Best Grungy Indie Games

Key Takeaways

• Games like Intravenous and Anger Foot embody grunge with gritty settings and underworld themes.
• Buckshot Roulette offers a grungy horror experience with dark visuals and a creepy atmosphere.
• Titles like Charlie Murder and Post Void feature grungy visuals, violence, and punk-rock attitudes for a unique gaming experience.

Dirty, gritty, grimy — all words that can be used to describe grunge as a whole. However, the alternate definition, regarding grunge as a music genre, can also be applicable to video games, many of which channel the energy of those bands, the attitude, and the aesthetic that surrounds it. These games, however, mostly concern the primary definition.

Darker games often embody the definition of grunge with gritty settings, punk attitudes, and/or a particularly grungy visual style. Fans of grimy, dark, and dirty underworlds should find plenty to like here.

8 Intravenous

Dark And Gritty Stealth Action

• Platform(s): PC
• Released: July 26, 2021
• Developer(s): Explosive Squat Games
• Genre: Stealth

Fans of hardcore stealth games such as the original Splinter Cell and top-down shooters such as Hotline Miami and who enjoy the cliché plots of B-movies and crime cinema are sure to have a heyday with Intravenous. Taking place in the dark and gritty criminal underworld, Intravenous tasks players with avenging their brother through a variety of missions, engaging in a combination of hardcore stealth and violent combat along the way.

The underworld setting, dark pixel-art, and brutal violence result in a truly grungy backdrop to the game’s action/stealth gameplay. The narrative, while cliché, is still a lot of fun, matching perfectly with the game’s gritty style.

A Frenetic FPS Set In A Grimy, Grungy World

Anger Foot‘s visual style may not scream grunge right out of the gate, with its bright, vivid colors, smooth textures, and claymation-esque character designs. However, this frenetic first-person shooter soon unveils its true identity as an unhinged journey through a grungy cityscape.

The pulsing dance music, exaggerated violence, crime-ridden setting, and abundance of grime throughout each of the city environments make for a satirically grungy experience. Anger Foot makes use of pollution, dirt, and all things disgusting as part of its unique aesthetic and tone, making for an FPS with a truly unique world.

6 Buckshot Roulette

An Intense Game Of Chance In A Dark, Dirty Room

Buckshot Roulette is a short-but-sweet indie horror game with an appropriately low price-point, pitting players against a truly creepy AI opponent in a modified version of Russian Roulette. The player and the intimidating Dealer take turns pointing a 12-gauge shotgun this way and that, trying not to shoot themselves in the process.

It’s a gambling game with a few elements of strategy thrown in, mostly through the use of active items, but Buckshot Roulette’s greatest strength is its grungy visuals. Dark, grimy, gritty environments and a stark, subdued color palette are mostly responsible, but the game’s dark tone and overabundance of blood and dirt do plenty to add to the grungy feel of this creepy title.

5 Charlie Murder

A Gothic, Punk-Infused Beat ‘Em Up

• Platform(s): PC, Xbox
• Released: August 14, 2013
• Developer(s): Ska Studios
• Genre: Beat ‘Em Up

Channeling punk rock as much as it does the meaning of grunge, Charlie Murder is brimming with an energetic, grungy style, complete with a dark, scratchy art-style. This side-scrolling beat ’em up is replete with violence and rich in style, making for a dark and gritty punk-rock adventure with an old-school feel.

The gameplay of Charlie Murder is fairly old-school, but RPG elements spice it up a little, and the addition of both local and online co-op is a welcome one. Furthermore, the game’s darker tone and punk-rock attitude is refreshing in the beat ’em up genre, which tends to be geared toward a more generic demographic.

4 SLUDGE LIFE

A Colorful, Atmospheric Exploration Game With A Grungy Attitude

Its gameplay may be minimal, but SLUDGE LIFE and its sequel are great examples of how atmosphere, writing, and visual style can go a long way. In SLUDGE LIFE, players explore a small open-world environment, interacting with quirky characters and tagging various locations with graffiti.

The cast of colorful characters and the dense environment of the game’s foggy open world make for a tremendously evocative experience in spite of the title’s obvious limitations. All in all, SLUDGE LIFE’s grungy visuals, laid-back gameplay, and fun attitude make for a truly whimsical title that’s worth exploring.

3 Quasimorph

Quasimorph is a grimdark science fiction game that plays like a traditional roguelike but features a structure more akin to the genre’s cousin, the roguelite; fans of extraction shooters will be immediately familiar with Quasimorph’s loop, with players delving into dangerous environments, scavenging supplies, and building a stockpile of useful gear. This somewhat alleviates the unforgiving nature of the roguelike dungeon-crawling that makes up most of the game — although the game features permanent death, players can always rely on their stockpile of equipment.

The extraction shooter gameplay loop is one thing, but Quasimorph also shines with its grungy, grimdark world and dark atmosphere. The music and sound design provide a gritty backdrop to the grimy pixel-art environments and sketchy characters of the game’s grisly setting, but Quasimorph’s well-crafted, addictive gameplay loop makes its world worth being immersed in.

2 Post Void

A Psychedelic FPS With A Scratchy, Garage Style

Fast, frenetic, and utterly psychedelic, Post Void is a one-of-a-kind first-person shooter with a grungy style; messy violence, scratchy pixel-art, and unsettling character designs make for a winning combination, offering up a gritty but colorful setting for the game’s disgusting action.

Post Void is a hard game with an unforgiving nature, an action roguelike that refuses to hold the player’s hand. Players are given one weapon at a time and access to a variety of passive upgrades throughout each run, but the game’s expressive movement, labyrinthine levels, and constantly draining health system makes for a consistently engaging loop.

1 Hotline Miami

Unadulterated, Violent Grunge Wrapped In 80s Style

Replete with gritty and gratuitous violence, dingy environments, and grimy characters, Hotline Miami is a sordid ride that puts players in the shoes of a deranged antihero on the streets of an alternate-history Miami, 1989. The hard-hitting soundtrack, grungy, rough-edged pixel-art, and frenetic top-down action result in an experience that’s consistently gritty, wholly unforgiving, and rarely lets up.

Accompanying Hotline Miami’s grungy tone and atmosphere is a punchy arcade feel to its gameplay. This, along with the game’s synthwave 80s style, prevents Hotline Miami from ever becoming too dour.