can play on Sony’s console right now:
- MOUSE: P.I. For Hire: A visually stunning noir FPS wrapped in a 1930s rubberhose animation style, with a gripping storyline and Metroidvania-style exploration that feels right at home on PS5.
- Blue Prince: A genre-defying puzzle adventure set in a randomized mansion, rewarding patience and note-taking with layers of interconnected mysteries that keep revealing new secrets.
- Palworld: A darkly funny creature-collecting survival game that blends monster-taming with open-world crafting in a way that’s surprisingly deep and endlessly entertaining.
Upcoming Indie Games
The best indie games aren’t just the ones you can play right now; some of the most exciting titles are still on the horizon. Here are three upcoming indie games worth keeping on your radar in 2026:
- Witchbrook (2026): A long-awaited magical life-sim set in a seaside witch academy, from the publishers of Stardew Valley. Think cozy farming and relationships, but with spells.
- Crowsworn (TBA): In Mongoose Rodeo’s upcoming release, you’ll be playing as an amnesiac plague doctor in a world overrun by nightmare creatures.
- Haunted Chocolatier (TBA): The creator of Stardew Valley is planning to release an action RPG where you’ll be scouring haunted castles, collecting ingredients for your chocolate shop.
The indie scene shows no signs of slowing down, and these upcoming releases prove there’s still plenty to look forward to.
My Overall Verdict on the Best Indie Games
Best starting point for players diving into the best indie games of all time? It depends on what kind of experience you’re after.
- For survival fans: Project Zomboid turns every decision into life or death, blending crafting, base-building, and permadeath tension into the ultimate zombie apocalypse sim.
- For platformer lovers: Terraria‘s rich survival crafting world is made even more addicting by the unexpectedly powerful bosses.
- For RPG die-hards: Clair Obscur:Expedition 33’s turn-based combat paired with rhythmic action mechanics and an unexpectedly deep storyline make the perfect choice.
- For roguelike addicts: Hades II offers fast, polished combat, rich storytelling, and an addictive one-more-run loop that pushes the series even further.
- For narrative seekers: Disco Elysium provides unmatched writing depth, letting you roleplay as a disaster detective while questioning everything from politics to the nature of self.
These best indie games of all time are the pinnacle of what makes the scene special: the freedom to innovate, the courage to be weird, and the passion to create something unforgettable. Whatever genre calls to you, your next favorite game is probably on this list.
FAQs
Project Zomboid wins as the best indie game for its mind-bending replayability and intricate world. Among the games we listed, we chose this one as the best indie game of all time, as this sandbox is in a league of its own for sheer depth and brilliance.
A game is considered indie if it’s developed independently, without the financial backing of a major publisher. Indie games often come from smaller teams with more creative freedom, and while some use third-party publishers, independent development is what makes them indie.
Some of the best upcoming indie games to watch are Witchbrook, a cozy magical life-sim from the publishers of Stardew Valley; Haunted Chocolatier for an action RPG, and Crowsworn for a dark, apocalyptic exploration. New indie games will continue pushing and expanding the genre going forward.
Yes. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 won Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2025. Before that, Balatro nearly took home the crown in 2024 as another standout new indie game. With the number of exciting upcoming indie games, the category is likely to continue gaining recognition.
Minecraft was the biggest indie game of all time prior to its acquisition by Microsoft in 2014. Today, there’s no clear winner – though I’d say that Vampire Survivors or Hollow Knight could make a strong case!
Valheim is one of the most popular indie games right now, with some of the highest current player activity on Steam. Slay the Spire 2 is another major standout with a large active player base.
The top 3 must-play indie games of all time are generally considered to be Minecraft, Stardew Valley, and Hollow Knight. These three titles are widely credited with proving that indie games could compete with – and in many cases surpass – big-budget AAA releases in both quality and commercial success.
Minecraft was originally an indie game, developed solo by Markus “Notch” Persson and released in 2011. However, it became an AAA title after Microsoft acquired developer Mojang for $2.5 billion in 2014.
That depends on what you’re looking for. Indies, especially the upcoming games, tend to have more creative freedom but less budget than a triple-A game. But if you’re tired of the formulaic, too-safe approach that big studios have towards publishing games, you’ll likely agree with me that indie is better!
